The journey to parenthood is not always an easy one.
Hundreds of thousands of couples across the world experience fertility issues, but now there may be new hope for them.
Marcela Romero, of Fort Myers, says she and her husband tried to conceive naturally for years.
"I didn’t know if it was going to happen," she said.
After seeing fertility specialists, Romero and her husband decided that in vitro fertilization would be their final attempt.
"I was like, 'We’re going to try it, but if it doesn’t happen, it is what it is,'" she said.
But before starting IVF treatments, Romero discovered that she was prediabetic. Her doctor put her on medication in hopes of getting that under control first before putting her body through the wringer of IVF, which can cause a lot of side effects.
"Well, lo and behold, I started taking Mounjaro for my diabetes, and then a month after, like a month and a half, I was pregnant. Yes, it was insane," said Romero.
Mounjaro, the medication Romero took to treat her diabetes, is what she believes also allowed her to get pregnant.
"I was like, 'Well, no kidding. Everybody is getting pregnant on Mounjaro,'" said Romero.
Her story is becoming more common. Thousands of women have taken to social media claiming semaglutide medications — like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro — can not only treat diabetes and help with weight loss, but also help them get pregnant, too.
The babies born from it are now being called "Ozempic babies."
The question now is whether these medications could be used as an alternative to fertility treatments.
"I wouldn’t put all my eggs — no pun intended — in one basket," said Dr. Sue Hook, a nurse practitioner with Samaritan Health and Wellness.
Hook believes the main contributor to women becoming pregnant while taking semaglutide medications is the weight loss they experience.
"We know that being overweight and morbid obesity decreases fertility," said Hook.
Hook also stresses that these drugs are not benign and can cause side effects.
"I hope people are not taking this and thinking, 'Oh, this is the new fertility push,' because it may not be," she said.
Hook recommends only taking these medications if you actually need them and after speaking with your health care provider.
Romero is hoping that her story and the thousands of others like hers can inspire more research on whether or not these drugs can help aspiring parents.
"I’m excited to see how it can help people who can’t afford IVF. I was one of them," said Romero.
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