It was a memorable Valentine’s Day this year for Amy Schumer, who revealed the successful results of her first egg retrieval Friday in a heartwarming Instagram post.
The 38-year-old actress and comedian shared a photo of herself smiling and wrote, “They retrieved 35 eggs from me. Not bad for the old gal right? Then 26 fertilized! Whoa right? For all those we got 1 normal embryo from that and 2 low level mosaic (mosaic means there are some abnormal cells but can still lead to a healthy baby) So we feel lucky we got 1!”
MORE: Amy Schumer begins IVF to 'give Gene a sibling'
Schumer first opened up about her in-vitro fertilization journey in January, saying that she was undergoing the process to give her son, Gene, a sibling and sharing a photo of her stomach with bruise marks from injections.
Back then, the actress wrote that just a week into IVF, she was “feeling run down and emotional” and asked her followers to offer any advice to help her get through it. She even went so far as to share her phone number for people to share their own experiences with infertility.
Almost immediately, many women ended up sharing their stories and advice with Schumer, who posted another photo of herself in a doctor’s office thanking her followers for the tips she received like icing bruised areas, eating salty food and drinking Gatorade.
In her Instagram post on Friday Schumer thanked her followers again and wrote, “I have so appreciated everyone sharing their IVF stories with me. They made me feel empowered and supported.”
Putting a spotlight on IVF, she also wrote, “So many women go through many rounds of IVF which is painful and mentally grueling. I heard from hundreds of women about their miscarriages and struggles and also many hopeful stories about how after rounds and rounds of IVF, it worked! It has been really encouraging.”
“I just wanted to share and send love and strength to all of the warrior women who go through this process,” she added.
Schumer speaking out about her experience with IVF with her nearly 10 million Instagram followers is critical in "bashing" the emotional and societal pressure that comes with trying to have a child, according to ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton, a board-certified OBGYN.
"It’s not just a physical and financial toll. It’s emotional. It’s psychological. It’s social," Ashton said Monday on "Good Morning America." "We tend to think of ourselves as a failure or have doubt, anxiety, fear, shame. Talking about this is the first step in bashing all of that."
MORE: Amy Schumer talks about the pressure to breastfeed: 'This is not for me'Ashton referred to Schumer's announcement that she and her husband got one "normal embryo" in saying, "We say it all the time in OBGYN because it is true -- you only need one."
She also stressed that, although it is difficult, women should try not to "get bogged down on numbers" when going through the IVF process.
"I want to be clear," she said. "The number of eggs or embryos or even if you choose to use your eggs is not a woman’s reflection as a human being."
