If you’ve read any of my previous blog posts, you might remember that our last round of IVF gave us one little embryo good enough to freeze. A little bundle of cells that embodied so much hope and emotion, preserved cryogenically until we felt ready to try again. That precious embryo - lovingly dubbed “Frosty”... Continue Reading →
All over the internet, the same questions crop up time and time again under posts about IVF and fertility treatment. Below, I attempt to answer some of the clangers that those of us going through fertility treatment get asked on a regular basis... (Note: these are my own answers and are therefore based on my... Continue Reading →
Excuse me while I rant... A while ago, in the midst of what would become several months of experimenting with fertility treatment, our two cats decided to devour the decaying, fly-ridden carcass of a frog they'd found outside. It made them ill - a "coming out of both ends" kind of ill which lasted for... Continue Reading →
Anyone who has so much as dipped their little toe in the ocean of infertility will have been told, at one point or another (but most likely several hundred times), that they need to “just relax”. Given that the reason for mine and Simon’s infertility is a lack of motile sperm (which is quite obviously... Continue Reading →
Our first IVF cycle begins in January and despite the fact that it’s taken 812 days and 29 sad, unfertilized eggs to get to this point, I’m still in a state of total disbelief that we’re here. But we are here and this is happening. [For any fans of The Office (US version) – that... Continue Reading →
At the beginning of 2018, with over a year’s worth of very decidedly unsafe sex under my belt and shortly after learning that my husband and I were working with “sub-optimal” (read: lazy) sperm, I started writing a journal…of sorts. At this point, nobody knew of our desire - let alone our struggle - to... Continue Reading →
Paying for private fertility treatment is a luxury (and I use that word lightly) that not everyone can afford. On the flip side, access to free fertility treatment on the NHS is a luxury that not everyone can take advantage of. The “postcode lottery” in the UK means that, essentially, the street you live on... Continue Reading →
Somehow, through a mixture of happy coincidences and shameless self-promotion, I've landed myself a little writing job. Over the past few weeks, I've been working with a company called abc ivf who offer the UK's most affordable IVF treatment. Professor Geeta Nargund and her team of fertility specialists recognise that not everybody is lucky enough... Continue Reading →
By day 2 of trying for a baby I thought - oh right, I'm pregnant now. Two weeks later, having spent much of that time re-imagining the next 9 months as a pregnant woman, I was totally perplexed when a very unwelcome "Aunt Flow" arrived right on schedule. How could I not be pregnant? I’d... Continue Reading →
This is my first proper blog post. I suspect that I’m supposed to open with something profound and philosophical but the truth is… I’m just a bit lost. I don’t mean in terms of the blogosphere – sure there’s that too – but I’m lost trying to navigate my way through a journey I never... Continue Reading →