AccessA options for connecting focus on different infertility issues and provide relaxed contact between people going through similar experiences. Access to these groups is through our forum and exclusively for members of AccessA.
The Options Groups represent members on IVF treatment, those using donor conception, couples facing genetic infertility problems, dealing with IVF miscarriage, groups for men, single women and for those couples moving on after IVF treatment.
Some groups meet over a coffee, while others just keep
in contact and provide support for each other in that way.
Sometimes it can be good to speak to someone else who is going through a treatment cycle and understands the hopes and anxieties you can feel, especially during that dreaded
two week wait post transfer! You may like contact by phone, email or even get together for coffee.
“It is very comforting to know that we are not alone in our “battle” to become pregnant. The only way for us to get assistance at this time is through AccessA, as you know exactly what we are going through. Thank you so very much.” – Irene
The AccessA Options for Donor Conception group provides contact with people who are considering donor sperm, oocyte or embryo treatment or who are parents of donor offspring, to share their dreams and hopes and difficulties in becoming parents. The group also provides contact for adults and teenagers who know they were conceived using donated gametes (sperm or eggs) and for people who have donated gametes to another couple to help them have a family.
Sperm,egg and embryo donors
What processes are involved in making a donation? Who do the eggs,sperm or embryos go to? Is there a choice as to who receives your donation?. How might the donor recipients feel about having your genetic child? How might you think about the child as it grows older? With an increasing move towards openness in these arrangements how would you feel about changes in the law that may provide the opportunity to meet the child later or allow the child access to identifying information about you? What might your relationship with the child and his or her parents be?
Considering using donor gametes or embryos?
Are children resulting from donation normal, healthy, bright? Would you like to meet other donor children? Would you love this child as much as one genetically related to you? Should you tell or not tell a child of his or her genetic origins? How would you approach telling the child? How would you approach telling family and friends about this conception? How would you deal with people’s reactions?
Children conceived using donated gametes or embryos
You might like to know that you are not the only child conceived in this way. Do you want to know who your biological parent/s is/are? What information can you expect to find about him and/or her? How do you feel about the donor/s and your parents? How do you adjust to being told about the way you were conceived? Do you want to know his or her identity and meet the donor? Can you expect to know about the donor’s complete medical history? How are your interests protected and where do you stand legally? Is the legal situation likely to change?
Parents who have used donor gametes or embryos
Do you want to tell your child his/her genetic background and how they were conceived? If so,how and when do you go about this? Should you tell family and friends? How can you best support your child to deal with this information? Where do you get professional assistance with these questions? How would you deal with any concerns about the donor coming into your child’s life?
Options for those undergoing ART treatment with
a genetic issue
This group is for couples who have a known risk for genetic disease and who need ART treatment to help them to achieve their dream of having a family. This group is an opportunity to help each other in that journey by sharing experiences and coping strategies. Contact can be via email, mail or phone, as you wish.
When we suffer a miscarriage, often after many years of IVF treatment, we not only have to deal with the death of a much longed for child, but knowing that it took so much effort and commitment to conceive in the first place. This group provides contact between people who best understand this experience because they have been through it. People trying to decide if they want to stop treatment or keep going. Contact can be via email, mail or phone, as you wish.
“Other miscarriage groups were sympathetic but didn’t help as most of their members had children or seemed to get pregnant again within a few months. That wasn’t likely for us because we were infertile. We felt like we lived in a different world.” (KD NSW)
This group provides e-mail or phone contact between men to discuss their infertility experiences, to help alleviate the isolation and to break down the stigma sometimes felt by men undergoing ART treatment or who support women who may be infertile.
“The realisation that you are not alone, your feelings are normal and that you can chat about it all comes as a great relief – and it doesn’t mean you have to stop being a guy!” DC (NSW)
Single women may find that the only way to beat the biological clock is to have a family using assisted conception techniques. This group provides a point of contact for women who may have chosen this path and who feel they need some support or to have the understanding that they are not alone. Contact can be via email, mail or phone, as you wish.
“It would be great to establish a group for single women as there are some issues which are unique to having a child under these circumstances.” TM (Vic)
Options for Approaching Life without Children
This group provides contact with childless people to talk about how to approach living without a child positively after efforts with medical treatment have failed. In facing the death of a dream to have a family, it can help to speak with others who understand what you’re going through. Contact can be via email, mail or phone, as you wish.
“Talking with others who share my experience, allows me to think that some good comes out of the pain.” (AM Qld)
For parents of children born through IVF who would like contact with other Mums and Dads or other children who can talk with other IVF kids. Parents can also talk about how they have shared having a child through IVF with their children. Contact can be via email, mail or phone, as you wish. As you get to know people you may also wish to meet socially.
You can link up with a group by going to the member forum