When my daughter came home from family week at school upset because other children insisted she must have a dad, it started a conversation I think every solo mum needs to read. Here's what happened, what actually worked, and practical advice for supporting your donor-conceived child when the world hasn't caught up yet.

The excited-terrified loop, scan anxiety, beta number spiralling, and the physical spectrum nobody prepares you for — the honest guide to solo first trimester.

What actually happens during an IVF cycle — step by step, in plain English. From the first injection to the two week wait, here is what to expect when you are going through fertility treatment as a solo mum by choice. Plus a free IVF cycle tracker to keep everything in one place.

Why the donor program should be your first filter when choosing a fertility clinic — not location, not price, not social media. What to look for, what to ask, and what some clinics won't tell you.

Australia's sperm shortage is real — and Spotlight only told half the story. If you're thinking about solo motherhood by choice, here's what the program didn't cover: your actual options, what the unregulated donor space really means for your child, and the five things to do right now. From someone who's been through it.

While I was in Bali on the Solo Mum Society group holiday, I turned 46. I was in paradise, surrounded by my daughter, a group of solo mums who've become genuine friends, and a version of life I could not have predicted for myself a decade ago.

And somewhere between the birthday and the warm water and the noise of everyone's kids playing together, I found myself doing the thing you do on a birthday that ends in a number you have to sit with for a second. I started thinking about sliding doors.

You know the ones. The moments where life could have gone one of two ways, and you happened to go through the door you went through, and everything since has unspooled from that one decision.

I thought of five of them. Five decisions that, had I made them differently — or not made them at all — would have given me a completely different life. Not necessarily a worse one. Just a different one. And looking at where I am now, genuinely the happiest and most content I have ever been, I wanted to sit with what got me here.

At the start of this year I had a plan.

Weekly blog. Every Sunday. Done.

Weekly email. Every Friday. Done.

Social content scheduled in advance. Batched, planned, consistent. Done.

Exercise. At least three times a week. Absolutely done.

You can probably guess how that went.

The blog went out most weeks. The email went out for a while, then life got loud and it quietly slipped. The social content happened when it happened. The exercise was the first thing to go, the way it always is, like it was never really on the list at all.

I'm not telling you this because I think you'll be surprised. I'm telling you this because I suspect your version of this list looks a lot like mine.

Flying internationally with your child on your own? Here's what actually helps — from a solo mum who's done it enough times to know. Real tips for the airport, the plane, and the moments in between. Plus the one thing that makes it all worth it.

I came home that night and told my mum.

She looked at me and said: "I was wondering if you were going to do that."

She had never said a word to me. Not once. It hadn't even been on my radar until that night. And yet apparently it was so obvious to the people who loved me most that they'd already had the thought and just... waited.

Six years of being her mum. Six years of being the only person in our house who has to make every decision, carry every worry, celebrate every win — and somehow figure out how to do all of that while also being the fun one.

I turned forty just before she arrived. And I remember thinking that I already knew so much. I'd done the work. Therapy, growth, hard lessons learned the hard way. I was ready.

I had absolutely no idea.

Because becoming a mother — doing it intentionally, doing it alone, doing it in my forties — taught me things I couldn't have learned any other way. Things I wish I'd understood in my twenties, when I was burning time and energy and self-worth in places that didn't deserve any of it.

Solo mums are prepared, they know what they want — and another onesie isn't it. Here's the real gift guide for a solo mum to be: the practical, thoughtful presents that will actually make those first weeks survivable. Share this with everyone who loves her, and let them show up in the ways that matter most.

When my daughter was three, she told a man at the bus stop — completely unprompted, with the full confidence of someone stating a perfectly obvious fact — that she doesn't have a dad. She has a donor.

He was reading his newspaper. He looked up, blinked, and said "oh, right." She went back to her snack.

That was it. No drama. No confusion. No sadness. Just a small person telling her story in the same matter-of-fact way she'd tell you her name or her favourite colour.

She turns six this week. And in her whole life, there has never been a moment where she learned she was donor conceived. Because she has always known. It has always just been her story.

If tonight's 60 Minutes got you thinking about egg freezing — read this first. A solo mum by choice breaks down the real statistics, costs, and the questions most women don't think to ask. Honest, warm, and made for women navigating this alone.

Here's something that stopped me in my tracks when I first heard it.

Your eggs take around 100 days to fully mature.

Not overnight. Not in the week before your cycle. One hundred days. Roughly three months.

Which means the food you eat, the supplements you take, how you sleep and how you manage stress right now — today — can directly influence the egg quality in your next cycle. Or the one after that. Or the one your clinic retrieves at your next egg collection.

That's not meant to scare you. It's one of the most empowering pieces of fertility information I've come across. Because unlike so much of this journey, this part is something you actually have some influence ove

There’s a moment that happens for a lot of women — usually late at night, usually after another bad date, another pregnancy announcement, or another birthday — where the question quietly appears:

“What if I just did this on my own?”

And then just as quickly comes the second question:

“But how would I even know if that’s the right decision?”

Because deciding to become a solo mum isn’t just about getting pregnant.
It’s about deciding what kind of life you want to build.

And that’s a much bigger question.

Preparing for birth can feel overwhelming for any parent.

But when you're doing it as a solo mum, there are a few additional things to think about.

Not because you can’t do it — thousands of women do this every year — but because planning ahead can make your birth experience far calmer and more supported.

Many solo mums say that once they started thinking about birth preparation earlier in pregnancy, they felt much more confident about what was ahead.

If you're pregnant and preparing for birth on your own, these are the key things worth thinking about early.

For many women considering solo motherhood, choosing a sperm donor can feel like one of the biggest decisions of the entire journey.

And in many ways, it is.

But if you’ve started researching donors, you’ve probably discovered something quickly — there’s a lot of information, and not all of it actually helps you make the decision.

Donor profiles can include everything from eye colour and height to personality traits, hobbies, and long medical histories.

It can feel like you’re expected to choose the genetic blueprint for your future child.

But the truth is, when it comes to donor conception, there are far more important questions than whether someone plays the piano or likes hiking.

If you're trying to decide how to choose a sperm donor, these are the questions that actually matter.

Choosing to try to conceive as a single woman is one of the most courageous decisions many women ever make.

For some, it’s a decision that grows slowly over time.

You might have spent years hoping to meet the right partner before starting a family.
You might have realised that waiting any longer could mean missing your chance to become a mother.
Or perhaps you’ve simply reached a point where the desire to have a child feels stronger than the desire to wait.

Whatever has brought you here, the journey to becoming a solo mum by choice is filled with hope, excitement, and sometimes a few surprises.

Because while fertility clinics explain the medical side of the process, there are many parts of this journey that no one really talks about.

If you're considering trying to conceive on your own, here are some of the things many solo mums wish they had known earlier.

International Women’s Day Reflections: Gratitude, Progress, and the Women Walking Beside Us

This year, International Women’s Day felt different for me.

Not louder.
Not more celebratory.

Just… deeper.

After travelling to Sydney to speak on the Seeking Spoon panel at the All About Women Festival at the Sydney Opera House, surrounded by conversations about modern motherhood and the evolving ways women are building families, I came home feeling something I hadn’t expected.

Gratitude.

Not just for the opportunities in front of us today — but for the generations of women who made them possible.

There’s a moment many mothers experience that almost no one prepares you for.

It doesn’t happen the day your baby is born.

It usually arrives later — quietly, unexpectedly — somewhere between routines, responsibilities, and exhaustion easing just enough for you to finally hear your own thoughts again.

And the thought sounds something like:

Who am I now?

Not in a crisis way.
Not because you regret motherhood.

But because everything has changed — including you.