MARBELLA, Spain, July 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- When Olivia Molina Avellaneda, an entrepreneur from Argentina now living in Spain, first met Greg Lindberg, founder of Lifelong Labs, she thought she was facing a lifetime of infertility.
She had long suffered from polycystic ovarian syndrome and endometriosis. She did not think she could ever get pregnant. “I did not even bother using birth control because I believed I was completely infertile,” Olivia says. “My cycle was irregular, and I had a lot of pain during my periods.”
After Olivia and Greg started dating, they decided to start a family together. Since Olivia thought she was not able to have children naturally, they found a fertility clinic who could help them start their family. They pursued IVF and had their first child together.
Olivia also became a vegan and started a program of intermittent fasting that made a major improvement in her health. The vegan diet reduced inflammation and she got pregnant naturally for the first time ever. But the pregnancy was ectopic and resulted in the loss of one of her fallopian tubes.
During her ectopic surgery, the surgeon also discovered that Olivia had major scaring in her fallopian tubes which was partially cleared by the surgery.
After this surgery, Olivia’s reproductive health continued to improve, and she was finally able to have a healthy pregnancy naturally. But this first pregnancy was very hard for Olivia and the baby. There was significant loss of amniotic fluid, and the baby was very underweight because Olivia had nausea during the entire pregnancy.
Olivia also struggled with a miscarriage and her egg retrievals. The first retrieval only produced one good embryo and that resulted in a baby boy. The pregnancy started as twins but one of the twins was lost. Also after about 5 months of the pregnancy, Olivia had placenta previa, a life threatening condition with a lot of bleeding that required her to be on bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy.
The egg retrievals also didn’t produce any female embryos – and Greg and Olivia wanted a daughter. So they sought out egg donors. After they started working with a number of egg donors, they were finally able to access eggs that Olivia had stored in Argentina many years ago and were finally able to have their first daughter together.
Greg likewise had experienced failures in his own attempt to expand his family after his divorce. He has three beautiful children with his ex-wife and wanted to have more children. “After almost three years of effort all I had was several egg donors and gestational carriers that didn’t work out,” Greg says.
"Even though my first marriage didn't end as I hoped, I feel incredibly blessed to have three wonderful, beautiful, and smart children with my ex-wife. The divorce was tough on all of us,” Greg says.
Going through the divorce experience made Greg realize how much he missed the joy of having young children around laughing, exploring, and even the occasional chaos. "I knew I still wanted to expand my family," he shared.
“My grandmother grew up in a one room house boat with 12 brothers, and she was the toughest woman that I’ve ever met,” Greg says about raising a large family.
Over several years, Greg researched various approaches to fatherhood and the diverse ways children can thrive under different family structures. "I discovered that regardless of how families are formed, the most important factor is love," Greg says.
Today, Olivia and Greg have the large family they always wanted. "We are deeply grateful for the beautiful, smart, funny, kind, and diverse family we have been able to build," Olivia and Greg say.
“We get lots of questions about our large family and we decided we wanted to share our unique journey of bringing new life into this world to encourage others to be persistent in their battle with infertility,” they say.
“With the miracle of modern fertility treatments and IVF, you can still have a family – even if you think you are infertile,” Olivia says. “But be persistent,” she says. “I did three egg retrievals before the process eventually worked for me.”
Greg and Olivia say they are deeply grateful for the help of everyone – the egg donors, gestational carriers, and medical professionals who have made their family a success.
Brenda Lynch, who was worked as a project manager for Greg for many years, says “Greg sees fatherhood as more than just providing for his kids; it’s about being deeply involved in their lives and supporting their dreams. He’s extremely passionate about encouraging his kids to follow their interests and dreams.”
“Whether it’s through educational resources, extracurricular activities, or simply spending quality time discussing their latest interests, Greg and Olivia are there to help. Dinner time discussions and interactions are a joy to observe,” Brenda says.
About Lifelong Labs
Lifelong Labs is a wellness, longevity and leadership brand which provide science-based information and programs on fasting, cold exposure, exercise, nutrition, hormesis, sleep, mental wellness, leadership, career development, and more. The company, launched in 2023 by Entrepreneur Greg Lindberg, works with trusted health and wellness experts to provide guidance that is science-based, safe, effective and attainable. The brand connects with audiences through its website, newsletters, subscription-based programs and social media platforms. To learn more, visit LifelongLabs.com.
About Greg Lindberg
Greg Lindberg is a successful entrepreneur, philanthropist and author. To learn more visit http://www.greglindberg.com or GregLindbergStory.com. Over the course of his career, he has acquired and transformed more than 100 companies that were either failing or underperforming, each time finding and empowering great talent—people with the same commitment to hard work, learning, entrepreneurship, and a roll-up-your-sleeves attitude. Today, this group of companies known as Global Growth is worth billions of dollars. His experiences as a leader and related challenges have inspired him to empower people to achieve optimal success through wellness, longevity and leadership. Lindberg also has authored three books: Failing Early & Failing Often; How to Turn Your Adversity into Advantage; 633 Days Inside: Lessons on Life and Leadership and LIFELONG: Quantum Biology, Anti-Aging Science and the Cutting-Edge Program That Will Transform Your Body and Mind. All of his books are available on Amazon. See: https://633days.com/ and see: https://lifelonglabs.com/. In 2020, he founded Interrogating Justice, a non-profit organization whose mission is to bring awareness and help advance solutions that hold corrupt government actors accountable, ensure fairness in sentencing, support reentry, and provide access to justice for all. To learn more visit: https://interrogatingjustice.org/
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