Anne Craig's pregnancy story

(WTNH) -- While desperately trying to have a child, News 8 anchor Anne Craig has suffered four miscarriages, gone through chemotherapy, had four rounds of in vitro fertilization and one surgery. And now she is pregnant and hopeful that she will have a child.

Anne is sharing her story to help others. "Infertility is a real issue and there's so much heartbreak behind it," she said. It's uncomfortable to talk about miscarriage. It's uncomfortable to talk about the loss of a child.

"I am hoping that my story can give someone hope and encouragement and also encourage them to get support."

Anne married her high school sweetheart at the age of 34 and because she was in her mid 30's they set out to have a child right away. That did not happen. Instead, there would be a series of devastating events that would leave her depressed and test her marriage to the near breaking point.

On her first wedding anniversary she was pregnant for the first time and gave her husband a baby shirt to signify they were on their way to having a family. Shortly thereafter everything would spiral out of control.

"About 8 weeks after that I had a miscarriage, and nothing can prepare you for that.

"After the first miscarriage, very quickly after that I became pregnant again, but that one was an ectopic pregnancy.

"It was very scary. Doctors said this is a life threatening issue for you. We have two options -- we can do exploratory surgery, because the embryo can travel into your lungs, into your heart, into your intestines; or we can do chemotherapy."

Anne chose chemotherapy, three months worth. She lost her hair, and to this day wears many hair extensions.

Two miscarriages, chemotherapy, and then "we were finally able to start about six months after that to try again, about a year and nothing so at that point we tried IVF (In Vitro Fertilization).

"What you don't know about IVF is that you're giving yourself shots almost every single day. You're on hormones. You're on estrogen. Your hormones are through the roof. You gain a lot of weight during that process and your brain is hard to function during that.

"That's the difficulty about infertility as well is that it's not only a strain on you and your emotions, it's really a strain on marriages as well. You know, one person wants to go forward, another person is exhausted, one person feels like, but we have to do this if we want the end all which is a child, another person is ready to give up. It is incredibly hard on a marriage."

The only infertility treatment that was successful was the first of the four. She became pregnant with twins, but after 8 weeks that pregnancy ended.

"That was the time Ann, the second miscarriage, the loss of twins, now I'd lost three children, with the ectopic four. I just needed a break, we took about a year off after that, it was just too hard."

Last fall she had some surgery to finally give it one last go, but even that didn't result in a positive outcome. She was told she would never have her own baby.

"I was so depressed because the dream of having a child was just gone."

Anne and her husband let go of trying to get pregnant last fall and started researching about adoptions, but then something happened.

She got pregnant without intervention.

But with all the problems she has had, and now 14 weeks into the pregnancy, she's very concerned about going to get to term.

"Scared to death, absolutely scared to death. One of the reasons I was hesitant to even talk about this is because I know I'll be completely crushed should we lose this baby, and the mourning process will be so much different because I am further along then I've ever been before and with each week that passes, I think this could be it.

"I want to feel happy. I want to feel that joy that comes with a pregnancy. I don't want to live in the fear of the past, and so I feel that maybe if I say it, it will be more real. If I can let people know I can finally experience the joy that comes with, and if it's a miscarriage and I lose this child that I want women to see it doesn't always end happily and the importance of talking about miscarriage and infertility is that you get help and you talk to other women."

All of us at News 8 wish Anne and her husband all the best throughout her pregnancy.

For those looking for a place to get some help, click here for a list of fertility clinics across the state.