Interview excerpt after the jump. In it, Jennifer (part of her rumoured $6m paycheque from People included their promise to STOP referring to her as J-Lo, y’hear?) insists that she and Marc did NOT conceive their fraternal twins via IVF as so many people presume. Me included.
The fact it took them so long to have kids, her age….sometimes these things would point to assisted reproduction. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I’m just a big fan of honesty in these situations so that non-famous people have a realistic idea about conception and how hard it can be sometimes.
This is from Celebrity Baby Blog:
On the time it took to get pregnant:
Jennifer was asked specifically to “set the record straight about how challenging it was to conceive.”
J:
It was natural. We didn’t do in vitro, which I know was reported.
Everyone assumed that because we had twins. I wanted to have a baby,
but I’ve always said exactly what I said all those years they asked us
since we’ve been married: “Well, when are you guys gonna have some
kids?” “When it happens naturally, I guess!” And that’s when it
happened. It was a surprise to us.You start getting older, you think to yourself, maybe [having
kids] isn’t meant for me. I knew there was nothing wrong with me. I
knew that I could. Deep down, I really wanted it badly.M: It never even entered my mind that it would not happen.
J: Really?! Even after one year, two years, three years … You know, you start thinking to yourself, “Well, maybe…”
M: No! When you think about it, you only have a
small amount of time each month when you can. So you try, and you have
twelve shots a year.
On finding out that she was, in fact, expecting:
J: I was in Portugal, performing and dancing my ass off…
M: We were on the phone, and I said, “Baby, I have a sense!”
J: I said, “You think I am?” because it had
been so long. When I came back, I took a test. I couldn’t believe it! I
was like, “Can we get another test, please?”I think I really got to a point where I was like, “This is not
going to happen for me.” [But the third test I took,] it was right
there in my face. At that point I looked and I said, “Marc, could this
be me?” I had tears in my eyes.
On finding out they were expecting two bundles of joy:
J: I was in denial until I went to
the doctor [for a sonogram several weeks later] and she said, “Oh my
God! There’s one baby, see the heart beating? And there’s the other
one!” Marc started crying again, and I started giggling.M: One person said, “Everything with you is a production!”
J: I knew twins ran in my family, and we always
joked, “Who do you think is going to have the twins?” So, of course,
all my sisters were like, “It’s you, it’s you!”M: My grandfather was a twin, too.
On her pregnancy experience:
J: No [morning sickness].
M: No cravings.
J: I had one of the best pregnancies ever. And,
I have to say, one of the best husbands, who helped me through every
emotional moment. Because you’re very hormonal! Even though I feel I
behaved pretty well through the whole thing.M: Read my book! Just kidding. It was splendid.
J: I told Marc, I don’t know if this will happen again. I want us to share this together. And we went on tour until I was 6½ months.
Why they didn’t make an announcement until that point:
J: We
didn’t confirm it because I didn’t want people coming to our show and
having everything be about that. I just didn’t want that to be a focus.M: My philosophy was, when you release a statement, who are you talking to? Our families know. Our friends…
J: People were like, “You’re keeping a secret!” We’re like, “Everybody knows. We just haven’t confirmed it in the press.”
On the birth:
M: I kept a video diary, and we filmed everything.
J: No complications. [The c-section] went very
fast. There’s this intense fear and intense anticipation. [Then] they
showed us the babies. We look to the right, and there’s Emme, screaming
with her arms up. They’re holding her around her chest.M: One minute later…
J: There’s Max! To me, they both looked like
Marc. I think that’s the first thing I said, “She looks like you! He
looks like you too!” The doctor said, “Did Jennifer get a gene in here
or what?”M: And from that moment, the love affair started.
J: All I could say was, “Thank you, God.” I kept saying it over and over and over.
On no longer being pregnant:
Top Comments
Well, I am mum to three month old twins and I both had a natural birth (as in, no C-section, but lotsa epidural!) and breast fed both. Simultaneously! And no, my son and daughter were not conceived via IVF! So there you have it.
A twin pregnancy is considered high risk so a c-section is often the most sensible way to have them. Also breasfeeding twins is nothing like breastfeeding one baby. Unless you've tried it yourself you have no right to judge. As for the IVF thing, I think its only fair to other women if we are honest about our fertility. On that note, older women are more likely to conceive fraternal twins naturally, which Jennifers are, so who knows ?