- Erin Andrews is a reporter for "FOX NFL Sunday" and "America's Game of The Week."
- Her son Mack was born via surrogate in July 2023.
Recently Erin Andrews, 45, was on a plane, flying home from an NFL game to her four-month-old son Mack, who was born via surrogate in July.
Another passenger on the plane asked about her son and how he was doing, and Andrews found herself demurring: talking about the mom guilt she felt being away from Mack and her concern that she wasn't enough of a hands-on mother.
"I just don't think I'm doing much parenting right now," during the busy NFL season, Andrews told Insider.
The passenger looked at Andrews and shared that she'd been struggling with IVF herself. That comment instantly brought Andrews back to the "10 years of hell" she and her husband, former NHL player Jarret Stoll, went through to conceive. Andrews started tearing up as she put herself in the other woman's position, so desperately wanting a child. It was a reminder, she said, to relax, cut herself a break, and enjoy the time she has with her son.
"I need to be nice to myself," she said. "I did so much to get him there."
She added, "I don't think I'm giving myself enough credit. All moms don't feel like they're doing enough."
Mack was born after years of infertility
Andrews has known for a long time that she might need help growing her family. She was career-focused and told herself that she would push hard in sports journalism until she was 40 so that she could settle down and have a baby if she wanted. Her career took off while her personal life "took a backseat," so at 35, Andrews began freezing her eggs.
When Andrews was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2016, she and Stoll underwent IVF to freeze embryos, a process that wasn't easy for her.
Eventually, it became clear that surrogacy would provide their best chance at parenthood, but Andrews was shocked to learn how low the odds of success were, she said. With frozen embryos, the overall chances of having a live birth with a surrogate are about 41%.
"We were not prepared for how difficult and risky it is," Andrews said of surrogacy. She and Stoll transferred two embryos to their first surrogate, but neither took. They and their doctor screened five more surrogates before finding the woman who carried Mack.
The relationship was initially awkward. "It's a weird relationship to have because it's the woman who's having your baby," Andrews said. In the end, however, the surrogacy was "everything we wanted," she said.
A delivery room photo shows Andrews kissing the surrogate, who is holding Mack.
"This is what surrogacy looks like," Andrews said. She, Stoll, and Mack still meet with the surrogate and her husband for lunch.
Andrews' nanny has also been an instrumental support, she says
Mack arrived just before Andrews' busiest time of year: the NFL season. Because of that, Andrews has relied on another support: her nanny.
"She's a huge support for me, teaching me through this," Andrews said. "She's kind of a mom to me through it all."
Sometimes, that support is wordless. When Andrews zipped into her home this week to see Mack, coffee in her hand, her nanny wordlessly took the coffee and handed her her infant, understanding that Andrews just needed a moment of connection with her son.
"She's been everything to me," Andrews said of the nanny.
As a busy new mom who has to travel for work, as well as a cancer survivor, Andrews is always focused on her health. Recently she partnered with the supplement company Thorne, which she used throughout her IVF process and still uses to this day.
"It's really important for me to stay healthy," she said.