Making Friends with your Fertility

Official Launch of my new book, co-written with fabulous author Sarah Rayner, takes place on Thursday October 26 in paperback and ebook, to mark

National Fertility Awareness Week October 30 – November 5 2017

In the UK

Book & ebook available

In the US:

Book & ebook available

In Australia

Book & ebook available 

Book Launch information - Waterstones Brighton 26/10/2017

Our official launch takes place at Waterstones Brighton on Thursday 26th October where I'll be joined by Sarah Rayner, Pia Pasternack and Dr Patrick Fitzgerald as we learn to deal with the stuff life throws at us, or our friends and family. 

From fertility counsellor Tracey Sainsbury and Sarah Rayner (bestselling author of Making Friends with Anxiety, One Moment, One Morning and The Two Week Wait) comes a full and frank guide to reproductive health. 

For 1 in 6 heterosexual couples who experience infertility, conception is not straightforward, and for those who are single or in same sex relationships and keen to have a baby, it can be hard to find a way through. In their new book, Making Friends with Your Fertility, Tracey and Sarah tackle these sensitive issues with warmth and humour.

Together they take you on a journey not just exploring what happens when things go well (through intercourse, orgasm and pregnancy), but also looking at IVF and assisted conception, surrogacy, adoption and fostering. “Making Friends with your Fertility is for those trying to conceive and any friends and family members keen to support them,” says Tracey. 

The result is a handy, practical primer packed with tips, illustrations and real-life stories making complex issues less confusing and overwhelming, and supporting each individual so they can ‘make friends’ with their own fertility, in whatever form that takes.  

‘A brilliant and well-written piece of work.’  Francesca Steyn, Head of Nursing, The Centre for Reproductive and Genetic Health 

‘A must read… A robust, resilient friend for everyone considering their fertility and an essential addition to any fertility professional’s bookshelf.’  Susan Seenan, Chief Executive, Fertility Network UK

 About the authors..

Tracey  Sainsbury is a specialist fertility counsellor with over 20 years’ experience of working with charities and clinics providing support, advice and information to people exploring their fertility. She and her husband have been through several unsuccessful cycles of fertility treatment and now, thanks to adoption, are blessed with their son, Lewis. She’s drawn upon both her professional and personal experiences to write Making Friends with your Fertility, a guide to reproductive health and assisted conception.

Sarah Rayner is the author of five novels including the international bestseller, One Moment, One Morning and its follow-ups, The Two Week Wait and Another Night, Another Day, all of which are set in Brighton, where she lives and works.  Friendship is a common theme in Sarah’s novels, and in her nonfiction too. Read more about Sarah and the other books in the Making Friends series on her Amazon Author Page

Review – The Two Week Wait by Sarah Rayner

I’m not usually a reader of fertility related fiction, but Sarah Rayner isn’t a usual author!

Sarah previously wrote the copy for the eggsharing.com website after a great deal of research in to the practical and emotional aspects of treatment.  At the same time her novels were starting to identify her as a superb author who is able to demonstrate great empathy for her characters.

Having gained familiarity for the hugely complex and often conflicting emotions that surround assisted conception, especially egg sharing, Sarah went on to use that in her latest novel, the title highlighting the often most difficult time during treatment  - the two week wait.

Several of the characters in 'The Two Week Wait' were first introduced in Sarah’s previous novel, ‘One Moment, One Morning’, which has now sold over 200,000 copies and has just been published in the US.  But you do not need to have read it before falling in to her latest book. I say ‘falling in to’ as opposed to reading as it’s one of those books that embraces you and takes you on a journey.

If your perceived successful outcome for IVF was a take home baby, then this book possibly doesn’t have a wholly happy ending. If your happy ending is one where trying to conceive is part of a journey to acceptance, to acknowledgement that the need to nurture isn’t always baby shaped, that we can’t always identify what we really want and what’s important to us until we really know it - then this book is a definite one to read.

Life has difficulties for most people and when you embark on assisted conception as a pathway to parenthood the internal conflicting emotions you feel can make everyday life feel exhausting; a good book is often a source of relaxation, this is one book you can pick up and read at a pace that suits you.  I have to confess I couldn’t put it down and don’t remember sleeping much until I’d finished.

A great read not just for people going through treatment, but their friends and family too.  It gives a real sense of how people make big life changing decisions, how difficult it can be sharing news, how some people can be incredibly naive or hurtful when they aren’t sure what to say or how to say it.

But it is also a great read as a novel with a really emotive storyline for anyone who wants to be taken on life changing journey, with characters brought to life who share themselves so generously with the reader.

Enjoy!

You can purchase The Two Week Wait now on Amazon through Infertility Books and support  Infertility Network UK here: http://astore.amazon.co.uk/infnetuk-21/detail/0330544098

Fertility Show - why you need to attend!

If you've been diagnosed with fertility problems, or referred for further investigations then you may have read a book or two? Browsed a website or two (or often more) and possibly visited a clinic or two as part of your preparations for what happens next.

The Fertility Show provides a home to many authors, many experts whose websites you may have visited and also many clinics.  More importantly it gives you the opportunity to speak to these people, to find out who you feel comfortable with and who you don't.

With NHS & Private clinics exhibiting, from the UK and some overseas private clinics too, you can see beyond how the web and literature designers intended you to interpret their publications. But it's not all about the exhibition.

The main reason to come to the Fertility Show is for the seminars. Regardless of your marital status or sexual orientation there will be speakers who can equip you with information relevant to your situation!

Some people may think the show is all about selling clinic services, that it's over commercial, that there's nothing new to be heard.  Even if you're lucky enough to live in an area where you can access the recommended three cycles of IVF and the waiting list is of an acceptable length, you can still expect there to be lots of information for you!

Hear from people who've been through treatment and equip yourself with some useful strategies.  Join in workshops to learn how to manage better in your relationships whilst going through treatment.  I am facilitating an interactive workshop - with lots of time for questions, on how to work towards your relationships thriving, not just surviving as you progress along your fertility journey.

There is lots of information there for men too, not just in treatment options and fertility boosters, the talk from Nigel Dawson sharing his journey to parenthood is one to book in for early, hear as he shares how it was for him - affirmation for the men in the audience that they're coping well and awareness from the women who'll know more about what it feels like for their partners.

There are preparatory & planning seminars, treatment options discussed including reproductive surgery as an alternative to IVF, medical advances shared in a patient friendly way, how to cope better, how to integrate alternative medicine in to your treatment plan, options for the future if treatment isn't successful - adopting, both UK adoption and overseas - whatever the future may bring there's a seminar about it.

You can read the full seminar programme here http://www.fertilityshow.co.uk/seminars.html

The Fertility Show IS a place to attend with your partner, with friends or with your family. They can learn how to support you before, during and after treatment – and you can learn how to let them!

If you belong to a fertility support forum do use their wristbands or pins to recognise each other, plan ahead and use your forums to roaganise a meeting point in the morning.  It can be great to go as part of a resource gathering team.  You can share notes afterwards on the forums; some of you might want to ask your forum moderator to add a forum for the show, a dedicated place to report back and share information that you've found useful and others in your network may do too.

Infertility Network UK pins are available on the day, if you are a member and use the forum do let us know your forum name - then we know who we're talking too :)

As well as working on the I N UK stand and speaking on Saturday I also run the Quiet Room at the show; we recognise that for some needing assistance to conceive can be incredibly isolating. Attending the show with thousands of other people experiencing the same range of emotions can be overwhelming.  Empowering also, but at times it might feel like you need time out.  Hence having the quiet room available, just speak to anyone at the I N UK stand and we can find time to pause, to breathe again, gather strength and continue in collecting the resources to support you now and in the future!

I look forward to seeing you on the day

Tracey