Danielle spent a year travelling solo around Australia in a campervan — her “year of summer” — working out whether solo motherhood was for her. Now she’s a mum to six-month-old Summer, conceived through IVF at City Fertility Melbourne after three IUIs and a chemical pregnancy. She shares the grief of letting go of the romantic dream, navigating interstate treatment from Tasmania, accessing super for fertility costs, and why she couldn’t be happier with her choice.

Merryn has Sully with an ex who cheated two weeks postpartum, Sinclair via IVF with City Fertility, and baby girl on the way. She does both — co-parenting and solo motherhood by choice — and says solo is easier every time. She’s also built a duplex next door to another solo mum. Practical, warm and completely no-nonsense.

Sam started her solo mum journey at 24 in New Zealand, waited over 3 years for a donor, did IVF at 29 — injecting herself in the back of an ambulance between shifts — and got pregnant on her first frozen Easter transfer. Theo is 8 months. She built a Canterbury solo mum community from a Facebook post and recently got back from Fiji. Warm, funny and overwhelmingly positive.

Claire started IVF at 30 with endo and a thin endometrial lining, went through 5 failed transfers, two early losses, and landed in the NSW donor audit that nearly ended her access to her chosen donor. She now has Augie, 9 weeks old. Warm, practical, and packed with things nobody told her about the newborn stage.

Brooke spent years in a relationship with a man who didn't want more kids. Her brother's brain aneurysm at 42 was the wake-up call. She started IVF at 43 — 11 eggs, 7 embryos, four transfers, a chemical pregnancy, and a Plan B car — before the fourth transfer worked. Mia was born 10 days after Brooke's 44th birthday. Her dad met Mia before he passed. Honest, warm, and quietly remarkable.

Alex tried a recruited known donor for 12 months, two early miscarriages, stage two endo, and multiple IVF cycles before a double transfer finally worked. She's also a foster mum to a 16-year-old. Ollie is six and a half months — they've already been to Bali, Canberra, Darwin and are heading to Europe. A two-part episode covering the full journey from first try to six months in.

Kate navigated Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, Asperger's, three rounds of IUI and eight-plus IVF cycles before a natural FET in December brought Amelia. She now lives with her parents in Tasmania, works from home four days a week, and is taking Amelia to Japan. An honest, warm story about persistence, late diagnosis and never giving up.

Nine days after telling her family she was done fighting, Jessica's mum died — leaving Jessica to plan a funeral with her five-month-old in the next room. Part 2 of her story: a COVID homecoming gone wrong, grief and gratitude in the same two hands, a tattoo that says "look for the joy," and why she's chosen to be one and done. Honest, heavy in places, and ends somewhere good.

Jessica set a deadline for solo motherhood at 32 — and spent the years before it on nursing school, bariatric surgery and a 70kg weight loss. Then her mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer right as she started IVF. Part 1 of her story: the donor she found in a single afternoon, a lower-than-hoped egg collection, and the calm caesarean that changed everything.

Emma was 32 with an AMH of 8 when she decided to stop waiting and just do it. One round of IVF, first transfer, pregnant. Franklin is now 17 months old. She talks about the decision, choosing a donor by vibe, an hour-15 active labour, mixed feeding, a wedding at 5 days postpartum, and the work complications nobody prepares you for. A warm, reassuring listen for anyone just starting out.

Kristina had IVF at 38 with an implanted defibrillator, a COVID pregnancy, a baby born with talipes (clubfoot), a miscarriage, then moved back to New Zealand 7 months pregnant with her second. Otis is 5 and Ari is 2 and a half. She's just launched her own business. This episode is for anyone with a health condition who thinks solo motherhood might not be possible for them.

Lindsay is the kind of person who, when she decides something is happening, makes it happen.

She promised herself at 27 — the day she left her marriage — that not having a partner would never mean not having a child. She promised herself again at 30, moving to Scotland on her own without knowing a single person. And she promised herself at 35 that if she was still single, she would make it happen that year. She was. She did.

Most of the stories on this podcast start at the beginning. This one starts seven years down the track — and it's one of the most valuable perspectives we have.

Renee made her first appointment at 37, after a colleague finally said the quiet part loud and told her to just do it already. She did two IUI rounds, had a bad experience with her first IVF clinic and walked away, found Dr David Wilkinson at City Fertility, and on her third and final round — a frozen transfer she specifically advocated for against the default fresh option — fell pregnant with Aria. She was 39.

Ashleigh's story is one of those ones that will genuinely reassure anyone who is at the very beginning of this journey and quietly terrified about how long it might take.

She was 33 when a friend planted the seed about egg freezing. She went to an initial clinic consultation — more curious than committed — and on the same day, a colleague at work mentioned she'd just had a baby via IVF with a sperm donor. Two seeds in one day. Eight months later, Ashleigh was pregnant.

When Maree came on to record, she had just had her very first IUI. She was 35, freshly into treatment, overwhelmed by the scan schedule, quietly terrified, and moving back in with her parents to make it financially possible. We recorded Part 1 that day.

Then we waited.

Part 2 picks up on the other side — after two unsuccessful IUIs, a full IVF cycle with PCOS that produced 29 eggs and four embryos, a frozen transfer that worked on the first attempt, and the arrival of Ellena via a planned maternal-assisted caesarean. Maree pulled her own daughter out. She cut the cord herself.

S5:E11 | Luce — Part 1: The Long Road & the Night Everything Changed

This is a two-part episode. Part 1 ends at the birth. Part 2 — the NICU journey and life now — drops next week.

Some stories you have to tell in two parts. Luce's is one of them.

Luce is a nurse based in regional Victoria who froze her eggs at 36, made the decision to go solo shortly after, and then spent the next four years navigating one of the most complex IVF journeys I've heard on this podcast. Four egg collections. Multiple transfers. Multiple losses. A late endometriosis diagnosis that may have changed everything. And finally — on the most chaotic, stressful, nothing-going-right transfer day imaginable — the embryo that stuck.

What happened next nobody could have predicted.

Solo Mum by choice from the start: Nicola & Luca

Most women who come to solo motherhood have a moment — a relationship that ended, a birthday that passed, a realisation that waiting wasn't working. Nicola never had that moment. She just always knew.

From the time she was young, she never pictured a partner. She pictured kids. Solo motherhood wasn't a plan B for Nicola — it was the only plan. And what makes her story so valuable for this community is that the hard parts she navigated weren't about the decision itself. They were about trusting herself enough to actually go through with it.

From Chronic Illness to Solo Mum: Nelly’s Long Road to Violet

⚠️ Trigger Warning: This episode includes discussion of miscarriage, fertility challenges, and medical complications during pregnancy.

Season 5 continues with Nelly’s story — one of resilience, persistence, and navigating an incredibly complex path to motherhood.

Nelly didn’t grow up assuming she would have children. With a history of renal failure, transplants, and years of medical treatment, motherhood didn’t feel like a given.

But over time, that quiet desire became impossible to ignore.

Season 5 continues with Megan’s story — and her journey to becoming a solo mum by choice.

In this episode, Megan shares how she approached this decision step by step instead of focusing on the end result, and how that made the process feel more manageable.

In this episode, she talks about:

• Listening to other solo mums and how that helped her feel less alone

• Taking the process step by step instead of focusing on the end result

• Known donor conversations and why facilitated conversations are important

• Adjusting her relationship with work after becoming a mum

• Living with her mum and raising her son together

• Trusting that you will figure out parenting as you go

This conversation is thoughtful, calm, and very reassuring for anyone who feels overwhelmed by the idea of making such a big decision.

If the idea of solo motherhood feels too big to think about all at once, this episode is a really comforting reminder that you don’t have to make every decision today — you can just take the next step.

Season 5 continues with Jane’s story — and this is a story that will stay with you.

Jane always knew she wanted to be a mum, but after years of dating and never finding the right partner, she made the decision at 35 to pursue solo motherhood. What followed was a long IVF journey, big financial decisions, and learning to back herself even when the path felt uncertain.

When Jane finally fell pregnant, she received a surprise she never expected — identical twins.

But her pregnancy quickly became high-risk, and what followed was a rollercoaster of fear, resilience, impossible decisions, and navigating motherhood before her babies had even arrived.