About

It wasn't meant to work out like this – making a baby. The game plan was supposed to be romantic, fun, full of matching underwear, weekends away, Prosecco-buzzed on a remote beach. It was supposed to just happen. But here we are, all fertility clinic appointments and acupuncture and disappointments. And we're not alone. Yet it feels so lonely. 

After five failed rounds of IVF with PGD, I need to make something — if not a baby. I need something positive to come out of this crushing slog to parenthood. So while my boyfriend and I continue to try and create a small human being, I'm developing The Co-Creators. A collection of stories of those who've been through fertility hell and come out the other side — from IVF, genetic screening, sperm donors, egg donors, to surrogacy and adoption. The graduates, the people who have been there, and done that, and successfully got their baby's puke all over their T-shirt.

While everyone's got a different story, it turns out there's a whole lot of stuff we share. Struggling to have a baby feels no different if you're from a large city in the UK, small village in Senegal, wealthy state in the US, or poor neighbourhood in Denmark. It sucks in every language and every accent. Sure, the logistics, the fertility options, funding, laws, and attitudes vary. But all that human stuff feels the same — and so does pumping your ovaries full of hormones until they're the size of grapefruits.

So I'm finding and writing these stories so they can all live together. Opening up the conversation of fertility struggles, empowering people with information and destigmatising the less conventional ways of making a family. The Co-Creators is about human stories, making the endless needles and wait for motherhood feel less lonely. It's people coming together. It's cheerleading you through the shit, from people who get it. Because no matter where you're at, let's get one thing's straight, we're all on the same team.

Photography by Juno Calypso