I listened to BBC Woman’s Hour last week which featured The Donor Conception Network and The HFEA talking about donor conception in the UK and how, since the law changed back in 2005, this year is the first year that donor conceived individuals turning 18 will be able to request information about the donor and their genetic origins. It seems many are waiting to see what happens and how many come forward, as it’s only now that this law really comes into play, even though Open ID no longer seems like a new concept in the UK. Someone asked me recently to talk more about my ..read more

My story starts in the early 1980’s. My parents have been married for many years but unable to conceive. After exhausting all avenues my parents finally get pregnant with the help of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) and I go down in the history books as one of the first collection of IVF babies ever born. I had a fantastic childhood. Like the best. I’m sporty, confident and successful in school. As the typical ‘Daddy’s girl’, my dad and I are inseparable. He was my world. We were incredibly close. We just got one another. At around twelve years of age I remember having a huge knot in my stomach. M ..read more

When we were in the early stages of considering donor conception I heard someone talking about how every year they’d informed their child’s school teacher that their child was conceived using donor sperm. I was taken aback and immediately thought – why make such a big deal out of it? Why do they have to know something that is so private, surely all that matters is that I’d be the mum and Matt would be the dad? It was difficult back then to consider these types of conversations, I found it hard to allow myself to even imagine having a school-age child and I feared what people might think, that ..read more

  I recently created a resource to support those using a donor to conceive in talking to family and friends, with advice for loved ones on what it means and how they can best offer emotional support. One the the topics covered was ‘why is there a need to talk to the child?‘ Those of you who have followed my blog for a while will know that being honest with our children is something I advocate for from an early age, a topic I share our own personal experiences of, as a way to give confidence and support to others. I was honoured last year to have the opportunity to interview Dr Marilyn Cr ..read more

I’m continuing to share experiences from those who are donor conceived themselves, a vital perspective for us to understand and learn from as parents through donor conception. I’ve found it much more difficult to find voices of those conceived through egg donation, most likely because it’s more recent and less common than sperm donation, but I am very grateful to two egg donor conceived ladies who have very kindly taken the time to share their experiences with us. I asked my Instagram followers what they would like to know and, with so many questions received, I’ve condensed them down into key ..read more

Today I’m starting to share experiences from those who are donor conceived themselves, a vital perspective for us to understand and learn from as parents through donor conception. I’ve found it much more difficult to find the voices of those conceived through egg donation, most likely because it’s more recent and less common than sperm donation, but I am very grateful to two egg donor conceived ladies who have very kindly taken the time to share their experiences with us. I asked my Instagram followers what they would like to know and, with so many questions received, I’ve condensed them down ..read more

What I wish I’d known about using a known egg donor Looking back, the darkest part of our whole infertility ‘journey’* was not when I received my diagnosis of premature ovarian failure. Nor was it when I only grew a single egg during our first IVF cycle, which subsequently failed. Nor was it when the following two cycles also failed. Don’t get me wrong — each of these events left me completely devastated. Each time, I crawled into bed and cried for days. We just hadn’t reached peak devastation. That was still to come. And it did come, ultimately in the form of our fertility clinic in ..read more

Paths to Parenthub & DefiningMum are collaborating with Apricity and Altrui When I first launched my virtual donor conception support platform Paths to Parenthub I said that I wanted emotional support to be recognised as an essential part of the donor conception journey, not just an optional extra. I particularly wanted fertility clinics to recognise this and for donor conception not to be seen solely as a ‘practical’ process, but one that is often complex and requires deep emotional consideration, not just for us as patients now but to prepare us to best support our future ..read more

By telling my story I hope to lead the way and help raise awareness of Premature Menopause/POI. As a younger woman who has been dealt this card, I also want to try and help other ladies with my positive outlook on life. I have never let it define me or take away my spirit for a good life. I have it tough yes, but I am not going to let it ruin me. We have one shot at this so let’s live it as happily as we can. Here’s the background to my story…. 14 years old and told I had gone through the menopause… yep that’s right 14 years old. I will never forget that day, sitting on the bed in a hospital r ..read more

January. It has always been a funny time for me. I usually get itchy feet of current situations and yearn for change and growth. I never view it as the beginning of a sparkly, fresh New Year, full of hope and promise. Instead, I see it an ending. A time for reflection, preparation and visions; ready to make changes by March (my birthday month), which is when my New Year begins. January was the month that my husband and I decided to hatch plans to move from London; my home town, to his. With the cost of houses far cheaper in the East Midlands, we saw it as a way to secure our family. He would b ..read more