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In this episode I chat with Felicity who shares her story of infertiliy, IVF, multiple miscarriages and D&C's, egg donation, embryo testing and very sadly losing her young sister. Felicity was diagnosed with low ovarian reserve and endometriosis and she and her husband did multiple rounds of IVF resulting in no pregancy or miscarriage. They tested embryos from two of their cycles to try to help their decision making and increase their chances. Felicity also discovered she has Graves disease which is a thyroid condition and needed to suspend IVF treatment until that was sorted. Further into their treatment they used donor eggs from Felicity's sister which resulted in no embryos to transfer and subsequently had a cousin lined up to be another egg donor. In the end they have had three beautiful children from their own genetics with the help of IVF and embryo testing. Felicity's sister Lucy became very unwell and died at the beginning of their journey and Felicity did all this while grieving her little sister xx Connect with Felicity/FA Christchurch Felicity insta - https://www.instagram.com/felicityiuli/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= Christchurch Fertility associates - https://www.fertilityassociates.co.nz/clinics/christchurch/ Dr Michelle Bayley - https://www.fertilityassociates.co.nz/team-members/dr-michelle-bailey/ Connect with Janine Podcast insta - https://www.instagram.com/waitingforyou.podcast/?igshid=YzAyZWRlMzg= Photography insta - https://www.instagram.com/janinefoxphotography/ Podcast email - [email protected]

In this episode I chat with Josh who shares the very long and complex journey he and his wife Jo went through to have their son Wolfgang (or Wolfie). It is a story of unexplained infertility, many rounds of IVF and countless embryo transfers, miscarriages, nearly losing Jo with one of the miscarriages, providing emergency foster care, and finally having Wolfie in their arms. It is also the story of an adventurous couple who made big decisions and pushed their limits. Connect with Josh Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/wild_westerns/ Connect with Janine Podcast instagram - https://www.instagram.com/waitingforyou.podcast/ Photography instagram - https://www.instagram.com/janinefoxphotography/

In this episode Lydia shares her story of becoming a Mama to her two girls Jemima and Mabel. Their first daughter was conceived easily and she was born in 2014. When they tried for a second child, they had difficultly and were diagnosed with secondary infertility, namely very low AMH levels.  They were told they would need IVF and probably egg donation. The subsequent years involved trying treatment with Lydia's eggs, becoming pregnant naturally but then losing the baby at 13 weeks, getting public IVF funding and being selected by an egg donor. They then went on to do all the necessary requirements to use the egg donor and they conceived their daughter Mabel on the 2nd transfer. We talk about so much more in this episode - we talk about all the feelings about so many intricacies of their journey. Fertility NZ  https://www.fertilitynz.org.nz/ Connect with Janine Podcast instagram  -  https://www.instagram.com/waitingforyou.podcast/ Photography instagram - https://www.instagram.com/janinefoxphotography/

In today's episode Emily shares her story of becoming a Mama to her twins Charlie and Delilah. Emily and her partner Mark struggled to conceive and went on to have IVF treatment. From their first cycle they got 8  day five embryos but sadly Emily went on to experience recurrent miscarriages after each embryo transfer. They were going through the process of sperm donation when they decided to try with their own embryos one more time.  They transferred two embryos thinking they would be lucky if one worked and they discovered they were pregnant with twins. Such a beautiful ending to a long and difficult journey x Connect with Emily Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/blumenthalem/ Connect with Janine Podcast instagram  -https://www.instagram.com/waitingforyou.podcast/ Photography instagram  - https://www.instagram.com/janinefoxphotography/

In this episode Saira shares her experience of PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), how it affected her fertility and the treatment she received to help her have her first daughter. In her pregnancy Saira struggled with back and hip pain and also had kidney stones at 32 weeks. Saira suffered postnatal depression after her daughter was born and sought help at 10 months post partum.  She shares with us the denial she went through that she wasn't well, and then all the things she put in place to help her get better. Saira became unexpectedly pregnant with her second daughter and was able to remain well during this pregnancy and postnatally. Connect with Janine Podcast instagram - https://www.instagram.com/waitingforyou.podcast/ Photography instagram - https://www.instagram.com/janinefoxphotography/

In this episode Meg shares the experience of losing her baby Ada at 20 weeks pregnant. Meg's waters broke one day after work at 20 weeks and although her baby still had a heartbeat when they got to A&E, she was told her baby would not survive. Meg so bravely shares her experience in the hospital, waiting all day on a labour and delivery ward for things to be signed off,  giving birth to Ada and leaving the hospital without her baby in her arms. Huge thanks to Meg for sharing her story. This episode is dedicated to Ada x Music written and performed by Alan Meharry and Stu Fox Connect with Janine Podcast instagram https://www.instagram.com/waitingforyou.podcast/ Photography instagram https://www.instagram.com/janinefoxphotography/

In this episode Russell shares his story of the journey to have children knowing that a complex chomosomal issue was always going to be part of the picture.  In Season 2, Russell's wife Kelly shared their story and here we are privileged to hear Russell's perspective and experience. Russell and Kelly have two healthy living children and had to say heartbreaking goodbye  s to their other two daughters as they passed away shortly after they were born. This episode is dedicated to Nina and Molly xx Connect with Russell/Kelly  https://www.instagram.com/thegriefdebrief/                                                                 https://eitsirhc.wixsite.com/bestillandknowkc Connect with Janine https://www.instagram.com/waitingforyou.podcast/                                                https://www.instagram.com/janinefoxphotography/

In this episode Cass shares her story  of trying to become a Mama on her own, using a private sperm donor.  Cass' story involves finding a sperm donor, trying to conceive, miscarriage and grief.  She also experienced pain and unexpected symptoms following her miscarriage which culminated in surgery. It has been hard, complex and painful and Cass continues to try for her baby who she longs to have in her arms.  Thank you for opening your heart and sharing your story Cass x   Connect with Cass Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cass_r_sampson/ Connect with Janine Podcast instagram https://www.instagram.com/waitingforyou.podcast/ Photography instagram https://www.instagram.com/janinefoxphotography/

Robin was diagnosed with a thyroid issue which needed treatment and balancingAlso diagnosed with unexplained infertilityNo fertility treatment until the thyroid issue was sorted out which took 18 monthsFirst IVF cycle in USA,  with no positive resultMoved to NZ and second cycle was here in NZ, which was successful and they had their daughter MoanaLater they went on to try a frozen embryo transfer and were blessed with their second daughter RubyThey then found themselves in a position where their family felt complete but they still had two frozen embryos and so Robin took her time to work through how she could best honour those embryosThis Kiwi/USA family are now happily living in ChristchurchConnect with Robin Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/revrobin/ Blog - https://danceonholyground.wordpress.com/ Email - https://[email protected]  Robin is very happy to be contacted Fertility NZ - https://www.fertilitynz.org.nz/ Connect with Janine Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/waitingforyou.podcast/ Email - http://[email protected]

 - Nina lost of left ovary and falliopian tube due to ovarian cyst  - She later discovered she has a unicornuate uterus  - IVF treatment was the only option to try for a baby  - First cycle produced 2 eggs and neither of them fertilised  - Second cycle produced 15 eggs and 4 embryos,  and resulted in a freeze all cycle due to        OHSS  - 1st frozen transfer cancelled  - 2nd frozen transfer resulted in a chemical pregnancy  - 3rd frozen transfer gave Nina and her partner their gorgeous boy Hugo:) Connect with Nina - https://www.instagram.com/unicornuateuterusnz/ Connect with Janine - https://www.instagram.com/waitingforyou.podcast/

Hayley and her husband found themselves at Fertility associates after trying to conceive for a couple of years.  Hayley was very unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage 4 endometriosis. They held off on surgery for the endometriosis and also IVF treatment.  Hayley felt very reluctant about IVF.     After researching, Hayley worked with a nutritionist on her diet (Mikki Williden) Three months later she became pregnant but then had a miscarriage. As time went on she felt like no one was supporting her on this journey so sought out Loula George at Motherwell  who helped her with ovulation/cycle tracking, supplements and she also suggested Lipiodol treatment. Hayley had that treatment and then did month about IVI and trying to conceive naturally. With no success, they then moved onto IVF treatment but had two unsuccessful cycles. Hayley then saw another fertility specialist, who suggested seeing a rectal surgeon for her endometriosis.  She saw the surgeon but didn’t go ahead with the surgery at this point. She then went back to the naturopath and had the Dutch hormone test and a gut microbiome test and followed this up by seeing nutritionist – Kaytee Boyd  who put her on a special diet for her gut health. Hayley also saw Dr Ray Lala  for vibrational alternative treatment.  He told her “we deal in miracles.” Hayley and her partner then became pregnant naturally 6 years after the beginning of their journey. Connect with Hayley - Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/angelhayley/ Connect with Janine - Podcast instagram - https://www.instagram.com/waitingforyou.podcast/ Photography instagram - https://www.instagram.com/janinefoxphotography/ Share your story - https://www.janinefoxphotography.co.nz/podcast Practitioners Fertility Associates - https://www.fertilityassociates.co.nz/ Mikki Williden - https://mikkiwilliden.com/ Loula George - https://www.mother-well.co.nz/team/loula-george/ Kaytee Boyd - https://www.theboydclinic.co.nz/ Ray Lala - https://www.theboydclinic.co.nz/

Two and a half years after getting married Anna’s husband Kyle was diagnosed with Sperm Maturation Arrest, which is irreversible and is considered to be absolute infertility. Their only option to become pregnant was sperm donation.  They were both on different pages about this and it caused too much tension so they decided not to do sperm donation and not to have children. Anna made the decision to leave the job she loved working with children because it was too painful.  She did a facebook post to explain to everyone at once and from that post a family contacted them about donating embryos The process of embryo donation started from there.  They met with the couple and then went through the process of ethics committee, lawyers, counselling and psychiatrist. They were given full public funding due to being fully infertile as a couple. The first embryo implanted worked and Anna became pregnant.  She had a difficult pregnancy with pelvic separation and round ligament pain, to the point of blacking out. Anna had a traumatic birth including a week long induction process and manual dilation to 5cm, and ending in c-section.  She experienced borderline post partum psychosis and complex PTSD. They tried for 2nd baby with embryo #2 which was also successful. Anna had a big bleed at 10 weeks (hematoma) and from 10-20 weeks she didn’t stop bleeding.   She experienced a beautiful healing birth with the birth of her second child. However her daughter had severe jaundice and then seizure like behaviours, health issues,  and developmental delays  Anna and Kyle are so grateful to have their two daughters and are planning on trying their third embryo in the near future. Connect with Anna Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/annajkeogh/ Connect with Janine Podcast instagram https://www.instagram.com/waitingforyou.podcast/ Photography instagram  https://www.instagram.com/janinefoxphotography/ Share your story  https://www.janinefoxphotography.co.nz/podcast