Motherhood conversations: Trying to conceive
The first in the motherhood conversation series saw me speaking with the wonderful Tricia Yap and Rachel Moon about their own personal journeys and struggles with conceiving in recent years.
What stood out for me was how isolating and individual each journey can be so there is no one size fits all how to help guide but having a discussion about what had happened to them both and then the sharing from the audiences created an overwhelming feeling of community and understanding that the path is not always easy so talking about it and airing the challenges can sometimes help.
Some of key advice that was shared by the speakers was the following;
Set yourself a timeline of how long you want to try and review it as you go to stay as flexible as possible.
Educate and advocate for yourself, as this is something you can control, so many other aspects are out of your control, so have questions ready for doctor appointments, research all alternatives and know what your wants and needs are and also your partners.
Try to steer clear of blame, you are not to blame, make it your mantra, look after yourself in this journey best you can.
Explain what is going on to your friends, say how you would like to be spoken to and questions asked, true friends will listen, understand and be as involved or uninvolved as you like.
Know that there is a community out there, you can go it alone when you want and join others when you don't.