In a heartwarming turn of events, Tara Lipinski, the 41-year-old Olympic gold medalist celebrated for her historic 1998 Olympics win, has recently embraced the title of “Mom.”
She, along with her 40-year-old husband, Todd Kapostasy, shared the joyous news that they’ve welcomed their precious daughter, Georgie, into the world, courtesy of a surrogate.
A Dream Come True
“I dreamt about this for so long,” Tara Lipinski shared, while seated in her sunlit living room, with baby Georgie peacefully napping nearby. She expressed her excitement about the adventure that comes with mothering a newborn, from the sounds of a crying baby to those sleepless nights. Even those moments when she attempts to catch an hour’s nap, she can’t help but be elated, knowing that her little one is right there, within reach.
The Best Kind of Tired
Lipinski affectionately describes this new phase as “the best tired I’ve ever been.” The couple, who tied the knot in 2017, can’t help but marvel at their current state of bliss, a dream they once feared might remain unfulfilled.
A Journey Marked by Resilience
Georgie’s arrival is the culmination of a five-year struggle with infertility that included several heart-wrenching miscarriages. This challenging period left Tara Lipinski feeling broken and isolated until she and Kapostasy decided to open up about their experiences on their vulnerable podcast, Unexpecting, which launched in August. “I felt so unseen, so unheard for so long. I was tired of not sharing,” she candidly admitted.
Lessons Learned
Infertility was a tough teacher for the athlete, who also serves as a sportscaster for NBC alongside Johnny Weir. “It made me realize that sometimes life is just not fair,” she reflected. “For so long, I thought, ‘Oh, you get a win, you get a loss, everything evens out.’ As a skater, I was able to train harder, to push through. But when it came to infertility, there are things you can’t change.”
Overcoming Challenges
After enduring multiple miscarriages, Lipinski, who battles endometriosis, and Kapostasy discovered that a reproductive immunology issue was at play, causing her body to reject their fertilized embryos. “I went through four pregnancies, four miscarriages, four D&Cs [dilation and curettage, a procedure to remove pregnancy tissue from the uterine lining],” she revealed.
A Heartfelt Decision
After the last miscarriage, Lipinski made a life-altering decision: “It was like, ‘Okay Tara, you’ve put your body through enough.’ That’s when I decided to explore other options.”
A Surrogate’s Gift
She developed a profound connection with her surrogate, Mikayla, who became pregnant with one of the couple’s fertilized eggs early this year. During Georgie’s birth, the emotional depth of the moment was underscored by the strains of Dave Matthews’s song ‘You and Me,’ which brought tears of relief. “I felt like I could breathe again,” Tara Lipinski confessed.
Strengthening Their Bond
The years of struggle placed a significant strain on her marriage, but Lipinski now views this as a beautiful part of their journey. “It gave us time to figure out how to support each other,” she said of her husband, Kapostasy. “I would have loved for us not to have gone through all this. But now, I can’t imagine it any other way.”
Tara Lipinski’s journey to motherhood is a testament to resilience, love, and the power of shared experiences, inspiring many with her story of triumph over adversity.