Everything Kim Kardashian Has Said About Fertility And Struggling To Conceive

Fertility issues can be a sensitive subject, and many couples choose to deal with their struggles behind closed doors. Despite how hush-hush the topic can be, infertility is a common problem. According to Mayo Clinic, 10% to 15% of couples struggle to conceive. Even after conceiving, up to 20% of known pregnancies end in a miscarriage (per Mayo Clinic), and an estimated 8% of pregnancies involve serious complications (via Johns Hopkins Medicine).

Even high-profile celebrities struggle with infertility, including Kim Kardashian. The reality star and Skims owner currently has four children with ex-husband Kanye West, first giving birth in 2013 and welcoming her youngest in 2019, People reports. "Being a mom of four is definitely really hectic, but it feels so complete ... I'm obsessed with being a mom," she told E! News. Kardashian celebrates being a mother to four now, but fertility and pregnancy issues nearly wrecked her journey to motherhood.

Kim Kardashian posted a video to Instagram in 2019 in which she revealed her harrowing experiences trying to conceive and give birth, starting with her first child, North West. During her pregnancy, she developed pre-eclampsia and had to deliver six weeks early. Following the birth, Kardashian developed placenta accreta, "what women die from in childbirth," she explained.

Still, the star wanted to continue expanding her family and try conceiving again, this time turning to IVF, or in vitro fertilization. She says in the video, "I still continued to do the process of freezing my eggs. I was able to get pregnant through that with my son Saint [West]." Though the IVF was successful, it wasn't easy. She told Today in 2015 that she had considered using a surrogate for her second child, in case IVF failed.

During her pregnancy announcement in the July 2015 issue of Glamour, Kardashian explained, "There are definitely times when I walked out [of the doctor's office] hysterically crying ... The waiting and waiting has been a roller coaster." In another interview with C Magazine (via People), the reality star elaborated, saying that she "would go to the doctor in Beverly Hills every day at five in the morning to get tested to see if [she] was ovulating," a process that took "the fun out of" getting pregnant.

When Kim Kardashian gave birth to her son Saint West in December 2015 (per People), she once again suffered complications. "I had the same condition and the same awful delivery that I had with my first daughter," she recalled in her Instagram video. The pregnancies had taken a toll on her body, and she had to have five operations "to fix the damage that all of that did from the inside." Though she had saved two embryos and wanted to try IVF again, doctors refused her request due to her physical condition. This led to Kardashian turning to surrogacy for her third and fourth children. "I'm so thankful for surrogates," she said in the clip.

Surrogacy allowed the star to expand her brood with Kanye West, and the couple welcomed Chicago West in January 2018 and Psalm West in May 2019, born via two separate surrogates. But surrogacy, too, posed some challenges. After starting the surrogacy process, Kardashian explained to ET in 2017, "Anyone that says or thinks [using a surrogate] is just the easy way out is just completely wrong. I think it is so much harder to go through it this way, because you are not really in control. And, you know, obviously you pick someone that you completely trust and that you have a good bond and relationship with, but it is still ... hard for me."

After welcoming her fourth child, Kim Kardashian announced publicly that she doesn't want more children. She told E! News in 2019, "I'm definitely done ... I feel like four is my limit," and she later echoed this sentiment on "The Ellen Show" in 2021, saying, "I have a lot of kids. I'm done." Given her past pregnancy and fertility complications, this might be expected.

However, there are hints that the Skims founder may be open to trying again in the future. A source told Hollywood Life that, during her relationship with Pete Davidson, Kardashian was open to having more children, though she would rely on surrogacy again. During a 2022 interview with Access, the star also alluded to the possibility of having more kids. During the interview, the star was asked to hold up a photo of who she thought would go on to have as many children as mom Kris Jenner, who has six children total (per Page Six). Kardashian raised a photo of herself, hinting that she may be considering having at least two more little ones in the future.

Aside from using surrogates again, the star of "The Kardashians" may also be open to adopting. When asked by Today if she would adopt one day, she replied, "Never say never."