Nadine, the fact that someone is needing IVF means that they have already been through a series of incredibly invasive tests, all aspects of that couple's private life have been questioned, examined and discussed with doctors. Not to mention the heartbreak of TTC for a long time, the heartbreak of diagnoses if they can be made...

If someone tells you that they are doing IVF (for me, that happened in March/April when I was sick with OHSS), and then no pregnancy announcement is forthcoming several months later... wouldn't it be fairly obvious that IVF is not going well? Do you think it's perhaps a little insensitive to ask "how is the IVF going?" on a day that could have brought news of a failed cycle, failure to thaw frozen embryos, failure to fertilise or any number of things.

It's a journey that is invasive, emotional and in many ways degrading. Imagine needing 4 people in the room to conceive? I've actually lost count of the number of doctors who have got to examine my bits in the last 12 months. That's not even counting the nurses in the operating theatre, the sonographers at ultrasounds and the nurses who do the follicle scans for stim cycles. I guess I have a sense of wanting to retain what little privacy I have left. And a desire to be treated as a human being with real feelings and emotions, not just someone who gets poked, prodded and questioned by all and sundry.

BW