Illustrator Sara with her sons Daniel and Bowen and husband Ben.
A new picture book, The Baby Doctor - Explaining IVF to Your Child created by Essential Baby members Leah Bryan and Sara Riches, can help the parents of IVF children explain the special way they came into the world.
With 10,000 IVF babies born in Australia last year the 'birds and the bees' talk will go a little differently for many families.
The Baby Doctor tells the story of a family who are hoping to have their second IVF baby, and is told from the perspective of the big sister-to-be.
Author and publisher Leah Bryan has been a member of the Essential Baby community for several years.
"I wrote The Baby Doctor while daydreaming about how I would tell my own future IVF children about their special beginning. When I realised there were no books like this available in Australia I started writing one. I also spoke to some friends (who I'd met through Essential Baby) about how they intend to tell their miracle babies about how they were created and the consensus was to tell them early on in their lives so that it became a natural part of the story of who they are and not something that became a big deal like having 'the talk' when they were older.
"Some of my EB friends are mums to IVF toddlers who ask questions like 'Why can't I have a baby brother or sister?' and in these cases the mums wanted to explain that they were hoping to give them a baby brother or sister one day. Young children also want to know why mummy is feeling tired and going to see the doctor a lot during the IVF cycle and the book makes it really easy to start talking about these things," said Leah.
When it came time to find an illustrator for the book Essential Baby was Leah's first port of call.
"I didn't just want an illustrator who could draw gorgeous pictures - I wanted one who really understood the technology and the emotions that go along with IVF. I put a shout out in the AC section knowing that there are a lot of talented women on there, so the odds were that a few of them would be illustrators. I talked to a few women about the project and chose Sara who is a mum to two IVF/ICSI boys and draws really cute and accessible characters," Leah said.
Illustrator Sara Riches joined Essential Baby in 2004 before starting IVF in 2005. She's now the proud mum to two miracle babies, Daniel Benjamin born in April 2006 and Bowen Hamish born in March 2008.
"I was really excited about The Baby Doctor book when I first heard about it - as an IVF mum I could see the benefit for other families and it's something I wanted to be able to read to my own boys. It seemed like the perfect book for me to illustrate given my history with assisted conception," she said.
The Baby Doctor can be read to IVF babies as part of regular story time so they'll always understand how wanted they were and how loved they are. There's a section where parents can put in their child's photo from when they were an embryo, an ultrasound scan and a photo of themselves with their own 'baby doctor' so they can really identify with the book.
"As a mum to two miracle boys I love to read The Baby Doctor to them. They both have their own copy that includes photos of them as an embryo - which is very special - a foetus and a new born baby. As they grow up this will be a unique keepsake for them, after all, not everyone has photos of themselves when they were just a few cells," Sara said.
The book uses correct terminology such as eggs, sperm and embryo but not the more technical terms such as egg pick up or embryo transfer but rather "a special operation to take all of the eggs out" and "the Baby Doctor puts one of the embryos back inside Mummy's tummy". There's also plenty of scope for parents to ad lib and add in details such as frozen embryos, ICSI or donor eggs or sperm as they feel is appropriate for their situation and the age of their child.
Leah said the response to the book has been really encouraging.
"People are really embracing the book, we've had orders from IVF clinics and IVF parents in Australia, New Zealand and America. I sent a copy to my grandmother and her friend picked it up and said 'This is what I've been looking for! I need to buy this for my friend who has an IVF baby - how do I get a copy?'" she said.
The Baby Doctor - Explaining IVF to Your Child is available from the Nuhouse Press.
