Getting Pregnancy Ready

In my latest book review episode with my lovely guest reviewer Amber Woodward we continued our mission to review all of Amber's fertility books ahead of her mass giveaway as he hubby has said enough is enough and they have to go. 

spoke about Toni Weschler's book 'Taking Charge of your Fertility' which Amber explained helped her reach a self-diagnosis of PCOS, despite being turned away by the medical professionals. If you're keen to understand how to do fertility charting, especially if you have difficult cycles have a listen to what Amber tells you about this book and I'm hoping to get to speak with Toni on a  future podcast. Amber highlights how the book isn't diagnostic but it can give you a real insight into where your cycles might be going wrong

Next up was Zita West IVF Diet and if you don't know about Zita, her focus is on holistic treatment alongside IVF and her London clinic has very good success rates. She’s written about 9 books and this one looks into the IVF process - what to expect, how to have the right mindset, lifestyle factors that help or hinder your success then it’s nutrition-based.

 Finally, we heard about Juliet Indichova's book  Inconceivable which is about Julia's secondary infertility and Amber shared how she's only ever read two books twice... Pride and Prejudice and this one! In the book Julia talks about her diagnosis and tests and all that she tried to get pregnant throughout the two years and Amber explained how it was such a heartwarming book as Julia was struggling to find an IVF clinic to accept her, so she was left to work it out for herself after being told there was nothing that could be done about her high FSH levels and she had to accept it and donor eggs were the only way to proceed.

Amber said in her low moments,  this book helped her feel more normal. I love having Amber sharing her reviews and I hope you find them useful as well. You can follow her online here 

The episodes I mentioned  in this episode are this one about the best apps to track your cycle with  plus I mentioned One More Shot - the IVF documentary from Maya and Noah which you can hear 

Thank you to the British Science Museum for sharing the audio from its Late opening event to celebrate IVF is 40, where Louise Brown and Roger Gorsden a former doctoral student of IVF pioneer Robert Edwards and expert in female infertility, had a one-off in-conversation event in the IMAX Theatre, chaired by Science Museum Director of External Affairs, Roger Highfield.

The development of in vitro fertilization, or IVF, culminating in the ‘miraculous’ birth of Louise Joy Brown on 25 July 1978, was a defining moment for reproductive technology pioneered by British researchers. Louise’s birth followed ten years of experimentation, hundreds of failed attempts, and many setbacks for Robert Edwards, Patrick Steptoe, and Jean Purdy, the scientists responsible for this remarkable achievement.

This event accompanies a new exhibition, IVF: 6 Million Babies Later which you can hear from its curator Connie Orbach in a previous episode I released here 

I chatted with Louise a few years back and she talked about her life and her love of Take That 

You can also follow Louise on Twitter here

Amy Medling is on a mission to make sure her 9-year-old daughter makes good choices with her food and understands that it is a form of nourishment. Amy's mother and Grandmother had PCOS as does her sister so she has a lifetime of experience living with it and managing it.

Her new book PCOS Healing is a 21-day plan for you to follow and having flicked through the pages, there is so much information for you to work through. Knowing how many women spend years without a diagnosis, Amy's book will be welcomed by many.

Amy is a certified health coach and her book is the result of over a decade of her experience, both personal and from the women she has helped. After being told at 18 that she was going to have to 'jump through hoops' to conceive, Amy proved her doctors wrong and wants women to realize there is hope when dealing with PCOS.

With advice on how to start your day to what supplements to eat Amy's chat was a real insight into how misunderstood PCOS is. I learned that women with PCOS have a better egg reserve and can get pregnant well into their 40's well as reach menopause later.

You can follow Amy on Twitter here  and she's on all the main social platforms which you can access via her website

Amy talked about supplements and at the time of publishing I'm just waiting for some additional info from her on them, but here are the names of what she spoke about :

• Letrozole
• Peony licourice
• Ovasitol
• N-Acetyl Cysteine

Don't forget to watch our next live stream at via The Ultimate Fertility Guide Facebook page and you can join our closed Facebook group where I've invited some of my expert guests to be admins so they are available to answer your questions as well as me! It's called Talk Fertility  and if this podcast has helped you in any way and you want to help me continue to make content that matters, you can also become a Patreon of this podcast

I've recently started following Shema one_in_seven on Instagram as I noticed a conversation about IVF treatment abroad which is something I have spoken about on this podcast before, but I'm always interested in giving more time to as I think it's a pretty daunting thing to do.

Shema told me about her #TTC journey 4 years and how she's now 42 " I always knew it might be difficult" she explained 

Shema talked about the two back-to-back cycles she went through before her 40th birthday, I know from the pressure I was putting on myself about trying to get pregnant before my 40th that it can't have been at all easy. 

 Shema didn't produce any eggs and didn't get to transfer both times. " I'd always anticipate I might need IVF because of my age, I never thought it wouldn’t work"

As a medical professional Shema talked about not being phased by the whole process but when her doctor cried in her consultation she knew something else was up.. she was going to have to use a donor egg.

Shema and her husband moved to a donor egg within weeks, however, she explained about there really being a shortage of donor eggs if you’re from a black minority, ethnic community background it’s really difficult to find a donor because culturally people don’t donate

"We really need donors from other cultural backgrounds…"

Shema is a really impressive character and talked me through how she phoned every single private clinic in London to see if they have any Asian donors. The couple had been told to expect a 2-year wait. 

Their 3rd cycle was hugely expensive at a big London clinic with big guarantees of success.. it failed. 

Their 4th cycle resulted in a pregnancy

At 21 weeks  Shema's waters broked and her son, Altair was stillborn 

"It’s the worst thing that can happen to you"

Shema talked about how she joined Instagram after the third cycle and the amazing friendships she has now made ..shout out to 'The Pineapple Queens" and Shema says a massively significant part of her healing. 

This March, the couple went to Northern Cyprus for treatment. Shema talked about how she felt a Turkish Cypriot woman would be more likely to match her coloring and how everything was being organized through their London clinic which was worth the money if you can afford to have joint care as there’s so much you have to sort out.

At the time of talking Shema was just about to test having had two embryos transferred and being at the end of her two-week wait. I've put this episode out today as Shema has shared the news that she is indeed pregnant.

Shema spoke an article a friend sent on using a donor egg which really helped her process it

I also talked about a previous episode where I was discussing secondary infertility

Do make sure you've given The Ultimate Fertility Facebook page a like as our live streams are starting on May 1st, your chance to ask experts questions about a wide range of fertility topics

I wanted to give you a really clear overview of some of the issues affecting Intended Parents (IPs). This episode is UK-focused as I was talking to a British Lawyer about UK law, however, there will still be issues discussed that are relevant to you wherever you are.

Sadly in the UK, we are still waiting for reforms in the laws around parental orders, which any Intended Parent has to apply for within six months of a child being born.

Unfortunately, the current law means that unless you are married or in a civil partnership, this isn't possible which is causing all sorts of 'limbo periods' for IP's

I spoke to Rose-Marie Drury, a family lawyer at Mills & Reeve in Manchester   Rose specializes in helping people understand their legal rights, if they are considering having a child through surrogacy, using donor sperm, or through a co-parenting arrangement

We spoke about surrogacy agreements and how in the UK, they aren’t legally binding, they can’t be legally enforced, also lawyers can’t charge to draft them. 

Rose explained the importance of highlighting to all parties what going into the process means, what might issue might come up, and then people can go and have those discussions… and come up with an agreement themselves. 

There are a number of scenarios to be thought through, which we spoke about. Including the implications of using a sperm donor at home. If you're not married or in a civil partnership your partner won’t be the legal parent, the sperm donor will be. 

We also talked about the significance of being married or in a civil part when going through this process, as that will ensure both of you are the legal parents, otherwise the child can be adopted. However, the parental order rewrites the birth certificate. Children who are adopted are on the adoption register.

We also spoke about 'Carpark handovers' and Rose explained how the Department of Health has now devised guidelines for IPs and medical professionals and midwives, saying carpark handovers aren’t appropriate - thank goodness for that!!

Her advice however is still to make sure you get your hospital and midwife team on board with the arrangements as with IPs being at the birth and being involved a lot of perceptions are being kicked into changing.

We discussed the legalities of Surrogacy in the UK and how it varies around the world. 

Do also have a listen to my chat with Donor Concierge 

If you are using a known sperm donor there needs to be a discussion about what everyone’s intending especially as it may be a family member, close friend, they may need to know the child. 

Rose spoke of situations where people haven’t talked about it and they have then fallen out because the sperm donor has thought they are going to play more of a role in the chills of life. Sperm donors can make applications to court to spend time with the child.

There are donor agreements and co-parenting agreements setting out what everyone intends and lawyers can be involved in drafting those. 

For more information about Rose-Marie and her practice visit here

Helena Tubridy explains how she works with couples and individuals trying to conceive. She gives a brilliant insight into the pressures put on having sex and how it can implode when not given enough attention.

We talked about how to overcome the mechanical side of having sex at a certain time of the month and the emotional impact it can have. How to avoid arguments happening around the fertile window because we put a lot of emphasis on it. Helena referred to it as stingy sex…when within 10 minutes of 'doing the deed' both parties are back looking at their phones! 

We need to put the love back into it. 

Her work ranges from therapy to reflexology as she guides looking at behaviour and mindset and the importance of getting in

You can find out more about Helena here 

I've been watching Kym Campbell for some time now.. .how strange does that sound. Her presence has been growing and growing online and her awesome content just keeps coming, so I was really chuffed when we got a time in the diary to speak.

Kym talked about her life dealing with PCOS and how it affected her, from acne medication to anti-depressants, it took until Kym was in her 30's to actually get help and support that made a difference.

Kym's fertility treatment involved six rounds of Clomid, and ovulation induction cycle and she had to deal with several miscarriages and she explained how after such a lengthy difficult time she decided to stop and look at different routes to parenthood. 

Kym talks about how the good thing about PCOS is that it’s probably the most treatable infertility diagnosis as it’s completely manageable by diet and lifestyle and she explained how she stopped eating sugar. 

Don't think this was an easy thing, Kym described it as a " very slow journey to take it out of your diet"

Kym has shared lots of her content with you to help you find out more about the work she does which you can see below:

My Free 30 Day PCOS Diet Challenge (which is a live event that runs 4 times a year)

The blog post I have written that is the perfect guide for anyone wanting get started today on a PCOS diet:

The blog post I have written that is the perfect guide for anyone who

 My Beat PCOS 10 Week PCOS Program

My soon to be released Beat PCOS Supplement Guide:

 You can join Kym's Facebook group here 

I also talked about some of my other episodes discussing PCOS, which you can listen to here and here 

I was fascinated to speak to Zeynep as I wanted to know more about women who are freezing their eggs, how they feel about it and how they feel about there being a ten-year cut-off point, which is something I didn't know about. She explained how women come to the clinic for a Fertility MOT, some may be in their late 30's and have a good reserve and some may younger women who come for the check-up, pre-emptively but find their egg reserve is low… so the women who choose to freeze their eggs varies. 

Zeynep explained how they are seeing an unprecedented number of women who are in their late 30's who are involuntarily childless and feel reproductive medicine gives them some options. I feel this is the much-overlooked side of the brilliance of fertility treatment, in how it empowers women. I mentioned a video Zeynep had shared with me about a newly single woman talking about how empowering it felt to freeze her eggs. You can view it here.

Zeynep has written numerous articles about her views on egg freezing

I was interested in her views on the news in 2017 that Rita Ora froze her eggs as the British media gave it a lot of attention. Zeynep explained that the clinic received a significant increase in inquiries from women in their 20's about egg freezing after this story broke and how she had to explain to them that freezing eggs at 26 ( Rita's age) would mean using them at 36 and that they might still not be ready. Here's an article Zeynep wrote about the story

Dr Zeynep Gurtin is the Senior Research Associate at the London Women's Clinic, and Visiting Researcher at the Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge.

My second guest is actor and playwright Joanne Ryan who blurted out to a room full of strangers that she didn't know if she wanted to have a baby. The outcome of that revelation was for her to spend the next two years speaking to a whole host of fertility experts and medical professionals about it and wrote a play.

In our chat, she describes her motivation to go on this journey of self-discovery and what she found. The play starts its London run on Tuesday 30th January 2018 before going on tour and you can find more info out here 

My guest Naava Carman is experienced fertility, gynecological and obstetric acupuncturist, and Herbalist specializing in complex autoimmune disorders such as unexplained infertility, recurrent miscarriage, hypermobility in pregnancy, PCOS, Endometriosis, and other inflammatory conditions.

In our chat, we talk through her experience and the work she carries out within her business  The Fertility Support Company

Naava is extremely passionate about evidence-based acupuncture and spoke about  Mel Hopper Koppelman She also mentioned a really important study which has just come out by Lee Hullender Rubin which you can see here

Naava explained how she works with her clients and uses both Eastern and Western methods to ensure she has all the pieces of the puzzle. She has had amazing results, helping those needing fertility treatment have success the first time.

Naava explained the importance of time, how long she likes to work with people for and also how long is too long - and why you should consider this if you've been seeing someone for over seven months.

To find out more about where you could find a registered acupuncturist, check out the following links:

The British Acupuncture Council

The Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine

In the  UK - The Acupuncture Fertility Network

In the US/Canada: ABORM American Board of Oriental Reproductive Medicine:

In Australia: AACMA Australian Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine Association:

To follow Naava on Twitter click here 

Dr. Cecilia Kitic, an exercise physiologist explains how prescriptive exercise could help you get pregnant.

It's the same rule for women and men when it comes to fertility, and Dr. Kitic talks about multiple benefits.

Whilst this might sound obvious, Dr. Kitic went through 14 rounds of IVF treatment in Australia, before falling pregnant. As you can imagine she spent a lot of time in clinics and noticed a distinct lack of physical wellbeing and nutrition conversations taking place. Dr. Kitic explains how when appropriately prescribed exercise and diet can improve the success of fertility treatments.

She feels strongly that everyone should have access to evidence-based clinical exercise prescriptions and dietary advice to improve their chances of conception and I completely agree with her. Especially in the UK where we're in the middle of a funding crisis with our NHS. Surely if there was a stronger emphasis on wellbeing for anyone trying to conceive we'd see multiple benefits - across all sorts of issues from Obesity to Infertility.

In our chat you will hear about the evidence-based results she has based her app, The IVF Project on. A membership program, the IVF Project is the world's first online exercise prescription service for women and men undergoing fertility treatments.

It has a wealth of information as well as research papers available for you to consume and there is also a Facebook community 

What you eat also plays a big role in influencing your fertility which is why the IVF Project has a Dietitian onboard to provide scientific dietary guidance that works.

Follow Dr. Kitic on Twitter