This week, on The Ribbon Box podcast, we had the great pleasure of speaking with Natalie Hart about her egg donor conception journey.

Natalie met her fiancé late in life and, while she knew it would be difficult to conceive naturally, she didn’t expect to have less that 1% of her eggs remaining. When she began to show signs that she was peri-menopausal at 41, using an egg donor was one of her limited options to become a mother. 

Although this is not always the case, IVF and donor conception can be a tumultuous undertaking, as it was for Natalie, who has been generous enough to share her personal story with us. Listen below as we discuss Natalie’s experience of:

• Peri-menopause 
• Two IVF cancellations
• Fertility specialists in Melbourne 
• Grieving the loss of genetic eggs and fertility 
• Overseas egg donation through a fertility clinic in South Africa
• Selecting a first-time egg donor 
• Bleeding after an IVF transfer 
• Heterotopic pregnancy 
• Emergency surgery to remove the ectopic pregnancy while protecting the uterine pregnancy
• Having a donor conceived baby