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 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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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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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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As the crazyness of December sweeps us along and we rush around trying to see everyone , do everything and buy all those presents it is all to easy to forget our priorities .
And yet the end of the year and the start of another can be a wonderful time to regroup and reflect .
This year may well have had its fair share of trials and dissapointments , I hope they have been few and the good parts far outweigh the difficulties .
Now may well be a good time to note down some of the highlights , so…
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Added by anya sizer on December 11, 2008 at 8:30pm —
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