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Thank you to our episode sponsor Peanut, you can meet likeminded women, trying to conceive and find support. Be sure to visit peanut.app.link/fertilitypoddy or via your app store.
 You’ll hear from Dr. Ingrid Gran, Senior Research Fellow in Reproductive Medicine and a Consultant at The John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford talking about the reasons why miscarriages happen, explaining in more detail about chromosomal abnormalities and it’s linked to female age. Listen in full here

Zara Dawson shared her heartbreaking experience of having to have a medical termination which you can hear in full.

We also heard from Jen Coates, the Director of Bereavement Care at Sands, the Stillbirth and neonatal death charity  explaining just how challenging dealing with Baby loss is for everyone involved and the peer to peer support they have created with bereaved parents who become ‘Befrienders’ and that they also have an app you can get instant access to get the much-needed support you need. Listen in full here.

We also talked Dr. Adrian Lower talking about Asherman’s Syndrome which is caused by the surgical procedures women have to go through when they have a miscarriage,  it was part of a conversation was part of an earlier one with Guest host Katy Lindermann Emilie Jones-Ransley listen in full here

And we also asked Kelly Da Silva, who has founded the Dovecote Childless Support Organisation about the immune tests she had ahead of further fertility treatment and how she then went ahead with treatment with immune therapy as well as intralipid infusions yet still miscarried and decided to stop treatment. Listen in full here

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Meet our guest, Frankie Brunker, author of These Precious Little People
Please be warned that this weeks’ episode is a hard-hitting and emotional one. It is a raw and emotional account of stillbirth and the grief that follows. I chatted with Frankie Brunker, after meeting her met at a fabulous Yoga day put on by Lucy from The Rainbow Running club.
Route to Parenthood
Frankie’s route to parenthood started really quickly after conceiving in the first month of trying however, devastatingly their daughter was born stillborn at 38 weeks. This came as a complete shock.
Frankie’s husband had to call their family from the hospital to break the news. Frankie felt so concerned about telling family and how they would feel, particularly her nieces and nephews who were excited about a new baby coming into the family. They decided that they needed to be insular and in their own little bubble to get through this difficult time, one day at a time.
The Funeral 
Frankie made the decision for her nieces and nephews not to attend the funeral of their daughter. At the time, this felt like the right decision but now Frankie has some regrets and is now mindful that not being included may make it more difficult for children, in general, to deal with grief.
Experiencing a Stillbirth
Frankie talks about her experience of giving birth at the hospital and how she felt that some of the midwives had limited experience of caring for a mother delivering a stillborn baby, and that she felt there were gaps in the bereavement care she and her husband received.
Frankie’s honest account of the, sometimes insensitive and ignorant, remarks she has received along the way is powerful and arresting
Precious Little People 
As a result of her experience, Frankie is now the author of a beautiful children’s book to help explain baby loss to children but also Frankie says the book helps adults to come to terms with grief too.  Her aim for the book is that you can talk about loss of your baby but that you can still think of them and smile. Her book aims to appeals to bereaved parents from diverse communities and cultures.
Blogging as a bereaved parent 
Frankie has recently written a blog giving support to bereaved parents who may be finding it especially difficult going through this experience during lockdown, and urges people to reach out for support.
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Sadly, we’re almost coming to the end of our Miscarriage series, and this time we’re talking about support.  Sometimes it can be difficult to reach out for support, especially as miscarriage is tragically still viewed a taboo subject.
In this episode, we chat with Zoe Clarke-Coates. Zoe is the co-founder of the award-winning charity ‘The Mariposa Trust’ (widely known by the name of its primary division called sayinggoodbye.org) and the author of 3 books, which are essential reading for anyone who is grieving.
Zoe is also the co-chair of the Government’s National Pregnancy Loss Review. Zoe’s interview is essential listening if you are, or have experienced baby loss, no matter whether this is recently or years ago. We talk about the support Zoe’s charity offers, how miscarriage care is changing for the better and how it is possible to move forward with hope and joy for the future.
The Taboo of Miscarriage
The culture surrounding miscarriage is the belief that you shouldn’t talk about being pregnant until you’re past the 12-week point. However, this serves to enforce the taboo surrounding miscarriage, as does our UK culture of finding it difficult to talk about death. Until we can openly discuss death and early pregnancy it will be difficult to remove this taboo.
National Loss Certificate
We discuss how the care of bereaved parents following a miscarriage, is changing for the better, especially with Zoe’s involvement in the recent Governmental review and the work of Zoe’s charity in promoting good NHS care for women and couples who have experienced baby loss.
Zoe launched a campaign to acknowledge early pregnancy and advocates that bereaved parents can choose to receive a National Loss certificate in the same way that a birth and death certificate is issued. Therefore acknowledging the loss.
Support from ‘Saying Goodbye’
Zoe’s charity offers various support, and one of the lovely things they do is hold regular Remembrance Services. Zoe talks about how emotional these events are but how it has such a powerful and beautiful impact for bereaved parents. She also tells us about how miscarriage can impact on a relationship and how the charity supports couples as well as the individual.
Moving forward with hope
Zoe believes that it is important to help people to find hope again and that people need lighthouses to show hope for the future. It is about acknowledging the pain and giving language to grief but also saying that even while you are feeling this, there is hope.
The Books
Zoe has published books some of which are practical books to help couples to process grief and move forward. These are applicable if you have just gone through a loss or even if you experienced baby loss over 20 years ago – the books are there to offer support and practical guidance. Zoe has also written ‘Beyond Goodbye’ which is a general book for anyone experiencing any type of loss such as the loss of a parent, spouse, sibling or friend. 
In our chat we talk about another podcast interview Zoe had with Cariad Lloyd who hosts the brilliant Griefcast and I wanted to share that with you also 
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Meet Katy Leeson, Managing Director of Social Chain who also hosts a podcast called 'I Shouldn't Say This But' and at the time of us chatting had just been nominated for an award for 'Leading the Charge and Pushing the Boundaries' with Campaign Magazine ( a big industry title ) I spoke with Katy in real life at Social Chain's very cool office in central Manchester, in the days where you could do that, which is why Kate isn't in this episode.
Self Protection
Katy spoke about her struggle with the responsibility of being a young female Managing Director. She had imposter syndrome and took herself into therapy sessions to get support on how best to deal with it. In the context of this chat, Katy explained how she made sure she was mentally prepared to talk about her miscarriage in the public sphere because she had no idea what the reaction would be and she was nervous that people would tell her it wasn't the right place or platform  - something so many people fear when talking about infertility.
Baby Loss Awareness Week
Katy shared her story in October 2019, a year on from her miscarriage which happened in December 2018. She spoke about the challenges of that time of year with everybody being together and how it forced her into telling people that I was pregnant, as she wasn't drinking in the Chrimbo celebrations - this was before the '12 week' point. Her family and friends knew and so she also had to share her that she had miscarried on Christmas Eve because she didn't want to get messages wishing her the best Christmas and New Year because I was going to have a baby in the next year. Katy talked about feeling that she was also ruining other people's Christmas because I'd tell them such sad news.
Miscarrying Naturally
Katy spoke about how she miscarried naturally the day before she was due to be put under for the operation. The first the scan she had, she said felt a good connection to someone who really cared and she said 'You look healthy, everything there on the scan looks healthy, you've just started an unfortunate experience, there was just a problem with that egg or that sperm, and you should be fine and I can't wait to see you again' which Katy said gave her such hope as every other interaction she had, felt like she was just being told to get on with things.
Breakdown in Communication.
Katy explained how she was still getting letters about having scans for her pregnancy after she had miscarried due to being registered with two different hospitals and how they were ringing her partner but wouldn't speak to him so he couldn't even act as her  gatekeeper for. This meant in the end, she had to have numerous conversations reliving her experience over and over/
Telling Work
Katy talked about how she had spoken to others about how much of a lift it is, to be told it's not your fault, which is such a straightforward piece of information to give to somebody. We talked about how she had no follow up conversations after going through it and wasn't given any guidance on where to find support. She had stopped her therapy and hadn't told her work as she didn't want to tell them she was going through 'something so horrific'  because she was worried they would think she would then be trying again and be off on Maternity. So she didn't tell anyone and struggled with it from Christmas until Easter - which is when she said the broke down. When she did tell them, they were amazing
Talking it through in Therapy
Katy discussed the grieving process with her therapist and how she had been putting so much pressure on herself with her work and doing the right thing by others. She talked about giving...

Welcome to the very first episode of The Miscarriage Series where we will spend the coming weeks bringing you real stories and expert interviews about the difficult topic of miscarriage.  This week’s episode is with Dr. Jessica Farren who Kate and I met in London, in her kitchen before we went into lockdown.
Jessica is an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Imperial College Health Care Trust and we spoke about her involvement in research that was published earlier this year. Jessica looked at the psychological impact of early pregnancy events and in particular miscarriage.
The Trauma of Miscarriage
The study looked at symptoms relating to anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and how high these levels are shortly after experiencing a miscarriage and then months later. The study found that at 9 months 1:6 women are still experiencing symptoms suggestive of PTSD.
How to improve support
Frequently women are discharged from the hospital very quickly following a miscarriage and often without a follow-up. Jessica suggests that this poses a lost opportunity for support and the ability to ask questions after a miscarriage which can help to reduce self-blame.
Jessica talks about the importance of healthcare staff managing expectations at the first scan, particularly if the scan does not have a positive outcome.
How can we talk more freely about miscarriage?
Jessica talks about the concept of not talking about a pregnancy until after the 12-week point and how it would be much better if women did feel that they can open up and talk before this time, and in particular if they miscarry.
Miscarriage and the Workplace
A miscarriage occurs in a woman’s life span during their peak contribution to society both at work and in the workplace, the impact of PTSD in both environments is huge. The work we are doing as part of our Fertility Matters at Work initiative will be providing support and guidance for anyone dealing with this. 
The First Scan
Jessica tells us that it is very common to have an inconclusive scan at 5-6 weeks but by 8 weeks you would expect to see a pregnancy developing normally. She also mentions that for IVF pregnancies it would be preferable to be able to be more conclusive with scans for this group.
Why it’s not possible to investigate a miscarriage until after 3
70% of miscarriages are genetically abnormal and therefore investigating for this after one or even two miscarriages doesn’t change how anything would be managed going forward. Jessica does think there is a move to investigate after two miscarriages in the future.
The impact of miscarriage on men
The research also considered men and this will be published soon. Jessica did say that whilst men had lower levels of the psychological disorders assessed, they did still suffer.
Dr. Jessica Farren – Research paper
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We need to talk about miscarriage.