The Gift of Life
What can you tell us about your new book The Gift of Life?
The gift of life is a graphic account of my struggle to conceive, I have always kept a diary and at the time it helped me deal with my miscarriages and IVF I hoped that one day my children (if I was lucky enough to get pregnant) would be able to read my diary and realise how hard I had tried to have them and I wanted them to know how much I wanted them.
At what point in your life did you feel ready to have a child?
When I miscarried in 2008 I knew I desperately wanted to be a mother, it became an obsession as it didn’t happen for a long time! Well not until I went down the private fertility route.
You had multiple miscarriages in trying to conceive, what can you tell us about these experiences?
Miscarriage is a very hard, I felt very lonely and isolated, it is a very personal, private time! Every time I miscarried was very different.
My first miscarriage ended up with a d&c I was 6 weeks pregnant, the 2nd time it was a complete miscarriage at 10 weeks, the 3rd time I unfortunately lost a twin at around 6 weeks and the 4th time was a complete miscarriage at 5 weeks.
How did you feel when you found out about infertility?
I was very, very scared, I thought I was never going to have children at one point during the ivf process and I was devastated, I was in a very dark lonely place!
You had a possibility of giving birth to a child with special needs, so what emotions did you feel around this?
In the end I thought if my baby is down syndrome I’m going to be strong and brave and face it head on!
I would have got as much help as I physically could to give my baby the best possible start.
How much did writing your diary help you through these times?
My diary really helped it healed a lot of sadness and helped me focus on the future rather than dwell on the past, it made me stronger and I focused on what I wanted and how to achieve it!
How did it feel to reveal your innermost feelings and experiences to your readers?
it felt good to tell my readers my innermost thoughts, because if it helps just one person reading I will have achieved great success, all I wanted when I went through my miscarriages and ivf was to read a happy positive story when you’re going through infertility and miscarriage you feel sad and lonely and my book proves that success stories are out there and it will make people feel a little reassured they aren’t alone.
What do you hope to achieve by releasing this book?
Hopefully my book will reach my readers that are feeling sad and lonely and make them feel reassured that they aren’t alone going through miscarriage and IVF even if their experiences differ to mine, they can read my book drinking a cup of tea in the comfort of their own home and reflect on their own journey and experience.
You list writing in your hobbies, so what others things do you like to write about?
I like to write children’s books I’m a little off the wall and ditsy so it’s fun making up stories for my children especially as they are the best critics.
Do you think other people take for granted how easy it is to have children, when they have not gone through what you have?
It is quite easy to take getting pregnant for granted when it happens easily, I got pregnant very quickly the month after a miscarriage with no period between when I got conceived my son and it is a lot easier, less stressful and a lot more enjoyable.
Let’s put it this way, everyone has problems to overcome through their lives, miscarriage and infertility was just something I had to go through and deal with, I don’t' judge other people, We all have wonderful stories to tell that's what makes us all different!
Female First Lucy Walton