Childless not by choice
Sadly, 1 in 5 women reach 45, childless and we need to understand more about how it makes that affected feel. With 1 in 3 pregnancies ending in miscarriage and there still not being adequate emotional support readily available for those unwilling to ask for it, more needs to be done to get online communities heard about.
Fertility Fest 2018
I met Steph Phillips, founder of World Childless Week at Fertility Fest 2018 where she spoke about her experience of being childless not by choice on a panel called 'The Unborn Child' which you can hear. I was keen to talk more about what Steph has created, especially as in 2017 when she launched World Childless Week, the 100 blog posts she shared over a week in September were read 123,000 times and the hashtag #worldchildlessweek was retweeted over a 1.2million times.
Growing Minority
48.5 million couples are childless, that is a lot of people! Steph spoke about being this growing minority and how 'We’re still not understood by people and her mission is to change this. Having created four Facebook groups and a constantly growing worldwide community Steph shared some of the ways in which the groups help each other. For example, coping mechanisms such as how to refer to yourself when asked awkward questions, how to deal with holiday seasons, how Men need a voice too, and how the best support is from people who are going through what you are going through as they’ll understand it 100%
Of the four Facebook groups Steph has created two of them are - the main childless week one
and this one.
You can also follow Steph on Twitter or on Instagram
Excited to think that #IamMe is all that we need to be. No label, not a #mother not a #father not #childless or #childfree just I AM ME https://t.co/H0juyQNxrg
— Stephanie Phillips (@ChildlessWeek) July 25, 2018
Infertile Friendly
My second guest is Emily Wardman, who has created Infertile Friendly.
I also spoke to Emily Wardman who talked about her eight-year struggle with infertility and how she has had to sit in Wards and waiting rooms for hours watching the excited women who were pregnant with their partners.
Emily's Goal
'Make our NHS hospital wards and waiting rooms across the UK infertile friendly' There are 3.5m people affected by infertility in the UK. Yet their experience of our hospitals & surgeries only adds to their grief and pain. Women who have suffered miscarriage, hysterectomies, gynae operations, etc are placed in maternity wards/waiting rooms surrounded by pregnant women & babies.
CAMPAIGN AIMS:
• Separate rooms where women can wait for appointments away from pregnant women, babies, and pregnancy poster campaigns
• Separate wards for women miscarrying their babies away from pregnant women, babies and maternity wards
• Separate rooms or wards for young women having had hysterectomies away from early pregnancy departments or maternity wards
• New legislation that means all NHS departments and GP surgeries provide safe environments for the infertile
Please support Emily's campaign and sign the petition here
To follow Infertile Friendly on Twitter click here
Just heard of a woman in her 30's due for a hysterectomy & my heart broke. Not only for her loss but also for the heartbreak she will have to endure on operation day. When she will end her chance of conceiving in a maternity ward next to pregnant women #infertilitysucks
— Infertile Friendly (@IFPetition) August 7, 2018
You can email the campaign on infertilefriendly@gmail.com
