
“We only offer that to women who’ve been trying for at a year,” he said.
I walked outside the doctor’s office and my eyes welled in frustration. I was 34 and in the grip of baby panic but did not want to ‘try’ yet.
WATCH: Women share their strangest pregnancy cravings. Post continues below.
I deeply wanted to be a mum and I was with the person I wanted to become a mum with, but I was unemployed, career in limbo, had financial insecurity and no fixed address.
Everything I read, and everyone I spoke to, told me to prioritise a baby. 35+ fertility and pregnancy complication statistics tormented me.
My metronome angst beat between wanting to punch the next person who said, “Don’t stress, women have babies in their 40s now,” to the icy rod that stabbed my chest every time I read the words ‘geriatric pregnancy’, or ‘advanced maternal age’, which next birthday, I would become.
All of this was underscored with the heartbreak of an 18-month unsuccessful attempt to re-enter a career in the capricious world of politics or journalism.