How do you mentally recover from IVF? For many, it’s a long, gruelling process. 1 in 4 fertility patients experience PTSD. We reflect on how we felt after bringing home our baby, Ida. Her birth was not the end of the story, and we speak openly about the mental challenges we faced. Despite our elation as new parents, an undercurrent of grief, trauma and sadness remained. We discuss how we coped. Sadness is part of joy: it’s possible, and normal, to feel both simultaneously. Assessing our own childhoods also helped us heal. We end in a hotel, being parented ourselves – alive for the first time in five years.

Official podcast website: https://fertility-spotlight.com

Instagram: @fertilityspotlight

Producer: David Roper, Heavy Entertainment

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

IVF is a serious business, but can humour help? We speak to comedian, actor and writer Kate-Lois Elliott about the comedy of conception. On stage, she tackles it head-on. Privately, her fertility journey is ongoing. We discuss the connecting force of comedy, particularly stand-up. We look for laughs in IVF clinics (dishy doctors and Ben’s sperm collection dilemma included). And we review how TV and films have tackled IVF and parenting choices, notably Friends, Sex & The City and Trying. (Less notably, Maybe Baby!) An honest, revelatory interview with a rising comedy star.

Official podcast website: https://fertility-spotlight.com

Instagram: @fertilityspotlight

Kate-Lois Elliott: https://www.kateloiselliott.com/

Instagram: @kateloiselliott

Producer: David Roper, Heavy Entertainment

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some fertility journeys are dramatic, and Rebecca Coxon’s story is a shining example. An IVF triplet, she took a DNA test in her late twenties, discovering she was conceived using a sperm donor. She talks openly about this experience, and its effect on her and her family. We discuss her own attempt at IVF, and how the cycle was abandoned for personal reasons. And we explore her decision to donate her own eggs. Thoughtful and pragmatic, Rebecca goes deep into family emotions, conception and identity – and how her natural curiosity altered the course of her life. There’s a happy ending to this multi-layered story. And an acclaimed book, Inconceivable, that chronicles this remarkable adventure.

Official podcast website: https://fertility-spotlight.com

Instagram: @fertilityspotlight

Inconceivable, by Rebecca Coxon: https://amzn.to/49ogX0E

Rebecca Coxon on Instagram: @rebeccacoxon

Producer: David Roper, Heavy Entertainment

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.