I tried to have a baby for years and spent thousands on fertility treatments. Then I started the ‘King Kong’ of weight-loss drugs… now I’m pregnant
Lindsay Feldman had given up hope of having any more children.
At 34 years old, the Las Vegas native had battled for nearly two years to get pregnant with a second child.
Her first pregnancy had been no problem, but trying for her second five years later, she was told she and her husband, Moye Hullum, had unexplained infertility (when a couple cannot conceive despite normal results from standard tests).
The pair spent $10,000 seeking help from fertility doctors, but, even then, she was only able to have a second child after triple-dosing on the prescribed fertility medication.
Given her struggle, Feldman assumed she would remain a mom of two.
So, when the now 39-year-old started taking tirzepatide – the active ingredient in Mounjaro and Zepbound – at the end of last year to lose weight, pregnancy was the last thing on her mind.
But just 10 months later in October, after losing 25lbs and undergoing routine blood work, Feldman was stunned to be told that she was nearly 12 weeks pregnant.
‘I was in a complete state of shock, I could not believe it at all,’ she told the Daily Mail.
Lindsay Feldman (right), 39, lost 25lbs on tirzepatide. Shortly after, she was shocked to be told by doctors that she was pregnant
‘I went through so much to get pregnant the second time, and I am also older now. It was just a shock to me and even now it still hasn’t sunk in.
‘Everybody thought I was pranking them [when I said I was pregnant again]. Nobody believed me because I am so very type A with my routine, I take control of everything.’
Feldman, who is now 25 weeks along, is one of a growing cohort of women who are finding themselves pregnant after taking the blockbuster weight loss drugs.
And amid viral social media posts, some women struggling with fertility are now even trying to get on the GLP-1 medications for the sole reason of becoming pregnant.
‘When we first started prescribing these medications, we didn’t know this would happen,’ Marlee Bruno, a nurse practitioner who runs med spa Mind Body and Soul Medical in Florida, told Daily Mail. Her spa prescribes FDA-approved Ozempic and Mounjaro.
‘Over the last two and a half years, there has been a huge uptick in the number of users who are getting pregnant. Now, we actually have people who come in and request these medications because they are looking to get pregnant. About 25 percent of [our own] prescriptions are for this purpose.’
Pregnancy-related prescriptions are happening across the country.
‘We are getting a noticeable rise in women seeking these drugs to plan ahead before pregnancy,’ Melanie Speed, a nurse practitioner who owns Flawless Med Spa in Las Vegas and Beverly Hills, told the Daily Mail. ‘They want to be in a healthier place before trying.’
The FDA has not approved the use of any of the weight loss drugs – semaglutide in Wegovy and Ozempic and tirzepatide in Mounjaro or Zepbound – as fertility treatments.
But doctors say it is possible they could raise the likelihood of pregnancy because the weight loss they cause can reduce inflammation and boost the menstrual cycle, which may help someone to conceive.
Side effects of the drugs, such as vomiting, could also stop contraceptive pills from being absorbed, raising the likelihood of an unexpected pregnancy.
Feldman (left) announced her pregnancy in a post on social media with her husband (right). The baby will be their third child
In December 2023 and at 160lbs, Feldman took Ozempic for two months and lost 10-12lbs.
She then switched to a lower dose for maintaining, injecting herself with the drug once every two to three weeks. In December 2024, she upped her dose again.
Doctors generally say patients should follow the instructions on the label, which urge people to use the medication weekly.
At the time when she increased her dosage, she also switched from Ozempic to compounded tirzepatide (a cheaper version of the drug that has not been approved by the FDA), saying she had made the shift because her insurance would no longer cover the diabetes medications. Feldman was initially eligible for the medication because she had gestational diabetes during her second pregnancy.
Tirzepatide was championed as the ‘King Kong’ of weight loss drugs, with doctors saying it was more effective because it mimics two hunger hormones – not just one, as with semaglutide – which further slashes cravings.
Feldman lost 20-25lbs in the next two to three months, and in March 2025 she was at her lowest weight of 131lbs.
She told the Daily Mail that the weight loss boosted her sex life, but it was still nowhere near as much as when she was trying for her second child.
‘When we were trying for a baby in 2020, we were aggressively having sex to have a baby,’ she said.
‘This time, we were not trying nor having sex even close to what we were when we were actively trying. That’s also why it was such a shock.’
Feldman had been taking birth control since her second pregnancy, but came off of it in the summer of 2025 ahead of a 40th birthday blood test. She wanted to check her body’s health and work out whether there was anything she could improve.
Feldman (pictured) experienced mood swings, headaches and a resurgent appetite, but put this down to medications rather than the fact she could be pregnant
Feldman is shown above after starting on testosterone. This picture was taken after she became pregnant but before she was aware of it
After the test in July, she was prescribed testosterone, which may be used to help reduce fatigue, brain fog or prompt more muscle mass in women.
Feldman felt very emotional and moody after she started taking the testosterone, had headaches and was ravenous, but she blamed it all on the hormone.
It wasn’t until she went back to her doctor in October that the real cause was revealed: she was 12 weeks pregnant.
Dr Brian Levine, a fertility doctor in New York City, told the Daily Mail that there was no difference between semaglutide and tirzepatide when it comes to which was more likely to result in a pregnancy.
He did suggest, however, that tirzepatide may be more helpful for some users because it has been linked to fewer side effects, meaning that patients may stay on the drug for longer.
Bruno told the Daily Mail that they currently write about 200 prescriptions for weight loss drugs every month at Mind Body and Soul Medical – a quarter of which are for women trying to get pregnant.
Her patients are normally between 27 and 35 years old, she said, and typically become pregnant after losing 20-25lbs. However, she said in some cases it happened after a patient had lost just 4-8lbs.
Feldman (right) is shown above with her husband and their daughters Halo, 10, and Capri, 5
Feldman is pictured above while pregnant with her second child. Sitting next to her is her first child, Halo. She is now 25 weeks into her third pregnancy
At Flawless Med Spa, Speed said she sees about 50 to 60 patients a month for weight loss, of which about 15 to 20 are taking the drugs to try for a baby.
She said all of her patients were overweight and obese.
Both spa owners said there have been a number of accidental pregnancies among those they have prescribed.
Many patients are concerned after they become pregnant that their weight loss drugs may affect their baby.
Doctors say there is no good evidence that this is the case, although they recommend that women stop taking the drugs once they know they are pregnant.
In April 2024, doctors in the UK warned that the medications could cause abnormalities after trials on animals found they could be harmful if taken for the full pregnancy.
Weight loss drugs have taken the US by storm and estimates now suggest that one in eight Americans may have tried the medications.
Official data does not show an uptick in pregnancies as of yet, although final data for the last two years, when weight loss drugs became more widely available, is not yet available.
‘At the time I heard I was pregnant, I was just in such a state of shock,’ Feldman said. ‘I had already had a mommy makeover, tummy tuck; my youngest daughter is now at five years old, so we could just start to travel again.
‘I just wasn’t trying for a pregnancy. But now, I embrace it. I am really, really excited! It’s our first boy!’
