Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
QVC show host pens book on infertility
Kerstin Lindquist debuts ‘5 Months Apart: A story of Infertility, Faith and Grace’
WEST CHESTER >> From first glance, it’s obvious from the chalk tic-tac-toe board etched into the driveway that kids live at this home.
A family of five resides in this house on a big hill, including QVC show host and mom of three, Kerstin Lindquist.
The Emmy-winning journalist is branching out and has written her first book.
“5 Months Apart: A Story of Infertility, Faith and Grace” is now available on bookstore shelves.
She and her husband struggled to have their first child, both through adoption and conventionally. Like a miracle, the family was blessed when Lindquist became a mother twice within a five-month time period.
Daughter Grace was adopted seven years ago, and then, five months later, Georgia became part of the family the old fashioned way. The newest family member, Ben, was adopted and still wears diapers.
The book is a natural extension of Lindquist’s work. She talks openly about her experiences with infertility and adoption on-air at QVC.
The former television newscaster in Las Vegas, Monterey and San Diego, said there’s a major difference between working at QVC and news reporting.
“I’m more a human being, I talk about myself,” she said. “In news, I couldn’t tell stories that help people.”
Lindquist said she often cries on the air, but in a “happy way.”
“I’m just the woman on TV who is willing to talk about things – just like the rest of us – just like the rest of the women out there who don’t have a platform.”
The Christian-based memoir deals with pain and heartbreak. Her family wouldn’t be the same without Christianity.
“I came so close to losing my faith,” she said. “It’s okay to be angry with God. There are times in your life when you will be. When you walk away, that’s when the danger happens.”
Seeking adoption wasn’t a hard decision, but it was a very hard process. Her marriage and faith suffered.
“The joy is sucked out of you,” she said. “When there’s something wrong, that is all you can focus on. I wasn’t in a good mental space.”
After four years of trying, with health insurance almost maxed out, and the last of expensive fertility treatments scheduled, it looked like the couple would not conceive.
“The four years it took to get there, there will always be scars,” she said. “(The book) gives other people hope, to read about what we’ve been through, the toll it took on our marriage. My husband and I turned to other things to cover up our pain.”
Some choose to not talk publicly about adoption.
Lindquist said that when she’s out and about she doesn’t hide from, but celebrates adoption.
“Adoption is not something that should be whispered about,” she said. “When you whisper about it, or say it in hushed tones, it becomes dark. It is not, it needs to have light.”
So what is it like be a TV star living in Chester County?
Lindquist even rides in the West Chester Christmas Parade.
“You always feel eyes on you, even if they don’t say it,” she said. “As a mom of three people, I’m not always made up. I have to make sure that I’m not doing anything to completely embarrass myself.”
Lindquist said that the adoption system is broken.
“There’s a need for reform in adoption, for both adoptive parents and birth parents,” she said.
The new author hears people talking about adoption lightly when they say, “Oh, I might adopt.”
“It’s a life-changing event,” she said. “You have to be prepared.”
Following the first adoption, the couple said collectively that they would “never go through so much hell again.”
Regardless of the pain, she said, there was a happy ending.
“Adoption is not something that should be whispered about. When you whisper about it, or say it in hushed tones, it becomes dark. It is not, it needs to have light.” — Kerstin Linquist, author and QVC program host