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From Donor Conceived Person to Recipient Parent – Hayley’s Story

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...

Q&A with Martha, an egg donor conceived adult

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,...

Q&A with Chloe, an egg donor conceived adult

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...

Allie’s Story: What I wish I’d known about using a known egg donor

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...

Olivia’s Story – Why I donated my eggs

I am so lucky to be a mum, an egg donor and now an advocate for the most precious gift you can give. So here it is, my story about how I discovered egg donation and the amazing path it set me on. I had just had my first baby boy when a neighbour from down the road had...

Talking to your child about donor conception

Talking to your child about donor conception can feel both daunting and emotional. Over the past 18 months through my DefiningMum Instagram platform I’ve shared a number of moments from our own parenting-after-donor-conception journey; some planned and some...

Early Menopause and Me…

As it's #WorldMenopauseDay today I thought it would be the perfect time to open up more about my experience as a 34 year-old, infertile, menopausal, mum of three (I know there's so much more to me than that, but this description describes my complex situation well)!...

Discovering Donation – Free Webinar

I'm delighted to announce my third webinar in collaboration with Altrui Egg Donation and Apricity. 'Discovering Donation' is an evolution of our hugely successful webinar back in May, introducing a range of perspectives from the donor conception world to explore both...

To tell or not to tell? The school years begin…

It feels like we're approaching a significant change in childhood stages as Mila starts school in just a few weeks time. As I'm sure most parents are, I'm particularly apprehensive and emotional about it all, although I'm trying to hide my emotions as best I can so...

What Comments Might Be Difficult For Your Loved One?

Over recent years there’s been much-needed talk about what not to say to someone facing infertility, but what about donor conception? Inspired by the amazing Alice Rose and her 'Think, What Not to Say" campaign about fertility, I wanted to provide some similar advice...
Kelly & Lee’s Story

Kelly & Lee’s Story

In our seven years of trying to start our family, we’ve suffered three devastating losses. Each completely different, each utterly heartbreaking. After two and half years of trying naturally,...

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Vicky & Ric’s Story

Vicky & Ric’s Story

I met and then married my amazing husband, Ric on the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond 5 years ago. I still remember his speech at the wedding and him mentioning hopefully us having a family one day. If...

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Lisa & Ryan’s Story

Lisa & Ryan’s Story

Thinking back to when we saw that second pink line on our First Response test, I still feel butterflies. We just could not believe it and were just so over the moon. The evening before we tested, we...

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Sarah & Jonathan’s Story

Sarah & Jonathan’s Story

My first experience of Baby Loss Awareness Week almost passed me by. It arrived a little over three months after the loss of my son, Harris, and I remember seeing one of our beautiful Edinburgh...

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Eloise’s Story – Sperm donation

Eloise’s Story – Sperm donation

My husband and I had been married for 3 years before we started trying for a baby.  We both always wanted children and used to talk in depth about what they’d be called and what they’d be like. The...

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IVF is NOT simply a choice

IVF is NOT simply a choice

I’ve had a bee in my bonnet recently, ever since reading some highly insensitive, misinformed comments. The first in response to a fellow blogger’s IVF update post, followed by some ignorant...

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Infertility Grief IS real

Infertility Grief IS real

Infertility grief IS real. It wasn't until I listened to @janarupnowlpc that I truly acknowledged this - it validated everything I’d felt. Many of us have come across someone (usually someone lucky...

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Redefining my vision of a Mum…

Redefining my vision of a Mum…

It wasn’t a simple choice based on odds alone, it was a complex emotional decision that took time. I realise now that one blocker for me was worrying about what others might think – the main worry...

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Jennifer’s Story

Jennifer’s Story

My journey to motherhood was a 4 year roller coaster, full of heartache, tears and loss. My husband, Zach and I had always talked about having children, even before we got engaged.  We both...

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Epigenetics

Epigenetics

I’m by no means a scientific person, I’m much more interested and motivated by the ‘fluffy stuff’ – feelings and relationships and it’s probably because of this that personally I never really felt a...

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