Abby Elliott’s Kids Make Magazine Debut as She Details IVF Experience

Abby Elliott’s children are making their magazine cover debut!

The Bear actress and mom of two, 38, graced the cover of Parents, posing alongside her son William Joseph, 2, and daughter Edith Pepper, 5. While speaking with Parents, Elliott opened up about her journey to parenthood with husband Bill Kennedy.

The actress shared that the couple struggled to conceive naturally and decided to do in vitro fertilization to increase their chances.

“It wasn’t working. We never got pregnant naturally,” she told the outlet. “So we went to a clinic, and they told us, ‘After all the tests, you guys have to go straight to IVF,’ and specifically ICSI, which is where sperm is directly injected into the egg. Because we had that information, that saved us a lot of time, blood, sweat, and tears.”

The Saturday Night Live alum went on to share how excited she and her husband were when they received the call that they had embryos.

“You’re just waiting by the phone to hear about these potential babies,” she shared. “When we found out we had embryos, we were so excited. We were ready to go through with the transfer.”

However, at the same time, Elliott received another call that forced her to choose between her career and her family plans.

“I was like, ‘Wow, this is such a big break. I don’t want to be pregnant for the first season of a sitcom,’ ” she said. “So we put it on hold for another eight months, and made the decision to transfer an embryo after the sitcom had aired.”

Elliott also opened up about experiencing a chemical pregnancy, which is an early miscarriage that happens before the fifth week. The All Her Fault actress told the outlet that it was “devastating.” She also shared she had a “difficult time talking about it with people” because of how early on in her pregnancy it occurred.

“It was very early, and it was still devastating,” she recalled. “I had a difficult time talking about it with people because the voice in my head was saying, ‘Well, it was early!’ or ‘At least you weren’t further along!’ And then the term ‘chemical’ on top of it makes you feel almost like it was just the wrong formula in a test tube.”

Reflecting on her experience with IVF, the proud mom said it was “a lot,” adding she at one point let it “dictate my happiness.”

“It was a lot because IVF kind of became my full-time job at the time,” she explained. “I kind of let everything about it dictate my happiness.”

Elliott added, “You’re hopeful that it’s going to work out, especially when you hear the positive news, but you never know because you also hear stories of it not working out.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.  

Now, as a mother of two, Elliott is navigating raising two children under 5. She told the outlet that her and her husband’s differing parenting styles balance each other out, noting they “make a good team.”

“I think that my parenting style is very laid-back,” she said. “There’s no TV limit. There’s no candy limit. It’s a little more intuitive.”

“I’m like, ‘Oh, you like art? Let’s spend an afternoon painting outside.’ Then I have my husband, who’s very different from me, and he’s like, ‘No, let’s get them in this activity and keep them busy,’ ” she added. “We make a good team in that way because the kids have a little bit more structure with him.”