Alexis Stewart Continues Fertility Treatments

Martha's 42-year-old daughter spends $28,000 a month trying for a child of her own

Photo: Clark Samuels/Startraks

Even though her eggs are “dry and crusty” (as she called them), Alexis Stewart is determined to get pregnant – so determined, she spends $28,000 a month on fertility treatments.

Stewart, 42, started the difficult process last year, and opened up to PEOPLE in July about how lucky she is to be able to afford the high-tech procedures and special treatments. On Tuesday, she talked to Oprah Winfrey about the emotionally and financially draining process.

Having a baby wasn’t always a priority for Stewart, and now that she’s ready to be a mom, she tells Winfrey it’s almost too late.

“[We] get distracted because now we have jobs, and now we have other things to do. Medicine seems miraculous – you can do anything you want,” she says. “Movie stars have babies late. It seems all possible, but you don’t hear the stories of the people who can’t have a baby.”

Support From Her Mom

Over the summer, Stewart told PEOPLE she’ll do whatever it takes to make Martha Stewart, her mom, a grandmother. “Twice, I’ve given myself shots on the street. I’m much more interested in taking my medication than in what anyone might think about me,” she said.

Stewart has since had three failed egg implantations. “Last month, I had no eggs that were viable, so I’m sort of back to square one at the moment,” she tells Winfrey, adding that she tries not to get too emotional about it.

“When I have to think about my other options, then I will do that,” she says. “But at the moment, I can only think about this option.”

Stewart also says financial and emotional backing from her mom helps. “She’s very supportive. She tells me it will happen all the time,” she says.

“Because she wants grandchildren?” Winfrey asks. Stewart’s response: “Desperately.”

Try, Try Again: Monthly Fertility Treatments

Her current course is very time consuming. In fact, Stewart brought her arsenal of drugs and a hypodermic to share the process with Winfrey.

The day after she gets her period Stewart heads to the doctor for blood tests and an unltrasound. “They look at my ovaries to make sure there are no cysts. They check the lining of my uterus, and then that night, I begin my medication,” she says on the show.

About 10 days later – after twice daily injections – Stewart explains that the doctor will say, ” ‘You’re ready. In two days we’re going to harvest your eggs.’ ”

Because of her age, doctors implant the sperm bank sperm into her eggs directly. “They don’t just wait for it to fertilize,” she explains, “Because your egg is hard and old and crusty. It doesn’t want to make a baby.”

Stewart stays focused by looking at it the process as “sort of a chore. … Not about having a baby, but what I have to go through to get there.”