Missed The Fertility Show This Year? Catch Up Here

The Seminars

As mentioned, I had the pleasure of hosting many of the seminars across the weekend. I met some incredible people within my four walls, during each and every talk I held. From learning about choosing a fertility clinic and egg freezing or IVF, to understanding donor conception and fertility treatment abroad (and far, far more in between), there wasn’t a section of the TTC and fertility field that wasn’t discussed and uncovered.

I know you shouldn’t have favourites, but of course, I did! The seminar covering adoption with social worker Caroline from Adopt Thames Valley and Not A Fictional Mum (NFM, an adopter herself), blew me away. I had to hold in the tears as the pair told of the children who need to be adopted and why it’s such a rewarding way to parenthood. NFM answered every question so thoughtfully and told us she felt “privileged” to be her son’s mother.

“People think of the children being lucky – they’re lucky to have you, or they’re lucky to have found you,” she said. “I am so lucky to have this child in my life. He’s incredible and a total inspiration” – so are you NFM, so are you! Click here to watch this talk again.

The Let’s All Talk Stage

This was a personal project of mine at this year’s Show. Over the course of lockdown, I had started to make friends with lots of the lovely people from the fertility world, who have themselves faced a fertility struggle and who have gone on to help others – many of them you will know from the world of Instagram.

Amber Izzo, Gurinder Mann, Becky Kearnes, Shaun Greenaway, Kreena Dhiman, Emma and Gabby from The Big Fat Negative spread themselves across the weekend and joined us for a lunchtime round-table chat about their personal experiences. They gave some wonderful fertility-related advice about self-care and how to deal with pregnancy triggers, and were there to meet and greet people who needed a chat.

I was moved by a mother who had come to the Show with her daughter, and who couldn’t hold back the tears after watching this talk. “I don’t know how to help her,” she told me, “I feel helpless that I can’t give her the one thing she wants, a baby,” she told Gurinder, as Gurinder comforted her. Her daughter had come along specifically to meet Amber and they spoke for a long time about how to deal with the endless struggle of infertility. The young woman seemed to benefit greatly from their chat… Never underestimate the power of a fertility community.

For the first time in a while, we had yoga at the Show! As many will know, yoga is wonderful for your body and mind, so included were some free classes at the back of the exhibition hall, there to help reduce any stress and anxiety our visitors may have been holding from a fertility struggle. For the same reason, we had masseuses dotted around the place! I had the most amazing massage after day one of this year’s Fertility Show… Self-care is essential whilst TTC, which is why it was so high on our agenda alongside the invaluable insights from fertility specialists.

Overall I had a thoroughly positive, insightful time at The Fertility Show 2022. But don’t just take my word for it, let’s hear from an exhibitor who held her first stand at this year’s Show: