Former “SportsCenter” anchor Sarah Walsh recently announced that she was included in the latest ESPN layoff that has left nearly 100 employees jobless.
As an extra blow, the new mother of twins got the news on the first day that she got back from maternity leave.
“I was truly excited to return to work today from maternity leave with the twins,” she shared on Instagram on May 4. “Unfortunately, I will not be coming back as I was included in the recent layoffs. Much appreciation to those I worked with, and especially those who watched.”
But even amidst the devastating news of losing her job, Sarah is making it a point to count the biggest blessings in her life—her babies, Hutton and Brees.
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Sarah and her husband, Matt Buschmann, have been trying to to start a family for years now, but after three failed pregnancies, their hopes of that were growing weary.
Just yesterday, the ex-ESPN anchor took to Instagram to share the painful journey that led her to motherhood, including having a miscarriage on-air. Because nobody even knew she was pregnant, she was too scared to let anybody know what happened at the time.
But as Sarah cuddled with her “good eggs” on her first Mother’s Day as a mama, she couldn’t help but be grateful for the “dark path” that led her to these precious little ones through IVF.
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Sarah prays that sharing her story will bring comfort and hope to “people out there facing the same struggle”:
“My mother bought them these onesies because she thought they were funny. For us, they’re especially poignant. Finding a good egg didn’t come easy for me, and I suspect there are many people out there facing the same struggle. The road down a dark path began while hosting Sportscenter on the road from Alabama. I arrived in Tuscaloosa almost three months pregnant.
I wouldn’t return the same way. The juxtaposition of college kids going nuts behind our set, while I was losing a baby on it, was surreal. I was scared, nobody knew I was pregnant, so I did the show while having a miscarriage. On television. My husband had to watch this unfold from more than a thousand miles away, texting me hospital options during commercial breaks. It would get worse.
Two more failed pregnancies. More than once, I’d have surgery one day and be on SportsCenter the next so as not to draw attention to my situation. We then went down the IVF road of endless shots and procedures. After several rounds, we could only salvage two eggs. I refused to even use them for a long time, because I couldn’t bear the idea of all hope being gone. I blew off pregnancy tests, scared to know if it worked.
It had. Times two.”
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“It was exciting news, but we knew better than to celebrate. So I spent a third straight football season pregnant, strategically picking out clothes and standing at certain angles, using scripts to hide my stomach. There would be no baby announcement, no shower, we didn’t buy a single thing in preparation for the babies, because I wasn’t sure they’d show up. We told very few people we were pregnant, and almost no one there were two. For those that thought I was weirdly quiet about my pregnancy, now you know why.
For as long as I can remember I hosted Sportscenter on Mother’s Day, and the last couple years doing that have been personally brutal. An hours-long reminder of everything that had gone wrong. I wasn’t on tv today, and I’m not sure when I will be again, but instead I got to hang with these two good eggs. My ONLY good eggs. And I know how lucky I really am. #twins #ivf”
