From the beginning of pregnantish, we’ve featured a number of voices from ABC’s reality television series The Bachelor, including on the pregnantish podcast where we’ve interviewed contestants like Kendall Long & Caroline Lunny, Krisily Fernstrom, and Holly Durst. We’ve often joked that we should have a partnership with ABC to teach the ABCs of fertility to their new contestants on the show!
For the past few years, a friend to pregnantish is another recognizable face from the franchise: Whitney Bischoff Angel, who some may remember as the winner of The Bachelor Season 19, when she accepted Chris Soules’ final rose.
Whitney made history while on the show. She used the global platform to share about her career as a fertility nurse, providing education and representation about reproductive health and fertility for millions of viewers.
What many of you may not know is that this Bachelor star, in addition to being a fertility nurse and fierce fertility advocate, has also struggled with her own fertility journey.
We caught up with Whitney to hear about her experiences with fertility challenges, discuss her passion for empowering women to take control of their reproductive health, and hear how her life has changed since the show.
Here’s Whitney’s story, as told to by pregnantish:
Becoming A Fertility Nurse
Fertility Health was never actually on my career radar. When I was in nursing school, I wanted to be where all of the action was – doing cardiac health, or spending hours in the operating room. But then my mom passed away tragically. Being around death was very triggering for me. I quickly realized I wasn’t cut out for the nursing career I’d envisioned. It was a big turning point in my life where I was questioning my decisions.
I had to take a step back and look into career choices that would be a better fit for me. That’s when I found a job in fertility. When I was in nursing school, I learned about obstetrics and gynecology, but I didn’t learn about the struggles many patients have with fertility. I loved women’s health and always wanted to be a mother, and was interested in exploring fertility nursing. I was given the opportunity to try it out and I’ve never looked back.
People always say to me ‘you’re helping your patients so much.’ What they don’t always see is that equally my patients have been instrumental in my life, and ultimately in my decision to freeze my eggs.
I’ve been able to work with so many different demographics of women and couples on their journey, whether through IVF, IUI, or third party reproduction. People always say to me ‘you’re helping your patients so much.’ What they don’t always see is that equally my patients have been instrumental in my life, and ultimately in my decision to freeze my eggs.
Freezing My Eggs Before It Was Cool
In 2013 when I froze my eggs, not many people were talking about it. My patients would sometimes tell me, ‘there’s nothing I wouldn’t give to go back and make that decision for myself.’ Many of those women didn’t have the option back then to preserve their fertility. So when the opportunity arose for me, I trusted my doctors and the science enough to go for it.
I knew that so much in life comes unexpected, and at that point so much of my life hadn’t gone as planned. But one thing I always knew was that I wanted to be a mom, so if there was any way I could give myself a better chance of that, I would. That’s when I decided to freeze my eggs – long before The Bachelor. I was even in a relationship when I froze my eggs – it wasn’t about that, I just wanted to be prepared for the unexpected.
One thing I always knew was that I wanted to be a mom, so if there was any way I could give myself a better chance of that, I would. That’s when I decided to freeze my eggs – long before The Bachelor. I was even in a relationship when I froze my eggs.
I took off my nursing hat, and put on my patient hat. When I told people about it, many were confused and viewed egg freezing as an act of desperation. I received this negative response, likely because my friends didn’t know or understand enough about the process or even their own bodies. For example, they didn’t know that women are born with all the eggs they’ll ever have in their lifetime, or that fertility for women really declines after 35.
It wasn’t until I froze my own eggs that I really became passionate about providing this service for other women. I had a really eye opening experience learning how much we needed to work on in terms of women’s health, the stigma around a woman’s body, and what we ‘should’ or ‘shouldn’t’ talk about. I realized how much education was lacking in the fertility space, and it became a passion project for me right then and there. I wanted to learn more not only about the science of egg freezing, and why there was a negative connotation with it, but also I questioned: how can we flip the script so that egg freezing is more about empowerment for women?
I was working at a fertility clinic when I froze my eggs. It was a time commitment, but I was lucky to be able to just pop in and get an ultrasound while on the job. Of course it’s different and harder for patients to carve time out of their day if they don’t work in a clinic. I also felt I had the benefit of knowing the right questions to ask. Not everyone has that vantage point, so I felt invigorated to continue to educate and help women to know how to advocate for themselves.
I wanted to learn more not only about the science of egg freezing, and why there was a negative connotation with it, but also I questioned: how can we flip the script so that egg freezing is more about empowerment for women?
Ending Up On The Bachelor
Two years after I froze my eggs, I ended up on The Bachelor.
My journey started out on Monday nights, watching The Bachelor with my girlfriends. All my friends were coupled up in relationships or married. I saw a local casting call in Chicago, and I thought it would at least be a good story if I went. One thing led to another, and as I got deeper into the casting process, it became a question of ‘why not?’. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I dove in.
Life is all about experiences, and learning from them. While I don’t regret doing it, I do want to be clear that the experience was not all roses (no pun intended!). Coming off the show [after we got engaged] was very difficult. Nothing can prepare you for instant, overnight fame. I was very uncomfortable being in the public eye, and I really wanted – more than anything – to get back to work.
On The Bachelor, you spend small amounts of time with the lead of the show. The majority of the time spent is with your peers. We spent a lot of time talking about women’s health and egg freezing! I wanted to share my experience with it, and many of the other women on the show had questions about it, and received my story very well.
On The Bachelor, you spend small amounts of time with the lead of the show. The majority of the time spent is with your peers. We spent a lot of time talking about women’s health and egg freezing!
When the show wrapped, the conversations continued outside of the Bachelor mansion. And though Chris and I ultimately broke up, my friendships have been lasting. Carly Waddell, Kaitlyn Bristowe, Andi Dorfman (from another Bachelor season) – my friends from the show have all come to see me as patients and freeze their eggs!
Professionally, being on the Bachelor allowed me the opportunity to continue to shed light on important reproductive health issues. Few were talking about egg freezing 10 years ago, and now it’s in Vogue! I’d like to think that myself and my friends from The Bachelor played a small role in breaking the stigma around egg freezing. We met on a show to meet a guy that ultimately brought us all together as friends, bonding over a totally different topic. Every once in a while, I’ll have a patient come in and say ‘were you on The Bachelor?’ The platform of The Bachelor really helped me get the word out about infertility and owning your options.
Every once in a while, I’ll have a patient come in and say ‘were you on The Bachelor?’ The platform of The Bachelor really helped me get the word out about infertility and owning your options.
Building My Dream Family
Coming off The Bachelor, and a very public and scrutinized break up with Chris, I was scared to start over and begin dating again.
But once I put myself out there, I met Ricky. It was so refreshing to go on a date with him. We laughed, I felt carefree, I didn’t want the night to end, I didn’t feel judged. I felt like I could be myself. He knew I’d been on the show, but it wasn’t this chronic topic of conversation. Our relationship was organic and natural, and we quickly knew we wanted to be together.
After we got married, we knew we wanted to build a family. I always thought it would be easy for me, even though I saw women at the clinic day in and day out struggling. No one ever thinks, ‘it’s going to be me.’
We attempted to get pregnant and nothing happened for months. I talked to my doctor and asked, ‘Do I need to use my frozen eggs?’ He reminded me that it can take some time, and that it would be more beneficial to wait a bit longer and try to conceive naturally, especially considering how many children I wanted to have.
We continued to be patient, and eventually I got pregnant and had my son Hayes – he is almost 5 now. Hayes came ten days early, and on the anniversary of my mom’s passing. It was a big full circle moment for me. Not too long after Hayes was born, we started thinking about baby number two. Yet again, my life took an unexpected turn.
My Secondary Infertility
I was experiencing some pretty significant chest pain. It was written off time and again because I was an otherwise healthy young woman. I sought second opinions, and ended up in the ER, always to be told nothing was wrong.
A year later I was on vacation with my family and ended up in the ICU with 3.5 cups of fluid around my heart. I had Cardiac Tamponade. For a year, viral pericarditis was undetected. It had festered so long because no one was listening to me – it was very scary. I was put on a lot of medications that were not conducive for pregnancy, and the doctors didn’t know if the pericardium around my heart was ever going to fully heal.
That’s when I thought ‘I’ve got my eggs.’ I was 27 when I froze my eggs, and never thought I’d need to use them. It was always more of a ‘just in case’ thing. It’s strange how quickly that can change.
After about a year of treatment for my heart, I was finally able to ween off medication and was given the green light to try to conceive again. At this point, we had made embryos with my eggs, so we tried to transfer via IVF. It wasn’t working.
I was trying to figure out the next path. It was after two miscarriages, an ectopic pregnancy, considering surrogacy, and planning for another embryo transfer, that low and behold I became pregnant again naturally with my baby girl…The secondary infertility, and the time spent healing my heart, really slowed down our journey to build the big family we’d dreamed of.
I was trying to figure out the next path. It was after two miscarriages, an ectopic pregnancy, considering surrogacy, and planning for another embryo transfer, that low and behold I became pregnant again naturally with my baby girl, who I gave birth to in August 2023.
The secondary infertility, and the time spent healing my heart, really slowed down our journey to build the big family we’d dreamed of. You never think it’s going to happen to you, but life has its own ideas and paths. The one constant I always had was my eggs, and I’m so thankful for that.
Creating A Home For Fertility Preservation
After wrapping up with The Bachelor, the founder and director of aParent IVF Laboratory came to me about her idea to build a home for women seeking fertility preservation options.
I knew from personal experience that trying to conceive, freezing your eggs, and going through IVF treatment can be so taxing and emotional. So when Colleen started OVA, and asked if I wanted to get involved, I knew I wanted to help.
We launched OVA in 2017 in Chicago. OVA is a first-of-its-kind lab-powered fertility preservation program. We give VIP care to any patient looking to preserve their fertility and their options. It’s been an incredible opportunity and one I feel privileged to have been a part of from the beginning.
Planning For The Unexpected
This journey started off with me becoming a nurse at 24. I’m almost 40 now. I think about all the twists and turns, from my career changes, to going on The Bachelor, to break ups, to meeting Ricky, bringing Hayes into this world, struggling with my physical health, secondary infertility, and finally meeting my baby girl.
There might be a third baby in my future, but all I know now is that I cannot make a plan. If we do decide to try again, I know I’ve got my embryos.
Life is short, you get one shot. Having the option to preserve your fertility for the future is something that women didn’t used to have. And now we do. It’s okay to not know what you will want in the future, and I also believe that giving yourself the option can be important and ultimately life-changing.
Life is short, you get one shot. Having the option to preserve your fertility for the future is something that women didn’t used to have. And now we do.
I’ve dedicated myself and my nursing career to women’s health, and educating women about their health options. I want to help women have the education about their health to go forward, and I’m so grateful I get to be in the position to help support people to make more informed decisions around their reproductive health and family building goals.
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