For some time now, my grief around childlessness has settled into something less like crashing waves and more like a steady sea. Over time, we become experts at scanning the horizon, anticipating where the pain might come from.
Read moreC.H.I.L.D.L.E.S.S H.E.A.L.T.H C.A.R.E
I haven’t
‘The problem is’, my consultant said to me over her shoulder as she typed notes about me into the north London hospital’s system,
Read moreLetting our bodies breath...
Recently, I woke up with a bit a of raging UTI, (urinary tract infection). This isn’t a new experience for me, I’ve had them throughout my adult life, but this one was a bit raw.
Read moreJust seeing the Doctor
For years I’ve known that gynecologist visits would be triggering.
Read moreA Letter to Fertility Clinics
You show up: On my feed with ads disguised as funny memes and images of pregnant bellies.
Read moreA poem
Do doctors think there are only two types of women?
Sadly, some of the most surprising interactions I have had as a childless woman are in medical facilities where professionals think that there are two kinds of women—those who have given birth and those who haven’t yet.
Read moreDo No Harm?
Medicine has a sacred oath: Do no harm. But harm does not always come in the form of a slipped scalpel or a miswritten prescription.
Read moreSystemic bias against the childless
“You know how babies are,” the nurse said to me after I asked her to keep the door to my hospital room closed, because the baby down the hall kept crying.
Read more200 Days
When the topics for this year’s World Childless Week were announced, I knew instantly that I would be writing for the Childless Health Care day – a significant part of my childlessness story is related to health and adenomyosis.
Read moreA new set of eyes on healthcare
After gynae issues since the age of 12, I sat in the consultant’s clinic room as she told me that I needed to have a hysterectomy.
Read moreAn apology to my patients
As a healthcare professional I feel ashamed to say that I wasn’t aware of childlessness until I was in that position myself and my grief hit me.
Read moreMore Heartache Than Healing
The health care system has broken my heart more times than I can remember.
Read morePregnant, not pregnant
I was sitting in the waiting room in the IVF lounge of the local hospital waiting for my blood tests results.
Read moreShared Space, Separate Worlds
The fluorescent lights hum a sterile tune,
In this waiting room of doom,
Endometriosis patients and maternity patients will collide soon,
And it happens regardless which phase of the moon.