What To Expect When You're Injecting by Fiercely Infertile

There are plenty of rules about what you should and shouldn't eat once you fall pregnant but what if you're trying to conceive? When you think about food and making babies, sometimes oysters and champagne come to mind. Margaret Hays has been working as a dietician for the past 20 years and says it's important to take a look at what you're putting in your body. From folate to zinc, vitamin D and inflammation, when it comes to fertility and diet, it’s real food for thought. 

Sometimes us ladies can get caught up in the world of scans, injections, collections and more. But remember, on most occasions it takes two to tango. On this episode we chat to Mike Daily, a dad who’s been riding shotgun next to his wife through IVF for many many years. We chat heartache, marriage, miscarriage and also delve into friendship as well. Oh and it’s beer o’clock.. it’d be rude not to. 

They don’t call it the infertility rollercoaster for nothing. There is a concurrent experience of loss and hope — and they're happening simultaneously. For many couples, it’s the first time they’ve both been emotionally and psychologically challenged at the same time. With infertility patients experiencing more symptoms of anxiety and depression than fertile individuals, I sat down with Psychologist Sandra Lam to talk about coping and communication.  

For some couples, being deemed infertile before medical tests even commence can be a hard label to carry. For Michele and Kylie, their road to motherhood has been filled with heartbreak and success. This episode follows their journey through 14 transfers including multiple rounds of IUI, IVF, 2 miscarriages, severe OHSS and creating their two children.  The Australian wives delve into the world of IVF for same-sex couples and their clinic experiences over the past 7 years. They're modern mums with a love story like no other and the conversation is raw, authentic and inspiring. 

It's pretty easy to tell when someone loves what they do, especially with our next guest. Dr Tamara Hunter is a leading fertility specialist and gynaecologist in Perth, specialising in women's health issues. She's even been on her own infertility journey,  becoming a mum both spontaneously and through IVF. When it comes to fertility protocols, there is no one size fits all approach. In this episode, Dr Hunter explains why looking at the full picture and the person as whole, (rather than just their reproductive parts) can make all the difference.   This episode is proudly supported by Fertility Specialists of WA. 

This is an unfiltered, unscripted and uncensored conversation between husband and wife about how infertility affects us as a family unit. It's one thing to chat to your other half over a cup of tea in the living room, but it's another thing to have an unfiltered recorded conversation where nothing is off limits. This episode is dedicated to all the partners on the journey with us. To my husband, thank you. 

With all the hardships of suffering from infertility, you can’t just focus on the struggle. Sometimes we just need to take the best of a bad situation and think of the upside. On this episode it’s clinic confidential, tales from an anonymous source.  Boners, masterbation, sex and awkward conversations. Though there are obviously soul-crushing parts to the infertility process, sometimes you need a laugh to stop you from crying. Enjoy the journey and reminisce about the lighter moments because hey..... wanking stories can be funny.  

For young women, the first milestone towards motherhood is getting your period. But, imagine getting your period at 12 and then hitting menopause a year later. For Amanda Princi that was the reality she had to face within the first year of becoming teenager. Told she would never be able to have children, she never gave up hope on becoming a mum. Fast forward to today and she’s living proof that you don't need to have "everything working" for everything to work out in the end and sometimes it takes 3 people to make a family. 

Embryologists are a special breed of scientist. As a fertility patient, you probably won’t get to meet your embryologist but feel rest assured they’re in the lab looking after your embryos as if they were their own. In this episode, we chat to Australian embryologist Kristen Jones as we delve deep into the petri dish and beyond. From egg quality and sperm samples to freezing and thawing; they’re following your journey and want success almost as much as you do. 

Ovarian failure and early menopause, are just two conditions Pheobe Wilson has had to carry in her 20’s and 30s. But hey, she’s also carried a set of healthy twins.  This is an emotional and empowering journey of hope. There's laughter, honesty and for those who are sick of hearing the stories of the friend of a friend who was that 1 in a million miracle… here’s one more for you.