ORLANDO, Fla. – The difficulty of having a child is something many couples struggle with, but few actually talk about.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 12 percent of women who are of child-bearing age suffer from infertility or have difficulty carrying a pregnancy to term.
Georgio and Kristan Rodriguez know the struggle well.
They have been married for nearly 13 years, and both have successful careers.
Kristan Rodriguez is an elementary school teacher.
Georgio Rodriguez is a film and television director of photography, who has worked with celebrities such as P-Diddy, and on popular TV shows, like "Survivor" and "Undercover Boss."
The one thing they struggled with was having a child.
"That is the most devastating thing that's ever happened in my life," said Georgio Rodriguez of his wife losing their first child.
After fertility treatments and at 8 months pregnant, Kristan Rodriguez thought she was going into labor, but after rushing to the hospital, they were told the baby had no pulse.
Their son was stillborn.
Kristan Rodriguez had internal bleeding that she said nearly killed her.
"I got stuck in that blame," she said. "It was all my fault. I did it. I did something to cause it."
It took four years before the couple would try again.
Eighteen weeks into the next pregnancy, during a check-up, it happened again.
"Just sitting in there and looking at the monitor and seeing the baby and seeing no heartbeat -- that really took us over the edge," Georgio Rodriguez said.
"It was unreal," Kristan Rodriguez told News 6 investigator Louis Bolden. "I couldn't even believe it."
This time, Kristan Rodriguez said he she had to wait a week to have the unborn child removed from the womb.
"I had to walk around pregnant, look pregnant, but the baby was gone," she said.
After the procedure, she bled internally and said she nearly died again.
"I almost didn't make it out of the clinic," she said.
Grief-stricken after two failed pregnancies, Kristan Rodriguez said she even contemplated suicide.
The couple decided it might be time to give up on having their own children, and they became foster parents.
Twice, they tried to adopt their foster children, only to have family members come forward to claim them at the 11th hour.
The couple said it was another loss.
"You get attached to the children," Kristan Rodriguez said. "I felt like my kids were literally being ripped out of my arms every time."
To avoid the hurt again, they tried private adoption.
Just days after signing the paperwork and paying the fees, they found out they were pregnant, again. The third time was the charm.
Their son, Royal, is 11 months old.
The journey that led to him was so difficult that the couple rote a book about it, called "The Rough Road to Royalty."
"We were blessed with our son, Royal. He means the world to us," Georgio Rodriguez said. "No matter what you're going through, God is real and God is a miracle worker. This is a prime example of a miracle in our life."
The Rodriguezes said they wrote the book to offer hope to other couples but also to discuss the depression that goes along with infertility, miscarriages and stillbirths.
The couple said they got two blessings with their son and the child they are adopting.
You can get a copy of their book here or on Amazon.