I was halfway through my chosen blogs for the first evening of March's ICLW before I realized that I hadn't posted anything on my own blog today to welcome you. Sorry for the faux pas, and welcome. I love reading your blogs and hope you will love mine.
I'm Lisa, the mother of two children who seem to be growing up in triple-time. As proud as I am of my 10 year old daughter and my 6 year old son, I can't help but think that I miss their 2 or 3 year old selves sometimes. I'm not broody, and thank God for that, because it's extremely unlikely I would be able to have another child now anyway. Having Honey and Pip seemed miracles enough, coming between and after 4 miscarriages, a few years of secondary infertility and an unsuccessful IVF cycle. When Pip was just 3 years old, I started experiencing symptoms of peri-menopause; several months at a time without a period, then a hell-ish one, insomnia and hot flashes, repeat, repeat, repeat. Most of the other mothers dropping off at nursery school had a younger one too or were contemplating whether to have another child.
I'm a fertility coach, working with issues ranging from uncivilized PMS to stressful fertility treatment, heartbreaking miscarriages to confidence-stripping menopause. Through Your Great Life, I'm about to launch a series of hands-on workshops introducing infertile women and/or men to a variety of supportive complementary therapies, as well as a mother/daughter fertility workshop. At the same time, roughly, that I trained as a coach, I also trained and began working as a helpline volunteer for the Miscarriage Association, a UK charity that provides support for anyone suffering from pregnancy loss. I now run the North London Miscarriage Support Group, a free monthly meeting that enables women who have experienced similar experiences, and their husbands, to share information and support in a safe, positive environment.
Some of you will know that I am also the fertility coach for Circle + Bloom. I'm delighted to be associated with Joanne Verkuilen and Susan Cooke; the producers of wonderful relaxation audio programs aimed at improving the chance of conception, the success of IVF, the pregnancy experience and, even one for a chilled-out husband. I wish that my husband Brian and I had had such informative, sensible and relaxation-inducing sessions during our own years trying to conceive. If any of you plan to purchase The Complete Fertility Package for yourself or a friend, you will be offered a coaching session with me as one of the perks. I hope you will take us up on it.
I really appreciate comments on my blog. They help me learn and laugh. Please have a go.
Lisa
BTW, I'm an American Jersey-Girl, living in London for 15 years!
Your work sounds interesting!
ICLW
Posted by: Marisa | March 22, 2010 at 04:56 PM
Wow - you are a busy woman! I have heard a lot about Circle + Bloom, I am a little curious on it!
ICLW #59
Posted by: Fingers Crossed | March 23, 2010 at 11:42 AM
You're one busy person.
Glad I found you through ICLW.
ICLW #145
Posted by: jules | March 23, 2010 at 12:08 PM
You really have a great blog.
Thanks for sharing
~Stopping by for ICLW! #78
Posted by: Stefanie | March 23, 2010 at 12:11 PM
Lisa,
Thank you for your thoughtful comment on my blog! I have been by your blog before - so much helpful information. I would love to be a fertility coach as well - sometimes its hard to find information unless you just go to someone who has been through it. I'm finding that to be especially true for donor embryo.
As for my step daughter - she has a lot of potential and is a beautiful girl. I want the very best for her. We had a huge issue when she moved back in with us - I had to hide the posts about it, it was just too personal. We are working on recovering from that. (She's nineteen, you can almost guess what it was - something that felt like a knife in my gut...)
I will be back here (you're on my blog reader already) and hope to hear from you again!
xoxoxo
sparklythings
Posted by: sparklythings | March 23, 2010 at 04:36 PM
That's awesome that you're a fertility coach! I think that would be a fascinating job and I would love more info on how to be one! If you can give me any info I would love that! (mymiracles77@optimum.net) Thanks! And thanks for stopping by my blog! Happy ICLW!
Posted by: Krissi | March 23, 2010 at 09:44 PM
What a great thing...a fertility coach?! I've heard great things about the Circle Bloom, too!
Happy ICLW!
Posted by: Christina | March 24, 2010 at 02:39 AM
Thank you for the introduction.
ICLW
Posted by: ALEH | March 24, 2010 at 05:17 AM
Hi to everyone who has been commenting here, for ICLW or otherwise. I really love knowing what you think.
To Krissi and SparklyThings and anyone else who has shown interest in my fertility coaching - You may find some of the information you want in my reply to JRS on March 1st, 2010. I am also happy to talk to anyone individually who is interested in training for this kind of work. You can email me at lisa@yourgreatlife.co.uk and I promise I will reply.
You may want to pop over to my blog http://yourgreatlife.co.uk to find out more about coaching and what brought me there.
Lisa
Posted by: Lisa | March 24, 2010 at 10:26 AM
I am a a huge Circle+Bloom fan! I actually blogged a bit about it today :) thanks so much for your contributions to such an amazing program!
ICLW #134
Posted by: Holly @Ready2Bmom | March 26, 2010 at 09:11 PM
Fingers Crossed and Christina,
Come back to this post and click on the link to Circle + Bloom on the navigation bar at the top. It will bring you to the special Circle + Bloom Page, where you can get a free download of a relaxation session to test it out for yourself. I hope you like it!
Thanks for commenting,
Lisa
Posted by: Lisa | March 27, 2010 at 10:05 AM