Victoria Hopewell is the pen name of a Ph.D. clinical psychologist whose experiences with infertility have brought her to the forefront of this thought-provoking topic. While she’s counseled a handful of the over 7 million infertile people in the United States, it was her own story that gave birth to Grade A Baby Eggs: An Infertility Memoir.
After remarrying later in life, the then 44-year old was intent on having a child with her new husband—a once confirmed-bachelor, the last in a long line of descendants of an illustrious Jewish scholar. With old eggs and a fresh desire, Victoria underwent every procedure from Lupron shots through egg harvesting and in vitro fertilization (IVF), journeying toward the acceptance of using a donor egg. Placed on a lengthy waitlist, Victoria and her husband embarked on a surrealistic egg hunt to find their own donor. Their experience led to an insider’s account of the hidden world of egg donation—where good eggs are pricey and a perfect egg commands top dollar.
While obtaining her doctorate in clinical psychology, Victoria completed her internship in the psychiatry department of Harvard Medical School. She has been an instructor in psychology at the medical schools of Harvard and Cornell, and her research has been published in medical journals. Currently, she has a private practice in New York. Most importantly, Victoria Hopewell has herself battled infertility.