The birth of Giana Luongo will be featured on The Learning Channel’s ‘A Baby Story’ Tuesday.
By: Audrey Levine
Although births themselves are always miracles, for one Hillsborough couple, it took a bit of science to make the miracle a reality.
Jenn and Jason Luongo, of Hunt Club Road, are preparing to share their struggles, and use of genetic testing, to have a second child on an upcoming episode of "A Baby Story" set to air on The Learning Channel (Channel 60 on Patriot Media lineups) at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
For the Luongos, the story of their episode centered on a difficulty getting pregnant for a second time.
"I was not able to conceive healthy embryos," said Ms. Luongo, whose first child, Ava, is now 4. "I had had three miscarriages (after Ava)."
According to Ms. Luongo, she found that her miscarriages were brought on by chromosomal abnormalities in the fetuses. She said she turned to preimplantation genetic diagnosis with Reproductive Medical Associates in Morristown for help.
Through this process, several eggs are collected from a woman, and are then fertilized by donated sperm, generally from her partner. One or two cells are then extracted from the embryo and tested for any genetic defects. Many genetic diseases can be tested for, including cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease and spinal muscular atrophy.
Out of the 12 embryos fertilized for Ms. Luongo, two healthy ones, a boy and a girl, were implanted, and she was able to get pregnant once again.
"In vitro is not just for those who cannot conceive," she said. "There are other options for people."
Ms. Luongo’s second daughter, Giana Grace, was delivered on Oct. 26, 2006, amid the cameras of the TLC hit, at the Morristown Memorial Hospital.
"When my husband yelled that it’s a girl, Ava started crying," she said. "It was very overwhelming."
The television show details the birth of a child, focusing on the deliveries and the stories behind the pregnancies.
"The show is all the things that go on during the delivery," Ms. Luongo said. "I gravitated to it when I had my first daughter."
Ms. Luongo said she became familiar with the television series first because she was an avid watcher during her first pregnancy, and because a friend of hers had done an episode in which she appeared since she and her husband were to be the child’s godparents.
"Women want to learn as much as they can during their pregnancies," she said.
Ms. Luongo said that when her friend’s episode wrapped, the producers told her to contact them if she was able to conceive again and they would tell her story.
Overall, Ms. Luongo said, she is glad she was on the program, at least because it gave her the opportunity to show other women that there are different options for becoming pregnant. In addition, she said the episode can later become a keepsake for her new daughter.
"It’s a documentary for Giana and shows how hard we tried to have another baby," Ms. Luongo said. "It’s a documentary for her."
Gianna is Hillsborough’s second baby to be featured on the program Balsam Court residents Shannon and Matthew Kulcsar and the birth of their daughter Gabrielle Shea were feature don the show in 2004.