When the only option you have is to terminate a pregnancy, you have to prepare yourself for having to deal with absolute heartbreak.

My guest this week is a lady I was introduced to on Instagram after she'd shared a devastating post about having to terminate a pregnancy and how she wanted to raise awareness of what she had been through.

Zara Dawson talked me through the last few months of her life and I was so taken aback by her strength, as if I had to deal with what she has been through, I would be in bits.

Fertility Treatment

After having successful IVF for her son Jax, Zara then suffered from severe OHSS. She talked about how her clinic had described it as mild and hadn't given her more insight into the potential risks of her continuing on with her treatment. Zara was so desperate to complete her IVF cycle that she says she 'begged' the clinic to do a transfer.

At 10 weeks pregnant, Zara had to have emergency stomach surgery and had a very difficult and traumatic pregnancy. She feels strongly more needs to be understood about OHSS. You can hear an interview I did previously with Professor Geeta Nargund whose clinic Create advocates mild IVF and how she feels strongly that OHSS shouldn't happen!

Genetic Testing

The focus of this conversation with Zara was about her recent decision to terminate her second pregnancy. Having found out that their baby was carrying the Body Stork Anomaly defect, Zara and her husband had to make the heartbreaking move to as she described 'deal with all the pain at that moment

Unfortunately, the next phase of their ordeal was as traumatic as Zara describes a ten-day fight to have a medical termination, during which time she had to phone around abortion clinics to find out whether they could help her. Zara needed to have a series of tests on her baby to confirm the condition and couldn't believe the struggle she had to get the procedure and the testing done in one place.

As you would imagine, this has been an incredibly difficult period for Zara and her husband who are both seeking counseling.

Zara spoke about her therapist Flora Saxby who she had started working with after the traumatic birth of her first child and who Zara is once again seeking her support from. Also, Zara asked me to mention

Jo Love who is a Mental Health Advocate

We also talked about ARC (Antenatal Results and Choices) which are the only charity that helps with termination (as opposed to miscarriage)

You can follow Zara's gorgeous Insta account and go and stay in her cottages, I certainly intend to here

If you would like to talk more about anything in this podcast please do get in touch at natalie@thefertilitypodcast.com xx