Please Introduce Yourself!

[BellyBelly]

Welcome to this brand new section of BellyBelly, which we hope will provide lots of support for gay and lesbian couples going through the journey of pregnancy and parenting. Please introduce yourself and we look forward to sharing your journey with you!

[sallie]

Hi Everyone!

My partner and I are up to Round 4 trying...

Hoping the next one is it!

Nice to meet you all!

Sal.

[Kerry&Linda]

We are very new to this pregnancy/fertitly process. We are still at the stage of looking into the where and how questions as far as getting pregnant. Could you give us any advise or contacts that may help us make that first step towards getting pregnant.
Sorry if this sounds a little niave, but we are feeling a little snowed under by all the fertility websites and pregnancy information, all of which side step the subject of lesbian couples having babies (or wanting to have babies)..

Can you give us an advice.

[Sally2]

Hi Kerry & Linda, welcome!
There is heaps of information out there, it just takes time to sift through it all. I'm sure you've cruised through some of the threads on here, there is a couple of websites mentioned on some of them to give you a great place to start.
Try Pride and Joy online it is Victoria but has lots of links to gay and lesbian parenting/conceiving websites.
You have lots of options, your main one being known or unknown donor! Good luck girls, there is lots of discussion on here about everyone's journeys, I think some of the really relevent ones to you are on the second page so read those if you get time.

[Lea79]

Nice to meet you girls! First of all congrats on making this decision to start your family! Like Sally said there are heaps of good sites out there, you just need to find the good ones! I agree that pride & joy is the best site even if its Victorian based, it still has heaps of great info, especially referring the 'other mummy'. I dont know if you know of it but a great book to order is 'the ultimate guide to pregnancy for lesbians' by rachel pepper. It is written in America but is excellent, very down to earth and real. We ordered it online from 'bookaholics' for about $28 i think. We have done alot of research, we are doing the known donor so we need to protect ourselves as much as possible legally if anything was to go south. Anyway, thats just a few things to consider. I hope you have some luck with your journey to TTC.

[firemother]

Hi everyone, my name is Morgan and my partner is Tess. I am currently about 18 weeks pregnant with our first child. I had been posting on another site but found out about this one from a mate. I have to say I love how user friendly it is but Im still getting the hang of it. Took nearly an hour to work out how to do my signature and ticky thing . Im not known for my skills with computers, Tess is the brainy one, Ive got the good looks .

We are based in Perth but at the moment are doing a bit of a catch up run around the country before bub comes. Thought better now then later when it will be even more uncomfortable (not that driving in a car with iffy aircon is crash hot at any stage of being pregnant).

Looking forward to making new friends. We are not really that well connected in our local gay community and only know one other lesbian couple with kids in Perth. It would be nice to have a few other people in similar situations to chat with .

[dreamrise659]

Hi everyone,

My name is Lori. I am the mother of a 12 year old girl and am currently going through Ballarat IVF to monitor my cycles and was using a private interstate donor to try to get prenant (but the travelling costs are killing me). So I'm back on the donor hunt (started looking almost 3 years ago - I can't believe I'm back to square 1 and just alot broker and disillusioned).

My girlfriend is pregnant with her first baby - due in 4 weeks. She got pregnant on her 3rd attempt (1 through the Albury clinic, 1 through a Melb donor and the succesful one was through the Sydney donor who I was trying with).

We live on a small farm near Ballarat. It would be great to chat to some other lesbian mums from around the area (or anywhere in Victoria).

Lori

Hi Kerry & Linda, welcome!
There is heaps of information out there, it just takes time to sift through it all. I'm sure you've cruised through some of the threads on here, there is a couple of websites mentioned on some of them to give you a great place to start.
Try Pride and Joy online it is Victoria but has lots of links to gay and lesbian parenting/conceiving websites.
You have lots of options, your main one being known or unknown donor! Good luck girls, there is lots of discussion on here about everyone's journeys, I think some of the really relevent ones to you are on the second page so read those if you get time.

[sareeb]

Hi Everyone
I thought it was time to introduce myself since ive been a regular visitor for about 3 mths. im 30 and live with my 37 yr old partner of 7 yrs in eastern vic. we have had one attempt at ttc then after discovering mild endo and getting that sorted and a couple of other health problems are ready to ttc for the second time next month. we have a great known donor and are hoping everything will go smoothly . this will be the first child for my partner and i and also the donor.
i wish everyone else on the journey of ttc and those that are already pregnant all the best.

[DrGirl72]

Welcome sareeb, hope your ttc journey is short and you get your BFP soon, Girldoc

[Lea79]

Welcome Sareeb, we hope you find BB helpful and get some luck with your TTC soon!

Lea n Sel

[babysteps]

Hi everyone,

My partner and I are just starting our first natural IUI cycle this month with an unknown donor arranged through our fertility clinic- currently at CD11.

We live in Perth and don't really know many other queer parents. I'm pleased to find a local pregnancy forum with a queer area - I'll probably spend quite a bit of time here through our TTC cycles.

Thanks.

[Sally2]

Welcome and good luck, babysteps!
Looking forward to your pregnancy announcement!

[snazza_oz]

Hello! Im Hayley, 22 and living in Brisbane, Ive been with my partner 21, for 2 years and probably not planning on having children for another 2-5 years (but who knows)
Basically ive just signed up to research and meet like minded people..
Im one of those people who likes to have as much information as possible, haha even if it is years in advance
Hope to chat to some of you soon!

[Lea79]

Nice to meet you Hayley. Hope you find BB a useful site for info, I know we got most of our info here and its great to talk to others in the same boat.

All the best,

Leanne

[Ab&Leah]

Hi, We're newbies!!.. and have just been reading through some of the forums and thought we would join. We have been together for just over 6 years now and are starting to plan on having a family together. We are both 24 years old and are very new to all of this.. We don't really know where to begin, we have been looking up ivf programs but couldn't find much information on same sex pregnancy or parenting in melbourne.
If anyone could give us some tips of where to begin or who to contact in regards to starting the ivf process using an unknown donar, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Abby & Leah

[babysteps]

Hi Abby & Leah,

Unless there is a reason for needing to use IVF (eg. infertility) you would usually start with an IUI procedure, that's less invasive and expensive.

I'd recommend doing a google search for "iui melbourne" and have a look at some of the results.

I'm going through my first IUI cycle at the moment, I've written about it in my blog (you can get to that from the blog button at the top of my post. Shades has also blogged about her IUI process, I'd recommend reading that as well.

Good luck!

[Shades]

Hey there - there are some great resources in Melbourne for queer parenting - google 'Pride and Joy Online' for a little publication for prospective lesbian parents by the Royal Women's in Melbourne.. there's also a group called "maybe baby melbourne", try googling that too. That's all I have for Melbourne specific... As far as general info goes, Leasha has some great threads on here and as Babysteps mentioned, there're a few blogs that you might find interesting

Wish you all the best, hope that info helps!

[sookey85]

howdy, my name is nicola, i live in a small town in northern nsw. its near lismore 1 hr from the qld border. i am 24. i have been with my partner since i was 17. we have 2 foster children and my partner has 2 daughters from a previous marriage.