Do you work for an organization that offers fertility benefits? Do you actually know what employee fertility benefits can offer you? The umbrella of fertility benefits may encompass anything from consultations to obtaining a diagnosis, medication, and treatments such as IUI and IVF. More expansive plans might include egg freezing, donor eggs or embryos, and/or gestational surrogacy. However, in the UK, fertility benefits are less commonplace compared to the US. In this episode continuing the fer...
Dec 13, 2021•34 min•Season 2Ep. 7
In this episode, we're delighted to welcome to The Fertility Podcast Kate Jarman who is the Director of Corporate Affairs at Milton Keynes University Hospital. Kate is also the co-founder of the Flex NHS along with her colleague Aasha Cowey. Kate and Aasha campaign for flexible working for all and better working lives in the NHS. We really wanted to chat with Kate as we’ve heard from so many of you, who work in the NHS, about the difficulties you face in juggling your work and your fertility tre...
Dec 06, 2021•36 min•Season 4Ep. 6
As we get just over halfway through our series focused on Fertility Matters at Work, we’re pleased to be able to share a great example of how beneficial implementing training and support around fertility issues in the workplace can be and how it not only benefits a workplace from a cultural point of view, it impacts productivity, staff retention, and attraction. During the time Fertility Matters at Work has been developing its e-learning and training and policy package, Kate has very been workin...
Nov 29, 2021•28 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Continuing our series on all things to do with navigating a fertility journey whilst working, we’re delighted to chat with Natalie’s co-founder and partner in crime at Fertility Matters at Work - Becky Kearns. Sadly, Claire Ingle who is also a co-founder had tech gremlins and couldn’t join us to chat. We’re also joined by Helen Burgess who, like Kate, is a partner at Fertility Matters at Work and an employment lawyer at Shoosmiths. Becky gives us the low down on the recent launch of the Fertilit...
Nov 22, 2021•50 min•Season 2Ep. 4
In this episode of the Fertility Matters at Work episode, we want to focus on the psychological aspects of juggling fertility in the workplace. We all know it’s not easy to do and certainly not a great place to find ourselves in but what really is the impact? To answer this question, we’re delighted to welcome perinatal psychologist Julianne Boutaleb @parenthoodinmind. Julianne is the Clinical Director and Founder of the Parenthood In Mind practice. She has worked for over 15 years in the NHS an...
Nov 15, 2021•35 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Welcome to episode 2 in our current series discussing the intricacies of fertility in the workplace. In this week’s episode, we’re joined by 4 teachers to find out just what it’s like to navigate a fertility journey whilst juggling the demands of a teaching job. We welcome Caroline Biddle who worked as a secondary school drama teacher for 9 years. Caroline is no longer in a teaching role but is committed to changing the way fertility issues in teaching are managed and as a result, set up her org...
Nov 08, 2021•50 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Male Fertility is something we have talked about on The Fertility Podcast a lot in the past and you can hear more of our conversations here All too often Men are overlooked when having conversations with healthcare and medical professionals about this topic and as you will hear, they often don't want to speak to anyone about what is going on. This bonus episode being shared to support National Fertility Awareness Day and its focus on male fertility is called 'MAN UP' - an ethnodrama written from...
Nov 03, 2021•8 min
It’s great to be back! We’ve had a bit of a break and we’re back with a new series talking all about Fertility in the workplace. As well as doing the podcast, Natalie’s voiceover work and Kate’s consulting; for the last 18 months or so, both Natalie and Kate have been working with organisations to help put fertility in the workplace firmly on their wellbeing agenda. How does the landscape at work look? Kate and Natalie discuss what we've heard from our work and how in light of, how in the last f...
Nov 01, 2021•33 min•Season 2Ep. 1
In this episode, as we near the end of this current series of the podcast, we chat with Steph Phillips the founder of World Childless Week. World Childless Week is a relatively new initiative raising awareness of being childless not by choice. Steph tells us how the interest in this week, but also across the year, has increased dramatically over the last 2 years. We also talked about the differing terminology used to explain living without children and how Steph as learned to own the term ‘Child...
Oct 04, 2021•36 min•Ep. 33
Today we’re talking all about what happens after fertility – parenting after IVF. What is it like to be pregnant and then parenting after you’ve gone through a fertility journey? Is it different if you’ve not experienced this rollercoaster journey and you’ve managed to conceive naturally? To find out, we’re giving a big welcome to a previous guest and friend of the podcast – Cat Strawbridge otherwise known as @tryingyears. Cat, after 7 years of trying to conceive and multiple rounds of IVF, fina...
Sep 27, 2021•42 min•Ep. 32
This week we are discussing Surrogacy, both in the UK and abroad. Our first guest is Anna Buxton, mum of three children through two different surrogates. Anna talks us through her decision of how they reached surrogacy after a long and painful gynecological history and was told Surrogacy was her only hope as she would never carry. Not carrying your child and grieving for that loss Anna voices the fear of so many people considering surrogacy, They were able to create embryos yet still it was v.di...
Sep 12, 2021•45 min•Season 2Ep. 30
In this episode, we’re talking about donor sperm and treatment abroad. We have discussed donor conception on the podcast before and refer throughout the episode to previous chats we’re had as we’ve spoken to egg donors, as well as organizations that help match you with donors both in the UK and abroad and we’ve heard your stories about having treatment abroad with a donor egg or sperm, for a multitude of reasons. The idea of using a donor to make your baby can take a lot of time to get your head...
Sep 05, 2021•50 min
In this episode, Natalie and Kate are working with Access Fertility to explain what is involved when it comes to self-funding your fertility treatment. Speaking with Professor Scott Nelson who is Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the University of Glasgow, consultant for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde as well as the visiting Professor at the University of Bristol, Scott is the Scientific Director of The Fertility Partnership and Medical Director of Access Fertility How do Multi-Cycle a...
Aug 31, 2021•45 min•Season 2Ep. 29
Kate and Natalie discuss the Frozen Embryo Transfer, explaining what it means when it happens and how it feels when cycles don’t work. The pair discuss how there is research to show that the success of the frozen cycle is as high as a fresh, so do not worry if you do have to freeze your embryos. With a frozen transfer, your body isn’t full of all the medication, so you’re embarking on a more natural cycle so there is also the thinking that you’re putting those previous embryos back in a more nat...
Aug 29, 2021•44 min•Season 2Ep. 28
This week we’re talking about the TWW which is that period of time from embryo transfer to when you can do a pregnancy test. Natalie has been through it once, having had success on her first attempt at IVF however we know, for many of you it can be something of a Groundhog Day experience and we wanted your thoughts on how to cope with it. Kate talked about how she tells her clients to set an intention for the 14 days in terms of what they want with their family and friends, so you’re in control ...
Aug 22, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 27
This week we’re talking about egg collection and embryo transfer with former podcast guest Alpesh Doshi. We discuss how it all works and how the hormones are used to stimulate the ovary to produce follicles. Do numbers matter? We discuss the importance of managing your expectation in terms of what it all means, what size means, what % of follicles will result in an egg, and what stage an egg can be at. Alpesh explains how patients need to be informed at every stage of scans with how many follicl...
Aug 15, 2021•29 min•Season 2Ep. 26
This week we’re talking about the drugs teach, which in normal terms means - how the hell do you do your injections when going through IVF, especially if you’re scared of needles. We’re joined by Kate Pleace who is a lovely lady and part of Kate’s team of nurses at Your Fertility Journey. Kate talks us through how it all works when it comes to taking your drugs for IVF. Unfortunately, the majority are injections and you following a plan and dosages. Kate explained how important it was to talk th...
Aug 08, 2021•31 min•Season 2Ep. 25
In this episode, we’re talking about what to expect in IVF which we hope you take as an overview as everyone’s experience is different. Of course, there will be some commonalities in terms of treatment plans, which is what our expert Dr. James Nicopollus will be explaining. First up we discuss a conversation from social media that has been front of mind and that is about the latest data on the safety of the Covid Vaccine. Here’s Kate’s post that we discuss. Your initial visit to the fertility cl...
Aug 01, 2021•42 min•Season 2Ep. 24
So what is the Postcode lottery? Well we’ve been talking about it here on the podcast for years ( since we started to be honest ) and if you’d like to hear previous episodes on it here is Susan Seenan the former CEO of Fertility Network in 2015 Then we spoke about it in 2017 when Fertility Network launched its Right to Try campaign . So you can see, this issue has been impacting our access to treatment for a long time. What is going on is that your postcode impacts how many rounds of NHS funded ...
Jul 25, 2021•40 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Hope.. and what it means to you This week’s podcast episode is a little different as it’s Kate and I sharing our thoughts on what we’re doing for the rest of the year. We relaunched this podcast in February as we were really keen to try and map out what we thought you would want to know if you were just starting to try for a baby. I felt quite strongly that the podcast lacked a bit of structure and wanted to revisit topics. We also knew the by going over this information and signposting you to o...
Jul 18, 2021•22 min•Season 2Ep. 22
In this week’s episode, we talk to fertility consultant Rami Wakim. Rami, among other areas of expertise, specializes in Intrauterine Insemination (IUI). We wanted to chat with Rami to find out if these days IUI is really worth it or should you go straight to IVF. Kate mentioned that, in her opinion, she has seen fewer and fewer IUI procedures performed over recent years. Is IUI on the decline? Rami starts off by giving us a really interesting insight into the history of IUI. Did you know that t...
Jul 11, 2021•32 min•Season 2Ep. 21
Earlier in June, a hugely important review by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) was published. This review produced guidance to help fertility clinics comply with their consumer law obligations but also provides guidance for you when considering purchasing IVF treatment. The word ‘purchasing’ there is massively significant because as well as being a patient, you are also a consumer and it’s very likely that you haven’t thought about fertility treatments in that way. It’s important that...
Jul 04, 2021•59 min•Season 2Ep. 20
Dr. Zeynep Gurtin, a Lecturer in Women’s Health at the Institute for Women’s Health at UCL, and holds an Affiliate Lectureship at the University of Cambridge Sociology Department. In 2020 - spoke to a sample of 457 women to find out their experience of fertility treatment whose treatment has been delayed due to clinic closures. The questionnaire was live for 6 weeks during May-June 2020 The focus was to talk about the issues from lockdown stopping treatment. It was monitored by a multidisciplina...
Jun 27, 2021•36 min•Season 2Ep. 19
This week we have a bumper episode and have not one guest, but three! Our episode is all about the fact that infertility knows no colour, meaning that infertility doesn’t care about the colour of your skin – it impacts us all regardless but there are very unique challenges, and some similarities faced by differing communities. First up we chat to Vanessa Hay Talking about the issue of infertility within Black communities. Vanessa described how multi-layered up fertility issues were with other so...
Jun 20, 2021•55 min•Season 3Ep. 18
This week to mark Men's Mental Health Week, we are putting the spotlight once again on Male Fertility issues with two conversations to share with you. We welcome back to the podcast Professor Sheena Lewis to talk about DNA Fragmentation. Sheena is the CEO of Examen and a professor in Reproductive Medicine and has been working on male fertility tests for the last 25 years. You'll also hear from Shaun, who has created an account on Instagram called Knackered Knackers , where he has shared his stor...
Jun 13, 2021•38 min•Season 2Ep. 17
Unexplained Infertility In this episode, we’re together, in person and in the same room!! What a novelty. We’re talking unexplained infertility and whilst together we had a quick chat with the lovely Jen who is @jens_endlesshappydays on Instagram Jen has been diagnosed with unexplained infertility and is struggling with PCOS, however, her doctors don’t feel that PCOS is impacting her cycle and therefore her diagnosis remains unexplained. Jen tells us how she feels frustrated at the diagnosis of ...
Jun 06, 2021•32 min•Season 2Ep. 16
This week we’re joined by Alice Rose who you may know on Instagram as @thisisalicerose. Alice is a former fertility patient, mum of two, campaigner and a mindset mentor. Alice’s ‘Think not What to Say’ campaign has been a trailblazer within the community, helping to bridge the disconnect between patients and their doctors and help friends and family to communicate better with their loved ones navigating a fertility journey. On her own fertility journey Alice, who has PCOS, had numerous rounds of...
May 30, 2021•37 min•Season 2Ep. 15
This week we are talking about Solo Motherhood with Mel Johnson and Genevieve Roberts, both former guests of the podcast so check out the links to those conversations at the end. Travelling as a solo mum. We last spoke to Gen - in Barbados as she’d gone to review a single mum package. Mel travels with Daisy and has been to Bali, Budapest, done lots around the UK to see friends but she needs it to feel like a holiday, so goes away with people or to see people. We talked about their decision to be...
May 23, 2021•37 min•Season 2Ep. 4
This week we welcome Laura Rose Thorogood to the show. Laura is the founder of the LBGT Mummies Tribe, an LBGT+ activist, a lesbian mother of two by IUI, and is currently pregnant again after 5 rounds of fertility treatment. Laura’s organization supports, celebrates, and reunites the LGBT community on their path to parenthood providing information and guidance on whichever route you choose to create your family. Laura has had a crazy few weeks of awareness days and months and is balancing this w...
May 16, 2021•43 min•Season 2Ep. 13
In this week’s episode we are discussing miscarriage and loss,so before we go any further we are putting a trigger warning firmly in place here. If you’re not feeling strong today, then maybe wait and listen another day, or make sure you have lots of support around you as our guest does go into detail of her own loss. Please know, you can always reach out to us on our socials if you need a bit of extra support and please do also have a look at our previous miscarriage series on The Fertility Pod...
May 09, 2021•46 min•Season 2Ep. 12
