Making pancakes just that tiny bit healthier… Who doesn’t love pancakes? What a way to start the day. But a conventional pancake contains gluten, is covered in sugar and doesn’t contain much goodness. That’s why it tastes so amazing. So here is how I make my gluten free breakfast pancakes with flaxseed and nut butter for a bit of extra nutritional value and no refined sugar (all the sweetness comes from the banana. INGREDIENTS I banana 2 eggs 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 2 tablespoons of almond or cashew nut butter 2 heaped tablespoons of ground flaxseed 2 heaped tablespoons of ground almond ..read more

Ask me anything As always, I’d just like to remind everyone that I am not a fertility expert, medical professional, nutritionist or dietitian (if I were I would be better at spelling that word… why is it that I continuously have trouble?). I am just a girl with a relaxed attitude to oversharing who has been wrestling with infertility for years, reads a ton of books (admittedly slowly) and is happy to try both sensible and ridiculous food and lifestyle changes in pursuit of a baby. PART 2 IVF 1.How many rounds of IVF did it take to get pregnant?  We have to do PGS testing so can only do on ..read more

Fueling male fertility - nutrition and lifestyle guidance for me trying to conceive BY Lauren Manaker Ms, RDN, LD, CLEC 2019 EDITION PAGES 120 total (94 text, remainder references) Overview of the Book In a market dominated by advice to females on our fertility, finally here is a fantastic book on male fertility. About time too, given that according to the book, fertility issues are equally distributed between males and females with 40-50% of infertility cases being due to a male factor. I have no doubt that it will still be the female in the relationship buying this book, because that is what ..read more

Ask me anything As if my life were a work presentation, I have opened up the floor to questions. I was afraid that nobody would ask anything and I would either have to immediately archive the Instagram post to hide my unpopularity or set up a pseudonym account for my husband Joe and demand that he throw some (carefully stage managed) queries my way. Luckily you kind people have asked me plenty of questions. Actually, so many that I have split it in to three parts, with some questions being rather tricky, just to keep me on my toes (thanks ladies). As always, I’d just like to remind everyone th ..read more

Vaginal steaming. I know what you are thinking - What. On. Earth. Vaginal steaming was a practise first suggested to me by my fertility masseuse, although she called it a ‘womb steam’ which sounds a lot less icky. She said it would help with my fertility so yep, I went there. And now I am dragging you along with me on a magical wonderland written exploration of the topic. So strip your pants off and let’s get started. Are vaginal steaming and yoni steaming the same thing? Much like a member of the royal family, the vaginal steam has a number of official names and titles: v-steaming, yoni steam ..read more

I am lucky enough to have two frosties currently freezing their arses off, waiting for me to collect them. But how the FET do I go about getting them back? How long do I have to wait after giving birth to my first IVF baby? Can I breastfeed whilst going through treatment? What is the waiting list and how much does it cost? Honestly, I have so many questions I feel like an IVF virgin all over again. After taking a deep breath, buckling back into the IVF ride and bracing myself, I did it. I emailed my IVF clinic about frozen embryo transfer (FET). After adding my patient number to the top of the ..read more

inconceivable By Julia Indichova 2001 edition Pages 180 Overview of the Book inconceivable (presumably an intentional lower case ‘i’ and not a typo in a one word title?) is the personal story of Julia Indichova’s quest for a second baby.  The memoir recounts her two year struggle with secondary infertility, low ovarian reserve and her fight to convince any IVF clinics to take her on as a patient, due to her staggeringly high FSH (follicule stimulating hormone) results.  The Western medical community, being its usual positive ray of sunshine, washed their hands of her, declaring that ..read more

Dare To Dream By Izzy Judd 2017 edition Pages 269 What is the book about? An uplifting personal story Dare to Dream is the personal story of Izzy Judd, her struggle to conceive with PCOS, her experience of IVF, her miscarriage and subsequent pregnancy (and I hope that by cantering through this description I am not exposing too many of the plot twists). The memoirs begin in childhood and travel through to almost present day. Unlike Louise Brown’s book My Life as the First Test Tube Baby (sorry Louise), Izzy’s descriptions of life events dwell on relevant and engaging aspects for a completely ap ..read more

Stick It To Me Baby By Danica Thornberry 2016 edition Pages 212 What is the book about? Putting a bit of spirituality back into the scientific world of fertility The tag line for Stick it To Me Baby is 'Inserting spirit into the science of infertility' and that is what this book is all about - how to work on your emotions, spirituality and mindset to positively influence your fertility.  Many of the books sold on infertility focus on the science behind it, the diagnosis and tests that you may experience and the ins and outs of nutrition, including the science behind the food choices to ma ..read more

To celebrate 40 years of IVF I decided to expose myself at work.  Not physically, although post IVF egg collection I repeatedly wandered around the office with my trousers undone because, quite frankly, the stubborn blighters refused to button up around my bloat.  Instead I exposed myself emotionally, with a post on the work intranet informing the few thousand people I work with that I struggled with infertility and had IVF (you can read what I wrote on my website - link in bio).  This morning the intranet opened up to a photo of me from the day of egg collection, wearing my hos ..read more