It is easy to feel disempowered when you are going through a fertility challenge, you trust your FS (fertility specialist) and give them the power to suggest what drugs you should be taking and then you are on their time schedule. It is amazing how we place doctors and specialists on the pedestal and do not question their decisions. Well learning from our fertility challenge we too felt this way, we did everything humanly possible and we kept going attempt after attempt expecting a different res…
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Added by Paola Branas-Born on September 15, 2009 at 12:12pm —
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When you go through a crisis, this impacts all aspects of your life, emotional, physical, spiritual, and all your relationships. This is when you are in 'flight/fight' mode and you are simply reacting to what is right in front of you.
Take infertility for instance, you know you want your body to transform and yet may have reservations about what this will really mean to your looks, your confidence and your figure. Or perhaps you may still carry past issues related to your miscarriage/loss of ch…
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Added by Paola Branas-Born on July 30, 2009 at 12:19pm —
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Sperm created in a lab offers new hope
Sperm has been created in a lab for the first time using stem cells and a complicated process of growth and development the news reports today . It is nothing short of miraculous !
What amazes me is the speed at which all of this is developing , and new avenues explored . When we started our journey to create a family I remember peoples reaction to us having to go through IVF , this unknown , untalked about phenomena . That was only seven an…
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Added by anya sizer on July 8, 2009 at 3:00pm —
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'Fertility Coaching'
Can it help women conceive?
The Independent 24th June, 2008
When Anya Sizer was enduring IVF, her sessions of 'Fertility coaching' were a lifeline. Emma Jones reports on this new alternative therapy
Anya Sizer's garden is scattered with toys – just the way she always wanted it. Yet there were moments when this happy scene with Hope, five, and Barney, 22 months, was a distant dream. Soon after marrying at 23, she and her husband Damion started trying for a baby. But when mon…
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Added by anya sizer on June 19, 2009 at 8:36pm —
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I am currently reading the fantastic book "when you are falling , Dive " lessons in the art of living by Mark Matousek . A book of interviews with people who have faced or are facing some of lifes toughest challenges and how they deal with the emotional effects .
One of the chapters I have just read is an interview with Daniel Goleman , the man who wrote Emotional intelligence , and who is now doing a lot of work on what he has coined Social intelligence . What struck me in this , is the intera…
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Added by anya sizer on June 19, 2009 at 3:32pm —
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Its been a week ( and yes it is only wednesday ..! ) of Infertility in the news . Stories of Embryo mix ups , reports on stress and infertility and a report from the Royal college of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists re womens age and Infertility .
I did a radio interview about the ethics of Embryo transfers and how safe the clinics are ,for a station on Monday . The information was handlled really well I thought by the presenters and the other guest speaker was fantastic as a medically trained…
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Added by anya sizer on June 17, 2009 at 2:54pm —
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I kept a diary during my journey through Infertility and wrote in it most days . It became such a huge help in getting the feelings out in a safe and easy way as well as being a useful record of where we had come from .
On one entry , in bright red pen I had written
" I am determined to live each day as fully as possible and not to let this thing rob me of the here and now !! "
I am sure the red writing was written easily and the sentiments , though strong , would be tested to the limits , ho…
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Added by anya sizer on June 9, 2009 at 1:37pm —
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If there is one issue that comes up time and again with clients facing Infertility , it is how do we steer that course between remaining positive and yet realistic , optomistic and yet emotionally protective .
The metaphor of a see saw is often used as one day we can feel elated the next depressed and hopeless . Or more likely , one day can include all of the above and so much more .
I wish I had the magic formula to make it all easier , and know all too well the difficulties of waiting and hop…
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Added by anya sizer on June 3, 2009 at 3:06pm —
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I remember when I got married I thought, right found my soul mate, perfect now we need to get going and have a baby! You see I was 36 years old and knew time was of essence when you are trying to conceive. Little did I know that it would take 3.5 years to finally get pregnant. After so many headaches and disappointments it happened. In hindsight my attitude had a lot to do with it.
Being positive helped, I was constantly getting up from each disappointment of failed cycles with IVF (this is aft…
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Added by Paola Branas-Born on May 19, 2009 at 6:20am —
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I know going on the merry-go-round of IVF can be addictive. You just brush off the disappointing result and quickly get back on your feet and say, ok Next time I will try this.. Sure your heart is broken, again however you refuse to give up. That is now no longer in your vocabulary. So IVF becomes an obsession to say the least, because if you STOP and smell the roses you will hit the ground and you don't want to do that.
So you keep going 2nd attempt, 3rd attempt, 5th attempt, and no matter wha…
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Added by Paola Branas-Born on May 13, 2009 at 8:34am —
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I truly agree with Helen`s BLOg entry , "goals " seem so fixed and set , and for some reason allways make me feel like a
should rather than a
want to .
The goal of creating a family also can feel incredibly fixed and set in stone , and yet in hindesight people often end up with a very different path to parenthood than the one they had envisaged .
Certainly during my six years through the IVF maze I found myself continually amazed at just how we had got to this stage , wasnt it all…
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Added by anya sizer on May 8, 2009 at 11:48am —
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I thought that the observations made in this article were valuable in that the author seemed to be involved in a project that had lots of little stages and therefore had lots of stages of success. If our object is a 'goal' which is constantly not being achieved, then it may help to see the journey as a project instead, which suggests a far more organic and flexible approach.
http://celebrity-babies.com/2009/05/05/constance-marie-on-staying-positive-during-infertility/
Helen
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Added by Helen Liddar on May 6, 2009 at 10:20pm —
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Why is it that whenever I see another celebrity article involving assisted conception I want to stand up and cheer , or at least prod the person next to me and show them the article ( luckily I havent taken to doing that one too often ! ).Thank you then to Sarah Jessica Parker and the recent stories about her surrogacy bids .
Infertility currently affects up to one in six couples , and rising . Some research seems to even state that it could reach as much as one in three over the next decade .…
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Added by anya sizer on May 1, 2009 at 9:06pm —
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The last few days have seen me experiencing quite a range of emotions from one extreme of the spectrum to the other . On what should have been quite an easy going weekend I found myself suddenly worrying about such trivial things , and indeed many made up things . Then the inevitable happened and my time of the month kicked in yesterday !!
However whilst in the midst of the said emotions I began to realise again what I find myself saying to fertility clients ..that feelings though powerful
a…
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Added by anya sizer on April 20, 2009 at 7:40pm —
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Interesting overview of ovary and fertility issues - broadcast today tuesday 10th Feb 21:00-21:30 and repeated Wednesday 16:30
go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/casenotes.shtml and click on listen again, or look for transcript in the list on the right hand side
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Added by Hannah on February 10, 2009 at 9:28pm —
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I am by nature a " multi thinker " ! That is to say that my default setting is that at any one time I will tend to be thinking of at least 20 or so different things ( at least it feels like 20 ...) from the important to the not so important ...for example whilst on a bus journey the other day I caught myself thinking about everything from Clearing out the medicine cupboard to the situation In Gaza , to friends I need to contact to clients I need to call.
I began to laugh at the crazyness going…
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Added by anya sizer on February 4, 2009 at 11:00am —
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Watching the news the last few days there have been some exciting breakthroughs with fertility treatment that can only be a good thing for many people out there .
One of the latest ones involves a new screening process for womens eggs pre fertilisation , and according to trials looks likely to greately increase rates of implantation for women who were previously struggling .
I never cease to be amazed at what modern medicine can do , and indeed how fast this whole area is moving . Even since m…
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Added by anya sizer on January 28, 2009 at 8:20pm —
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There is always a slight sense of excitement for me in January . As the excess of Christmas fades and I have had time to recharge my batteries I look forward to a new year and some of the things I want to see happen .
This year I want to run my first Half marathon and have begun training ( I literally got off to a flying start by falling into a snow drift on the 6th of Jan !! ) I want to see more of my godchildren and I want to do a few things well rather than a lot of things half well .
These…
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Added by anya sizer on January 16, 2009 at 9:26pm —
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I recently saw a fantastic version of Charles Dickens " A christmas carol " , not as good as the muppet version but still pretty amazing !
I went in I must confess with a head full of wrong doings and irritabilities having been the recent victim of a builder walking off with our cash and an unfinished house to live in . It has , I am sad to say been taking up a good deal of my thinking and emotional life .
So to say that I was distracted would be an understatement .
But half way through the pl…
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Added by anya sizer on December 15, 2008 at 1:39pm —
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Hi
My name is Glynes Mewton and I have the great pleasure of working closely with Anya Sizer on the above workshop. I am really excited 1. about working along side someone so giving and talented as Anya and 2. working with people who although challenged in this area of their lives are choosing by coming along to this workshop, a new way or looking and working with their challenges. How fantastic is that! I always enjoy working with people who want to become empowered and take back control of the…
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Added by Glynes Mewton on December 12, 2008 at 4:31pm —
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Be Your Own MasterChef
What are your Options?
Sperm created in a lab offers new hope
Goal vs project
Radio 4 case notes looks at the ovary
Fertility Support Workshop 24th January 2009
