Solo Mums

I had always dreamed I would have a family. I always thought that if I kept on living my life, doing the things I enjoyed, working and travelling then at some point I would meet the right partner for me and we would have children. In my late 30s I began to think about other options as I knew that time was running out for me fertility wise. I was blessed to have two successful IVF cycles with the same donor sperm, one when I was 39 and the other when I was 41 resulting in my two beautiful children Jack and Poppy. Jack has just turned 4 last week and Poppy is nearly 2.

This story was written by Emma in 2018.

This personal story was written by Sophy in 2018.

Compared to many of those who decide to embark on motherhood alone I've come to it quite early. Having been advised in June 2017 that my egg reserve was so low that I would shortly find it difficult to find an IVF clinic to treat me I decided, at 31, take the plunge. In reality though I'd been considering it and preparing for years before being given the shocker of a much earlier deadline than I'd anticipated. 

This story was written by Hannah in 2018. 

For every pregnant woman, even before your jeans get snugger and your dresses shorter, the questions start. “Why aren’t you drinking? Why are you so tired? What are you looking so happy about?” But as a solo mum, there was a knotty layer of questions, explanations, obfuscations, white lies and downright fibs in the early days of my pregnancy that – along with navigating others’ reactions – I was wholly unprepared for. 

This story was written by Jane in 2018.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where my story began. I have always wanted children, perhaps this stems from being one of four myself, or the fact that I work with children, but choosing to become a parent was never in itself a difficult decision.

Written by DCN member Kati in 2018.

I’ll be 48 this week and have never felt so happy and fulfilled as I have during the past 21 months.  It took quite a few different roads to get here…

Toby’s Story - Five Years On

This is a personal story from February 2018 written by Anna.

I have always wanted to be a mother, for as long as I can remember. I am a teacher and since uni, I have worked in schools and nurseries teaching and caring for other people’s children.

What makes us the sort of people that we are? How much are we influenced by our parents when it is our parents who bring us up? How much is down to our genes? And how much is down to the environment that we live in?
This is a summary of Marilyn Crawshaw’s presentation to the DC Network Meeting held in Birmingham on 2 October 2004

This is the talk given at the 2003 March national meeting in London by Mary MacLeod, then Chief Executive of the National Family and Parenting Institute. The feeling at the meeting was that this was an exceptionally powerful and valuable address, and so we have decided that everyone should have the opportunity to read the full text.  It remains a profound and very moving read.