Kristen Doute is resuming her fertility journey after getting engaged to her longtime love, Luke Broderick.
The Valley cast member took to her Instagram Story this week where she revealed that she's back in Los Angeles and taking care of business after spending some time with Luke in her home state of Michigan. Kristen snapped a photo of her, hanging out in her car while stuck in traffic, dressed in a casual t-shirt, oversized sunglasses, and her hair in a bun. She subtly showed off her dazzling engagement ring, as she posed with her hand on her face, and stuck out her tongue.
She revealed in the caption of the photo that she is doing something very important now that she's back home. "Back home in LA traffic," she wrote, accompanied by a partying face emoji. "Another day, another fertility appointment," she added, alongside an emoji of two fingers, crossed.
All About Kristen Doute's Fertility Journey
Kristen has been very open about her fertility journey, which was documented on Season 1 of The Valley. The James Mae designer opened up to Luke in Season 1 Episode 2 about her desire to become a mother, as well as her fears surrounding not being able to get pregnant.
"I can't just get knocked up like any day of the week and I feel like it might be really difficult," she explained to him during a hike.
"I'm 40. I'm five years past a geriatric pregnancy, like that's f-cked up," she added. "I don't want to keep talking about that or thinking about it or saying it out loud because I feel like, it's like I'm putting that out into the universe. I'm trying not to put all this stress and pressure on myself."
During an episode of the Vanderpump Rules After Show, Kristen opened up about how hard it was for her to discuss this on the show. But, she was empowered by the strength of her relationship with Luke.
"We have the best communication," she explained, in the video above. "So we have talked this through wholeheartedly on when to start...when Luke and I started dating, we knew that this might not be possible for me...and he was standing by me regardless."
Kristen Doute Suffered a Miscarriage in 2023
During a November 2023 episode of their podcast, Balancing Act with Kristen Doute and Luke Broderick, the couple revealed that they had suffered a miscarriage earlier that year. They had decided to open up about this because Kristen acknowledged that "so many friends" of hers had been through the same experience before.
"It's really f-cking terrifying, because you always think, 'What's wrong? What did I do wrong? Could I have done something different?' And my doctor and friends have told me, inside and out, up and down, that there's no reason — you can Google 'til the day you die — there is literally no cause," she said. "They don't know why."
Kristen Doute Opens Up Her Plans to Conceive Again
After the miscarriage, Kristen revealed on the podcast that she was eager to try to get pregnant again. At the time that the podcast was recorded, Kristen revealed that they hadn't tried in-vitro fertilization or egg freezing — so it's unclear what fertility treatments they are pursuing now.
"I haven't done anything...I just think there's something in God's plan," she said during the episode. "I think that this was just a really unfortunate thing that happened to us and it's just God's plan, man. And I know that we can try fairly soon and that I think we're very hopeful to have a very healthy pregnancy next time around."
