My Article for The Metro – ‘My Label and Me: Infertile’
Grant Melton Photography I was recently approached by the Metro, a popular newspaper distributed across London and the home counties, to write an opinion piece on being labelled ‘infertile’ and how that label has affected me and my sense of self-worth. It is not easy to put yourself out there about such a personal topic, […]
You Never Know True Love Until You Have A Child
“You never know true love until you have a child.” The woman glanced back over at me, peering up through heavy-lidded eyes, drugged in an oxytocin fug. Her blissful state as she gently rocked her tightly-swaddled newborn back and forth in her lap was at odds with the searing words rolling off her tongue, burning […]
Like a Shoe in a Tree
You know when you’re walking down the street and you catch sight of a battered plimsoll wedged in a tree…or some other random piece of clothing residing somewhere it shouldn’t? If you’re anything like me, you’ll glance at it curiously, wondering for a moment what the story is behind it, how the offending item came […]
Let Life Happen
Once upon a time there was a woman. We’ll call her Little Miss Organised. The woman had a life plan, and was happily ticking things off her wish list in the order they appeared: study hard, pass exams, get a job, meet a man, fall in love, buy a house, get married, travel. Tick, tick, […]
Menopause At 35 Turned My Life Upside Down
“We have your bloods back from the lab, Mrs…er…Walsh,” said the consultant at St Bart’s Hospital, London, looking up from his stack of papers and pushing his varifocals back up on the bridge of his nose. “The results are…extremely high.” I beamed. “Oh great!” I’d always been a reasonably studious schoolkid (I was in the […]
Pining For A Baby? The Pineapple Pin That Says ‘You’re Not Alone.’
I love to travel. Sometimes I even love to travel alone. I’ve backpacked solo around Thailand, no problem. I’m a grown-ass woman after all: big enough, savvy enough…yep, and ugly enough to take care of myself. Sure, there were moments of loneliness; occasions where I’d watch a particularly breathtaking sunset and wish there was […]
I’m on the cover of Woman’s Own magazine: “IVF Killed My Marriage”
Okay, so I’d rather I was on the cover of a magazine as the glamorous cover star rather than a sad caption alongside an image of me beaming away in my wedding dress, oblivious to the tough times ahead, but there it is. If someone had told me on that sunny day in Ibiza in […]
Minority Report: Them and (a much smaller) ‘Us’
When you think of a minority group, who do you think of? Those who are discriminated against because of their ethnicity, disability, religion or sexual orientation? So not me, then: a straight, white, working-class, able-bodied woman? If you see me walking down the street, dressed up to the nines to meet my friends for a […]
The Outfit I Will Never Wear Again
The dress was pure, unadulterated glamour: little silk flowers intricately hand-sewn onto an hourglass corseted bodice, embellished with hundreds of twinkling Swarovski crystals. My mega-watt smile as I turned slowly this way and that in the mirror to admire it was almost as dazzling; I was awash with joy and excitement. Perhaps the shock liquidation of […]
I’m In The Sun’s Fabulous Magazine: When Fertility Treatment Fails
Yesterday, I was out and about with my partner Andy at Croydon Food Festival, when a message popped into my Facebook messenger inbox. Followed by another. Then another. All were from women who, like me, had suffered the agony of failed fertility treatment. They were reaching out to share their stories and to thank me […]