[LindaT]

From Elizabeth Cohen
CNN Medical Unit

NEW YORK (CNN) -- After five years of trying, Tanya Dyce-Lovelace finally had a baby.

"I remember my mother said to me one day, 'Well, maybe you're not supposed to be a mom -- maybe you're supposed to be an aunt,'" says Dyce-Lovelace.

But she refused to accept it. "I believe in the heavenly father and so long as there is one, I will have a child," she said.

Dyce-Lovelace didn't do in-vitro or any of the fertility drugs we've all heard about. She did something new, something on the cutting edge: She had her stomach stapled.

She went from 270 to 208 pounds. She got pregnant with Clarence on the first try. And then about a year and a half later, Adia was born.

Dr. Mitchell Roslin at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City did Tanya's surgery. He explains that obesity can cause serious hormonal imbalances in some women. Such imbalances and mean no pregnancy for some women.

"Then as they lose weight, they become very, very fertile," Roslin said.

So far, there have been no studies to prove gastric bypass works -- just anecdotal evidence.

Roslin says about a dozen of his previously infertile patients got pregnant after surgery.

This radical approach to fertility isn't for everyone. As a rule, surgeons won't do it unless you're at least 100 pounds overweight and have tried to lose weight in other, less drastic ways.

Plus, you have to be willing to change your eating habits forever. After the surgery, the stomach shrinks in size dramatically. That means tiny meals for the rest of your life.

That was quite an adjustment for Dyce-Lovelace.

"That has been difficult at times. It is very different but it has all been worth it, and when I see my children it's definitely worth it ... it's not like the weight loss hasn't been very positive in my life also," she says.

As obesity rates continue to skyrocket in the U.S. more infertile women may look to stomach stapling as a solution. But doctors warn it's a drastic step.

And while it seems to work for some obese women, it won't work for everyone.