Today on the podcast it's my absolute pleasure to welcome fellow Aussie, Lucy Lines of Two Lines Fertility in Melbourne Australia (although ALL of the stuff we chatted about is totally relevant across the globe.

Here are a few highlights from our chat together

Choosing your clinic and Specialist

- your fertility clinic is going to play a really important part in how your family grows over the coming months/years, so choosing where to go is a super important step

- different people respond differently to different people - not everyone is for everyone (in fact, very Rarely is any one person for everyone!) - it's important to choose someone you like and someone you TRUST

- think about the clinic FIRST and the individual specialist SECOND. The clinic is where the nurses, counsellors and importantly the LAB are. The nurses and counsellors are really important for your cycle management, but the lab has the greatest influence over your outcome. How the lab deal with the eggs and sperm and grow the embryos has the greatest impact on your outcome and small changes within the lab can make a big difference. The fertility specialist, nurses and counsellors are responsible for managing your treatment, interacting with you and ensuring that the raw materials that are delivered to the lab (the eggs and sperm) are the best they can be.. but the lab does the rest.

- There are lots of things to think about when choosing a clinic:

- location

- reputation and results

- clinic policies

- choosing a specialist

- gender

- sub-speciality

- other specialities

- do they offer add-ons?

- is this YOUR person? fertility specialists are human - they have good days and bad days, they have particular areas of specialisation, and they have personalities - find one that matches YOU