July 9, 2026

By Erica Schwiegershausen

Illustration: Reena Wu

At 44, Kristi Linboom was already the mother to three grown children. But she’d recently remarried, and she and her new husband wanted a baby. How hard could it be? After all, it seemed like genetics were on her side: Linboom’s mother was 42 when she had her last baby. Plus, advances in reproductive technology meant that it was no longer unheard of for women to do IVF well into their 40s; even her own OBGYN was trying to get pregnant around that age. So when Linboom had her first egg retrieval just before her 45th birthday, she assumed she wouldn’t have much trouble. After that first retrieval, they ended up with four embryos and transferred two of them. But the transfer didn’t work — and neither did the next one, or the next. Soon, she was 46.

The couple live in Illinois but ended up choosing a clinic in New York because it was cheaper and offered in-house financing options. To save money, Linboom and her husband drive 11 hours each way for every procedure. Her husband has started working a second job, and they stopped eating out and going on vacation. So far, she’s transferred 12 embryos, none of which have resulted in a pregnancy. The process has left them with more than $20,000 in credit-card debt. Her doctors have told her the statistics: that given her age, there’s a very small chance she’ll have a baby with her own eggs. Still, she feels like they’ve been encouraging, especially since she doesn’t have a history of infertility.

Gossip, revelations, and timelines.

ADVERTISER CONTENT

Every product is independently selected by editors. If you buy something through our links, New York may earn an affiliate commission. For more shopping advice, sign up to get the Cut Shop newsletter every Friday.

ADVERTISER CONTENT

A newsletter about sex and relationships.