Getty Maks Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd
Married “Dancing With the Stars” professional dancers Peta Murgatroyd and Maksim Chmerkovskiy shared news with fans who have been following the couple’s pregnancy journey. Murgatroyd said on August 23 on Instagram that the embryo implantation via in vitro fertilization she’d undergone did not work.
Here’s what you need to know:
Peta Shared a Video Asking Fans to Send Their Love
In an August 22 Instagram post, Murgatroyd shared a video from her implantation day, writing that she tried to make the day as normal as possible.
The dancer wrote:
Transfer Day Part 1.
I tried to make this morning normal. I wanted to keep the vibes calm, the pressure low and just be in the moment in our morning family chaos. I showered, made coffee, we played Shai’s favorite card game Rat-a-Tat Cat and then said goodbye to Shai like it was any other day.
I cleared my mind at the beach. The beach is my healing ground. I need to feel the sand through my toes to know I’m good and ready to go. I said my little prayers and we got on with our drive.
If y’all are Valium virgins like me, you will laugh your ass off as I get high pretty quickly.
She finished the post by writing, “This experience was wild to say the least. I’m still processing everything one day at a time and have loved taking you all along for the ride. Please stay with me, I need the love.”
The Second Video Shares the Heartbreaking Outcome that the ‘Transfer Did Not Work’
In the second video, which Murgatroyd wrote she “could barely watch,” she revealed that their embryo transfer did not work but wanted to share with fans because she “promised you all that ]she] would be open and honest.”
“I had times where I was unsure of that decision throughout my IVF journey and even more so after we got the news that our transfer did not work. But going back on my word after being such an open book wouldn’t be right,” wrote Murgatroyd on the August 23 Instagram post.
She continued:
So here it is. One of the happiest days of my life, and then 10 days later one of the saddest moments I’ll never forget. Standing on the side of the road in West Hollywood, hoping for the best… thinking this was MY time, my turn for “happiness”. Life is funny though. When you think you got it figured out, it slaps you in the face and makes you start over. I keep learning that “God’s plans will always be more beautiful than all your disappointments”… I have to keep believing that.
I can barely watch the part where I have to verify my name and DOB. It was so hard to rewatch it and cut this video. That part was a moment in time where I saw my baby. It felt final, it felt like this was it… that was my baby… and I got a little preview of them at the earliest stage of their life. It felt other-worldly special, I felt privileged.
I really did think that this was going to work. Looking into Maks’ eyes as he was crying, seeing our baby together… just made this experience so worth it even though it didn’t turn out how we had hoped.
She finished by saying that she was taking the “necessary steps to start the healing process. To sit in my feelings, and feel what I need to, to start moving forward with an open heart.”
“I want to thank you all for coming along with me on this journey. I can’t tell you how much your guidance and advice has helped navigate me through my first round of IVF,” wrote the dancer. “From the bottom of my heart THANK YOU. Thank you to the incredible @scrcivf team and @drmarksurrey. I will get my baby, just not right now. …and to all the women who have gone through this multiple times over, I bow down. You’re warriors and you give me strength everyday. This s*** ain’t easy.”
Peta Previously Thanked Her IVF Doctor, Whom She Called ‘Calm’ & ‘Trustworthy’
In a post from August 4, as the IVF journey came to an end, Murgatroyd and Chmerkovskiy posed with their IVF doctor, Dr. Mark Surrey, and thanked him for all that he had done for them.
Murgatroyd wrote in her heartfelt post:
Dear @drmarksurrey ❤️
You’re making our dreams come true. As we come to the end of our IVF journey, whatever the outcome may be, I am so grateful to have been introduced to you. You were the perfect match for us. Calm and poised, trustworthy and confident, you gave me hope when I was at my lowest. When I walked into your office you were my last chance. I stared at you with tear filled eyes, desperately looking to you for answers. You held my hand as you walked me through the corridors and you never made me feel like I was broken. Instead, you gave me a solution and you ultimately gave me my sanity.
I can’t thank you enough. One day when this is all perfect and done, you will meet our rainbow baby… I so look forward to that day.
She then advised anyone who is struggling with infertility to seek out the SoCal Reproductive Center and speak with Dr. Surrey.
The two professional dancers have been candid in the past few months about their secondary infertility struggles. In a June 2022 story in People, Murgatroyd said that she’d had three miscarriages in the past two years. According to the story, “doctors believe” she has polycystic ovary syndrome, which affects fertility. The couple has a son, Shai, born in January 2017.
“Dancing With the Stars” returns for its 31st season on Monday, September 19, on Disney Plus.
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