Clik here to view.
Information: Finding the cheapest way to have IVF
Forgive a brief interruption to the narrative flow of this memoir once again. I felt that it might be helpful to share some information. I recently posted on a fertility forum asking if there was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Preparing for IVF – Needles, needles and more needles
My hands are shaking and I feel faint. For years I’ve had a phobia of sharp objects, especially needles, and now my worst nightmare is being realised – I have to give myself an injection. A few days...
View ArticleClik here to view.
On longing
I spend Christmas Day walking, for miles around the city of Copenhagen. Every pace forward is a valiant attempt to keep my mind off tomorrow’s scan and the possibility of all this effort and expense...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Preparing for IVF – Second scan (and all systems are go!)
I arrived early for my second scan. I recognised the auburn-haired nurse I’d seen the day before and she showed me into the scanning room straight away. This time, a friendly-faced male doctor with a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The evening before
I’d taken the Ovitrelle injection (for ovulation) the previous evening at the instructed time and awoke to my first blue sky since arriving in Copenhagen. My only task was to stay calm and not think...
View ArticleClik here to view.
IVF – The experience of egg collection (and being part of a miracle)
I arose early after an understandably restless night and caught the bus to the fertility clinic. Dark clouds hung low in the sky and the temperature had warmed slightly. Alone in the waiting room, I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The wonder of IVF – Embryo transfer
So much has been written about the pain and emotional trauma of IVF. Of course I will be deeply upset if the process doesn’t work but the overwhelming sensations I felt during the egg collection and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The two week wait (pregnant until proven otherwise!)
And I am into the dreaded Two Week Wait, or ‘pregnant until proven otherwise’. Many claim this to be the hardest part of the IVF process. No more scans, blood tests or monitoring by the clinic, just...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A faint glimmer of hope
I am holding my future in my hands. Trembling fingers can barely rip open the plastic casing containing the thin strip that will show me whether I’m pregnant, or have just thrown away a chunk of life...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pregnant… but a long road yet to travel
I’m even reluctant to cough! It may be early pregnancy paranoia but I’m worried that any sudden jerk to my abdomen will somehow dislodge the growing embryo. I’ve been trying to treat myself as gently...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My tiny universe
I can’t take my eyes off the ultrasound monitor. That tiny, indeterminate black dot has grown. In the last few days, it has increased from a 3mm speck to an unambiguous 8mm elliptical blotch. It...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pregnant with a cold
It’s the curse of every teacher joining a new school; hundreds of unfamiliar germs lie waiting to pounce on his or her unsuspecting immune system, dragging it down like a rugby player in a tackle. I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The longest three months of my life
Each day of the first trimester of pregnancy must seem like walking on a knife edge for any woman keen to be a mother, but for a soon-to-be-thirty-eight ‘last chancer’ who has invested everything in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Beyond the twelve week scan
Sunday 17th March was the date set for my twelve week scan. I’d been scanned at almost 9 weeks but it seemed like an eternity to wait. Three months was a real milestone – if I could only get through...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Glowing
Pregnancy is beautiful. Despite the decades of period pains and the agony of birth, I wouldn’t swap the privilege of growing a child within my body for anything. I feel like a creator goddess, like my...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dreading the 20 week scan
Photo courtesy of Christopher Robbie The 20 week scan fear begins to creep into my thoughts like a frosty shadow over the blooming garden of second trimester bliss. Next Friday afternoon could utterly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Surviving the 20 week scan
Elizabeth, the sonographer, is holding me in her arms while I sob… and we haven’t even started yet! The terror of receiving bad news at the 20 week ultrasound scan has grown rapidly worse all week....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Clik here to view.
Over to you… (A blog for all single women trying to conceive)
The journey was long but I reached my goal; I have a beautiful baby boy. I now want to help others to feel the same joy. So the nature of this blog is changing. I want it to be a place of support for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A reponse to the Mail’s article about the UK’s NHS-funded sperm bank
The Mail on Sunday newspaper sank to a new low today. Its headline was maliciously tailored to incite hatred and whip up a scandal by demonising vulnerable women (lesbians and those who are single) who...
View Article
