In this series you will hear conversations about routes to parenthood from same sex couples, solo parents as well as people navigating donor conception. You can learn about surrogacy around the world, the legalities involved and also we discuss adoption and childlessness not by choice.

This special episode isn't me, well you'll hear me at the start but it's a poddy take over by the lovely Cat Strawbridge aka @tryingyears

Cat now has her own podcast called Finally Pregnant, however, she started her presenting journey with a series of brilliant Instagram lives, talking about topics ranging from How to Choose a Clinic, Making Difficult Decisions, and The Dark Side of our emotions As part of this, she recently introduced a new ‘Fertility Lives’ series, inviting a guest to join her to talk about their own experiences because of #EveryStoryMatters.

Cat is a strong believer in us finding out more about each other’s experiences because it may help us be better prepared for what may lay ahead, plus it will help us, as part of the TTC community, to advocate on behalf of everyone dealing with fertility issues, no matter what their story.

It kicked off this week with Jocelyn aka @motheringsolo who talked about her journey to becoming a Solo Mum which includes egg freezing, donor selection, and more.

Welcome to National Fertility Awareness Week 2015 and Monday's episode. To help raise awareness of the week, I'm releasing a podcast every day starting with Carmen in Mexico.. now you might ask why I've chosen to leave the UK on day 1, but I want to highlight how there are people all over the world going through a similar struggle to start a family, as you might have found yourself going through.  Carmen found peace in her painting and later her storybooks which she has kindly donated as a giveaway. Scroll down to find out how you could get copies of her books.

About my Guest:

Carmen is a fertility coach, regression therapist, infertility writer, and painter now based in Mexico City.  During her infertility years, she painted her emotions, which without realizing was therapy for her.  This leads her to help people who, like her, had difficulty conceiving a child.  She became Director of the Mexican Infertility Association (AMI) and publish her autobiography 'I want to have a child, whatever it takes' and 6 stories for children on all the different forms of conception (egg donation, sperm donation, surrogacy, two dads, single mums, etc), which her sister Rosemary, illustrated.  Carmen has given lectures in India, Turkey, Spain, Chile, Brazil, the USA & Mexico.  Two years ago she helped form, RED TRAscender a network of Latin American support groups.

In this podcast you will learn: 

• The perception of infertility in Mexico
• Using art as therapy
• Dealing with loss
• Considering adoption

Follow Carmen on Twitter: @CarmenMJover

If you would like a copy of Carmen's books email info@thefertilitypodcast.com to be entered into a prize draw.

Have you wondered about egg donation and been put off by the sensationalized newspaper articles or just not really understood how it all works? My latest episode hears from an egg donor.  A lovely lady called Amelia has donated 29 eggs. Amelia shares her story of her husband's cystic fibrosis and her own gynecological problems which meant that starting a family wasn't an option for the pair. So Amelia chose to help others start theirs.  She is now crowdfunding to help another couple start their family. You can read Amelia's blog and get a link to her JustGiving page here. Amelia is working with Altrui who I have also spoken to in this episode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2d8DKga3yY&feature=youtu.be

You can read Amelia's blog and get a link to her JustGiving page here 

Alison Bagshawe is the founder of Altrui and explained to me how Altrui was set up in 2010 to meet the overwhelming need for egg donors in the UK. Alison believed that couples in the UK needed more practical help when seeking a donor and that the women who donate eggs deserved to be properly looked after, well-informed, and appreciated for what they were doing. There is lots of brilliant information on Altrui's website which I think if you are interested in becoming a donor or considering using a donor please do go and have a look as it really is beautifully presented.

You can follow Amelia on Twitter

You can also follow Altrui here

I also mentioned how you can support this podcast by becoming a patron, which is pretty cool eh! Find out what I mean by clicking here 

Pride Angel is a membership site helping single, same-sex and heterosexual couples have families. I spoke to co-founder Erika Tranfield about her reasons behind creating the site. Erika wanted her child to know their father's identity and be involved in their life, the amount of contact would depend on many factors, such as do we agree on similar parenting styles and is our child happy to have occasional contact, as ultimately it is all about the child's wellbeing.

Erika explained what the site offers from guidelines to checklists of what people need to think about as well as health screenings and access to fertility law advice.

Pride Angel holds events for people to meet and share experiences as well as sharing research on issues affecting people looking to go down the alternative parenting route. 

The site also works with production companies to help them raise awareness on issues such as co-parenting and they are working with Finestripe productions who are making a three-part series, being which will follow those who are keen to conceive and raise a child with a platonic co-parent. They hope those taking part could benefit from the advice offered by legal, financial, and fertility experts who are already involved in the series.  The world of co-parenting is predominantly online, so Finestripe is inviting those who are serious about co-parenting the chance to meet up in person, hoping this offers a chance to share experiences and advice and meet other people like you.

Fine stripe is looking to hear from: People seeking a co-parent, co-parents who are trying to or have conceived, co-parent families. If you are interested please email info@prideangel.com

Alternatively, if you are thinking of having a baby with an anon anonymous sperm donor or a man considering sperm donation and want to be known to your future child, RDF Productions want to hear from you. Email donorparents@rdftelevision.com

You might also be interested in listening to this episode I made speaking to the Donor Conception Network 

Donor Concierge finds egg donors and surrogates and helps people with all that comes with it. I wanted to hear from Gail Sexton Anderson about how the 12-year organization works and it's pretty special the lengths they go to to find a match. 

Gail talked to me about how when she first started working with Intended Parents (IP's)  she could see how it was such a big leap to go from being able to have a biological child to working with a donor that they needed a good support network along the journey and she created her organization to provide just that. 

She describes how she wanted people to feel comfortable moving forward, especially if they were from a particular ethnic group and wanted a specific match. There was no reason or them to feel marginalized as to what was available

Gail is passionate about educating people, saying how 'people don’t know what they don’t know' IP's will go into it with certain assumptions and there are so many hills and valleys and pitfalls that people run into, we can help navigate those pitfalls"

Donor Concierge has a toolbox of how to deal with it. Gail explains how they advise IP's to not get their heart set on one person.  She explains how there’s always going to compromise…

Her staff is trained to talk through the process.  Obviously, as Gail explains 'We can’t make the decision for them but we can help them to answer some of the questions or find out more information to help make a decision 

It's important to know that donor databases don’t change dramatically there will always be new candidates and it takes the Donor Concierge about 2 weeks to go through over 80 agencies and share the possibilities with IPs.

To follow Donor Concierge on Twitter follow them here

Sarah and I met in at Sarah's hotel in Manchester (where I live and she had visited for work ) and found quite a lot of comedy in the decor which you will hear us chatting about and Sarah shared her fertility journey, from having failed fertility treatment to being told that she would have to use a donor. Sarah's first attempt was with her sister's egg and she describes the complexities of this decision and then the impact when it didn't work. Sarah also spoke really honestly and frankly about how she had counseling from the first IVF appointment and how integral it was to her being able to deal with the emotional turmoil of what she was going through.

Sarah had her treatment with Shady Grove Fertility and now works as a patient liaison, speaking to hundreds of women going through exactly what she did and helping them along the way. I think it's fair to say that when you are trying to navigate your way through something like egg donation or sperm donation you really need to have access to people who really understand what it feels like which is why I was so keen for Sarah to share her story.

To follow Sarah on Twitter click here 

Jana M. Rupnow, MA, LPC, is a licensed professional counsellor and consultant specializing in fertility and family building. Jana has helped hundreds of people facing the challenges of infertility as well as those preparing for third-party family building and adoption.

Jana works independently in private practice in Dallas, Texas. She has built relationships with fertility doctors across the country to help their patients with the psychological challenges of donation conception prior to medical intervention. She works with couples, parents, donors, agencies, and endocrinologists across the nation in her Dallas offices and via video platform or phone. Jana also helps parents learn to communicate with their children about donor conception and serves as a liaison for communication between donor-conceived or adoptive families and genetic or birth parents.

She is a speaker and a member of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine’s Mental Health Group and a professional member of the National Infertility Association, Resolve. Jana has a clinical background in physiology and has published articles through Baylor University Medical Center.

Jana is also an adoptee and adoptive mom. She and her husband, Scott, live in Dallas with their son, Caden, and daughter, Jade, and two Goldendoodles, Oliver and Chloe.

For a consultation, counseling, training for professionals, or a speaking engagement, email Jana@JanaRupnow.com or learn more on JanaRupnow.com.

Follow Jana Rupnow on

, Facebook, and Twitter @janarupnowlpc