I felt like a queen bringing my baby home, I felt like I won a trophy. I got hosted and treated specially by my husband and community people.

I didn’t cope well with not being able to sleep. For the first month I thought I had made the biggest mistake of my life.

I think one of the hardest things was communication sometimes. Because I want to know everything and I want to know when it's happening. I found IVF and IUI, it kind of eroded my trust gradually because I didn't believe everything and it's so hard to control sometimes. And I'm not one that likes to relinquish control to others. So I found it very difficult in that sense.

I quite like being pregnant, the idea of having this other little being with you all the time. I don’t get concerned about body image, it’s a cool shape to be! It’s nice knowing that even when you don’t achieve much else on a given day you’re doing something for someone.

I think it was really hard, hospitals are difficult … Explaining what I needed sensory-wise, and then having to stay the night, I found very difficult. So I was in hospital for a few nights, off and on throughout the three weeks that I was pregnant still. And so it was hard not having the things I needed to self-regulate, but it was also hard having that extra anxiety, I found.

I often find it hard to communicate because I'm being super polite and I don't let people know when I need something, because I don't want to disrupt them or impose something. But then I just get frustrated, and I get angry, and I get upset, but I internalise it all. So I can be waiting a long time for something that I need and it becomes unbearable. But then in hindsight I recognise that I should have spoken up, or even I wish that I could be that person that's obnoxious and just demand things, but I can't. I wish I could be that kind of confident.