After struggling with infertility for years, Camille Guaty and husband Sy Rhys Kaye are expecting a baby boy this autumn thanks to an egg donor.
Speaking to People, Camille Guaty said that she ‘burst out crying’ when the nurse told her she was finally pregnant: ‘I made her say it to me four or five times. I feel so grateful now and can’t wait to meet our son.’
Camille is now 43, but she and her husband began trying for a baby naturally when she was 37. When they visited their first IVF clinic, the actress was told that her ovarian reserve was ‘equivalent to that of a 50-year-old’.
‘Women come up to me and say "if you’re 43 and pregnant, I have plenty of time!” I just want to say, “It didn’t happen the way you think it did”',Camille admitted.
Alongside five failed rounds of IVF, the couple tried intrauterine insemination, where the sperm is placed directly into the uterus. However, they were still unable to get pregnant.
They eventually decided on using an egg donor, although Camille admitted she felt uncomfortable about this at first, saying: ‘Just a couple of years ago, the idea of another woman’s egg in my body was unfathomable.’
Read more: ‘It broke me’: Anne Hathaway opens up about struggle to conceive
Whilst Sy flew to Mexico to give his sperm deposit, Camille was on the set of The Good Doctor, where she played a 38-weeks pregnant woman. However, the first donor had messed up her finally shot, so none of her eggs were retrievable.
Camille got the devastating call moments before she was handed a newborn in a post-birth scene on set, and she admitted she ‘lost it’.
‘Five years of emotion and heartache just came out, and I was crying uncontrollably’, Camille admitted.
However, the second donor was a success, and Camille got the call to say she was pregnant. Before the news, the couple had been considering adaption, and the actress has even founded Foster a Dream.
Foster a Dream is a non-profit working alongside the Department of Children and Family Services, aiming to improve the lives of foster children.
Camille Guaty now hopes her story will help others who are struggling with infertility to feel less alone: ‘I want to inspire women to start speaking out about their fertility challenges. I want people to know that this is my journey.
'[Being open] erases the shame and stigma and has made me feel more confident.’
