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 .

[smithy]

aww welcom morgan and tess i wish you all the best with your first bub and i hope you meet heaps of friends

[Lea79]

Hi Morgan & Tess,

Welcome to BB! & of course congrats on being pregnant...18weeks woohoo!I know how hard it can be to reach the point you guys are at. My partner Selena and I haven't reached that stage yet but we are starting the TTC process in December! Getting close! There are a fair few friendly girls in this forum so I hope you get to catch up with them and one I believe from WA too. See you around the place...

[Sally2]

Welcome Morgan & Tess
We are 20 weeks pregnant, so our little bubba's will be born around the same time! Woo hoo!
Sal & I are really lucky with our local community, we live in a great, gay friendly country town and have several other couples we know/are friends with who have/are trying to have kids. It's invaluable to have other people doing the same thing that you can talk to, we couldn't get enough of belly belly when we were counting down the days to 12 weeks, cause we didn't want to tell anyone until we got the all clear. We could jump on here at any time of the day or night, though, and read other people's stories or share stuff.
You should join your belly buddy group, I think you would be in the same one as us if you are due before the 31st January!! ( my maths is crap.... )
Go to pregnancy general discussion, then onto Belly Buddies and choose when you are due...we would love to have you!
Looking forward to getting to know you both

[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!

[babysteps]

Thanks Sally, I'm looking forward to making my announcement too! I'm waiting for a call from the clinic to tell me what day we're doing the IUI - I think it should be on Thursday. Then I guess I have the 2WW - that sounds like such a long time right now!

I love that you've called your baby 'squishy'... is that a Nemo reference? My partner has already chosen that same name for our future baby until it's born.

[Shades]

Babysteps - You should come play in the TTC Buddies thread - I'm the only one in mine doing IUI instead of BDing and it's lonely! I'm having IUI #2 hopefully around Sat if my ovaries behave and produce the egg they're supposed to (they get shy when observed)! So we're sorta cycle buddies too!

This is the TTC Buddy thread I'm on http://bellybelly.com.au/forums/conc...2008-a-17.html

[Lea79]

welcum to BB babysteps. U say you will probably be spending lots of time on here and I am sure you will because it really is addictive! Only 6 weeks until we start the TTC process, I hope your IUI goes smoothly this week and we hear of a :BFP: really soon!

Lea n Sel

[babysteps]

Thanks Lea, that 6 weeks is going to fly by! Best of luck!