Honest reflections. Tender truths. A safe place for same-sex parents and donor-conceived families.
Being a parent changes your perspective in ways you can’t even imagine. It’s funny how we can be so blasé about issues until they enter our direct sphere of influence. A class discussion arose recently during a History lesson with my Year 7 students. We were studying a unit on Ancient China – and as … Continue reading The Ties that Bind
I’m often asked if how I feel about my eight year old Master M is any ‘different’ to how I feel about my biological kids. The answer is a resounding no. I carried him but he isn’t my child biologically. My partner at the time went through IVF and had her eggs removed, fertilised with … Continue reading The ‘Oven’
It’s a sign of growing old, I am sure, but I regularly think about my younger self and wish that I could go back and give myself a few timely words of advice. I also wish that my younger self would listen. Growing up, I hated my body. Forget that it was the only one … Continue reading Russian Roulette
It was one of the best, but also one of the worst years of my life in 2003 when Master Z made his way into our world. I was 36 weeks and 4 days pregnant and had suffered lower back pain all day. Thinking I needed to lie down, I went into the bedroom to … Continue reading Earlymark
Our excitement at being pregnant for the first time in 2002 was short-lived. Tragically, our first pregnancy ended in miscarriage at 8 weeks. It was three days after the Bali bombing in 2002 that we lost our first little one. We were actually supposed to be in Bali with my ‘in-laws’, T’s parents, at the time, … Continue reading Rocky Road
Conceiving our first child was by no means a simple task. My polycystic ovaries meant it was always going to be an uphill battle. Not that I knew this at the time. The long and short of it was I was going to struggle to fall pregnant without specialist help, whether I was gay or … Continue reading An Uphill Battle
I was in London the day I learned I was expecting my first boy fifteen years ago. I was doing data entry at a dingy small scale factory style establishment near Croydon, walking distance from a hospital. Work was optional for me at this time, as my partner had been offered a contract working for … Continue reading About a Boy
It’s 4am and I can’t sleep. Miss L, who is one, has had an unsettled night and is currently occupying my side of the bed. She is a terrible, restless sleeper and she has been ‘spoilt’ by being allowed to sleep against me since birth. I know, I know, I can sense the eye … Continue reading Party of Five
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