My book – Life, Almost: Miscarriage, Misconceptions, and a Search for Answers from the Brink of Motherhood – is published on Thursday. I can hardly believe it. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about sharing it with the world (as I tried to express in my most recent newsletter). And yet, at […]
Tag: infertility
The trouble with Christmas songs
We are both crying so hard I start to think we might have to pull the car over. It is Christmas Eve 2018 and we’re driving to my mum’s. It’s been six months since my fourth miscarriage. To brighten up our 40-mile pilgrimage up the A1(M), we’ve had bakery coffee, cinnamon buns, and Dan’s annual […]
Guest monologue: A letter to my friends with children
A guest post by Rebecca To my friends, This letter is difficult to write, and largely I am writing it because I have spent so long not being honest – either with you or myself. I am writing it with this aim of honesty, rather than with any specific purpose to mend, heal or change […]
Guest monologue: ‘Your only chance is egg donation’
A guest post by anonymous I’ve always thought my life would involve a house, husband, children, maybe a dog, and the occasional holiday. This is not much to ask for, right? Just simple things, I thought. I never envisaged the rollercoaster of events and emotions that would be my reality. My now husband and I […]
Guest monologue: The strength it takes to keep trying
A guest post by Victoria @vic_roud Exhausted. Feeling frazzled from trying to juggle everything – work, activities, appointments, planning and cooking healthy meals each day. Struggling with lack of sleep. All the picking up off the floor. Most mums will understand this fraught state of being; but I’m not a mum. This is ‘trying to […]
Guest monologue: Miscarriage and pregnancy in the shadow of a pandemic
When this post from a reader landed in my inbox this week, it could not have been better timed…It said so many things I have been thinking and feeling, but haven’t been able to process properly yet. As you probably know by now, I am pregnant for a fifth time (you can read more about […]
Guest monologue: I wish I could be friends with my womb, but I’m not
A guest post by Katie @withoutottilie Me and my womb aren’t exactly the best of friends. I love being a woman. And yet the one physical organ that defines my womanhood, has caused me nothing but pain. Our difficult relationship started on 28th February 1989, my Mum’s birthday, when I was 11. I knew about periods because […]
The Group
Now that the schools have gone back, the café feels like neutral territory again. She reclaims her usual spot in the corner, takes out her book, waits for her coffee. In the holidays, it gets too loud for her here; the presence of everyone else’s children oppresses, the noise and sudden movements of so many […]
Guest monologue: ‘Any news?’ Miscarriage as a Muslim woman
A guest post by @Project_Babyu ‘Is it good news?’ My mother-in-law’s friend is smiling at me – and at my still swollen stomach. This is a common question in my community. From the moment a girl gets married, the next thing people will ask is whether a baby is on the way. Straightaway: ‘Any news?’ […]