I’ve just got home from The Fertility Show 2014 held each year at Olympia. This morning I was speaking about ‘How To Manage Your Fertility Clinic’ and this afternoon I helped out on the stands of Infertility Network UK and Mindful Muma To Be. Forgive me for not...

Last week I got an email telling me it was my one year Twitterversary. It’s also a year since I joined Facebook (they didn’t send a card) and when I press ‘publish’ on this blog today a little message will come up saying: ‘You’ve just posted your 52nd blog’ - one...

OMG! WTF? ITRAGTFWATW?! (NB. this acronym is all my own) Facebook and Apple are offering to pay for female employees to freeze their eggs. In a move to combat societal panic around the dangers of leaving motherhood too late and the poor success rates of IVF amongst...

This week, I’ve been thinking a lot about the word ‘infertile’. For years it wasn’t a word I wanted to be seen in the same room as. But of late I’ve rather grown to like it. In fact, me and infertile now go for out dinner regularly when we’re not at home on the sofa...

This week I was invited to Molesey Library near Hampton Court to speak about my book. It was my first ever library talk and I have to admit I was nervous. I wasn’t sure the average library visitor matched the demographic of my readership. It must be at least twenty...

I know a lot about what it feels like to be childless at 43. I also know what it feels like at 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41 and 42 which are all the years I’ve been trying to have a baby. But I don’t know what it feels like not to be a mother at 59 (and...

Most of the time I imagine I'm writing for a woman who is kind of like me. My book, The Pursuit of Motherhood, is dedicated to ‘all the women who know how it feels’. So when a man tells me they’ve read it, I’m always a bit surprised as well as really very touched...

‘Don’t mention the war. I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it.’  Basil Fawlty, Fawlty Towers, Episode 6 – The Germans Next month it will be a year since I officially came out about my infertility. When I was recently asked to speak at the Fertility Show...

Maxine Peake is a great actress. She’s about to play Hamlet in the Manchester Royal Exchange production of Shakespeare’s tragedy which opens this week. There are not many women who would, could or should take that part on. However, in the last month she’s also become...

So, go on admit it, have you bought any new stationary yet? There’s nothing like a trip to Ryman to put you in the mood for autumn. Tomorrow it’s back to school for many and for those of us who don’t have kids it’s back to the months that end in ‘ber’. Or should I...

There’s no doubt that medical advances in the field of fertility have made many women’s dreams come true. But with it come huge ethical dilemmas. This month the condition of Down Syndrome has hit the headlines on more than one occasion. It serves to show what complex...

Sometimes I think I’ve had it bad. Sometimes I think I’ve had it worse than most. Sometimes I think when I get to the Pearly Gates of Fertility Heaven I’m going to be rewarded big time. They’ll sit me alongside Mother Teresa and give me the brood I’ve longed for. And...

I think I must have a great face for radio (!?) because following my interview on baby envy for the World Service I’ve been invited on again. On Friday at 11am, I’m going to be in a documentary on BBC Radio 4 called A Family Without A Child presented by the...

Since I started trying to conceive, I have developed an uneasy relationship with alcohol. Anyone who has read my book will know. There’s a fine line for me between the nectar of the gods and the hangover from hell. And this week I drank with the devil… A little while...

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a headline in The Telegraph that made me laugh out loud. It read: ‘Cycling Does Not Cause Infertility.’ Phew. The fact that I no longer have to feel guilty about all those holidays in France which we spent pootling round the vineyards is...

To fur, or not to fur: that is the question. In the absence of a baby, I’ve been wondering whether it might be time to get a pet. On balance, I think I’m a cat person. But I love dogs too. In fact, anything with a tail is good with me (well, apart from rats). It’s...

I’ve recently been asked to join the Board of Infertility Network UK (IN UK). They asked me to attend a ‘taster’ meeting in June where I tried them and they tried me. We liked each other and I’m delighted. IN UK is the national charity for infertility. On limited...

I’ve been thinking a lot about words this week. How sometimes they say it exactly as it is; and sometimes you can’t seem to find the right one. I’ve been thinking about how I overuse the words ‘totally’ and ‘one hundred percent’. How I often say things I wish I hadn’t...

When I told friends and colleagues that I was going to Glastonbury Festival this year, their mouths dropped open in amazement before uttering a single word followed by a string of question marks: ‘YOU???’ YES, ME!!! Stop Press. I am writing this from a field. And a...

I heart Barren Betty. I wanted the word ‘heart’ to be a symbol but my technological knowhow doesn’t pass muster. I thought about using the word ‘love’ instead but it seemed a bit intimate - for someone I’ve never met. Barren Betty is a blogger. Not her real name. The...