We’re Back! Our IVF Journey, Pregnancy, Birth Story & Life as Two Mums
Hi lovelies,
Welcome back to What Wegan Did Next! If you’re new here, we’re Whitney and Megan, a married LGBTQ+ couple from Windsor, UK. We’ve been together since 2008, and also online as a visible lesbian couple, since 2008. We share our lives as wife & wife and now as two mums – our IVF journey, luxury family travel adventures and everything in between. Since our last blog post in 2022, our lives have completely changed – we welcomed our beautiful daughter Olivia, navigated pregnancy after IVF, became first-time mums and have completely redesigned our blog. This is the perfect place to catch up!
Where have we been?
It’s been a long time since we last posted a blog post. Since 2022 in fact, and quite a lot has changed since. So why did we disappear? We honestly didn’t mean to. Life had other plans and ultimately just got in the way, from our IVF journey to campaigning for Fertility Equality. Between fertility treatments, years of trying to become parents, a long-awaited pregnancy, welcoming our daughter Olivia and completely embracing the chaos and joy of first-time parenthood, blogging naturally took a back seat. Which I’m sad about if I’m honest, as it would have been great to document our fertility journey in real time through our blog – where it all started documenting our long distance relationship since 2008.
But in many ways, this feels like coming home.
So, let’s catch you up!… But before we do, we thought we’d let you know what you can expect from our blog. We’ll be sharing our luxury travel as an LGBTQ+ family, more about our lesbian fertility and IVF journey and what it’s like as a same-sex couple having a baby. As well as what baby products we recommend, pregnancy and giving birth stories, food recipes, home decor and renovation… the lot!
Our IVF Journey
Our journey spanned five calendar years. We began our fertility journey in 2020, we knew we may have a long journey ahead but had no idea where it would lead. We decided to start with IUI first, and after three rounds of failed IUI, we embarked on IVF. From our first round we only had one embryo that was potentially viable but not to the degree that it was recommended to be transferred. But it was ultimately down to us and we decided to give the embryo transfer a go and give our baby a chance!… The two week wait felt so long and unfortunately it was unsuccessful. With no embryos left, we had to do another egg collection. We went into this round a lot more hopeful and relaxed, just tried our best not to stress. We had more eggs collected and it looked really positive that we may have a few viable embryos. However our embryologist told us that she didn’t have good news when we arrived for the transfer. I (Megan) immediately started crying. We were told we just had a couple of morulas and they aren’t at the blastocyst stage that they would like them to be at (FAQ explaining these terms are at the bottom of this post). We were therefore recommended to transfer two morula embryos… this could mean TWINS! At this stage, we agreed to proceed and had everything crossed. I kind of secretly wanted twins. The two week wait felt like forever and ever… and finally it was time to do a pregnancy test.
To our absolute delight, we finally had a viable pregnancy in 2024. Finding out that we were pregnant after so many years, injections and tears was one of the happiest moments of our lives! What’s hilarious is that Whitney misread the pregnancy stick (seeing as some brands do lines and others do a cross) and thought it was negative!
Pregnancy After IVF
My pregnancy flew by and I absolutely loved having my bump. But boy were we anxious the whole pregnancy, while we were so happy to be pregnant, we were so nervous to make it past the 20 week scan. Whitney was by my side throughout all the scans (which we had many as we went private). We found out we were having a baby girl in December 2024 and we were truly so shocked as all of my symptoms pointed to a boy!
Being a premature baby myself (at 28 weeks) I was acutely aware of what can potentially go wrong, as my mother had preeclampsia. We were on high alert for any symptoms and I developed gestational diabetes and then towards the end, pretty much preeclampsia with high blood pressure and protein in my urine.
Giving Birth to our Daughter
It was decided I should give birth early at 37.4 weeks. We opted to give birth at the Lindo Wing (more on that to come) and after being induced and literally no dilation happening, I ended up having an emergency C-section. To our surprise it was a lovely way to give birth (despite my vomiting and constant shaking) and we both instantly fell in love with our baby girl.
Becoming First-Time Mums
Olivia was born in May 2025 and we’ve been in a baby bubble followed by adjusting to sleep deprivation and doing life with a baby. Now life is perfect just the three of us (and our fur babies Nalo the pooch and Kisses the cat)… oh and Whitney’s mom and dog Lucky moved over from America to the UK too!
What’s Next for What Wegan Did Next?
As we’re resurfacing from the baby bubble, we’re excited to get back into travelling more. As you may know, we used to travel a lot, like Alberta, Canada, Thailand, Florida and California. Having had a few wonderful UK staycays as a family, we’ve just returned from our first trip abroad to the luxury family all-inclusive resorts, Ikos Resorts in Spain.
We hope you enjoy reading our blog again, back where it all started at the end of 2008.
Thank you for sticking with us over the years. Whether you’ve been here since MySpace, found us through our IVF journey, or have only just discovered us, we’re so happy you’re here.
We’d love to know – how long have you been following along? Leave us a comment below and let us know what you’d love us to write about next.
Love,
Whitney & Megan – Wegan xo
FAQ
Who’s Megan & who’s Whitney?
Megan has shorter hair and a limb difference to her left hand. She’s usually on the left in photos and has the bump in the pregnancy pics! Whitney has longer hair and usually on the right in photos. Megan is British, from Windsor (where we have lived together since 2012). Whitney is American (born in Tennessee, raised in Kentucky and then studied in Hawaii).
How long have you been a couple?
We’ve been together for nearly 18 years. We got engaged in Hawaii in 2011 and had a Civil Partnership in the UK in 2012. We then ‘upgraded’ to a wedding in Palm Springs in 2017, on our CP anniversary. (& yes we’re the lesbian couple from Say Yes to the Dress UK!)
How long did you do long distance for?
We did long distance between Hawaii and the UK for 4 years. We had one rejected visa and the second visa application was successful. Whitney moved to the UK in 2012 and we’ve lived in our home Wegan Manor ever since.
What does IUI mean?
IUI means Intrauterine insemination. It’s a simpler fertility treatment where sperm is placed directly into the uterus, around the time of ovulation.
What does IVF mean?
IVF means In Vitro Fertilisation. It is more of an advanced treatment that usually requires hormone injections and then eggs are collected (under sedation) and fertilised with sperm in a lab to create embryos. The embryo is then transferred into the uterus.
What is a morula v. blastocyst embryo?
A morula and blastocyst are both early stages of embryo development but a blastocyst is more developed. Many fertility clinics prefer to transfer a blastocyst and often grade them as well. We are proof that morula’s can lead to a baby!
How many rounds of IVF did you have?
After three rounds of IUI, we had two rounds of egg collection and IVF before successfully becoming pregnant.
Who carried the baby?
Megan is the one who got pregnant and gave birth to our baby. It just so worked out that Megan wanted to get pregnant and Whitney didn’t. We often find this dynamic in lesbian couples wanting to have a baby.
Are you both Olivia’s mums?
Absolutely. Although Megan carried Olivia, we have both been mums from the very beginning.
Will you be sharing your birth story?
Yes! We’ll soon be sharing our full birth story, including induction, emergency C-section and our first moments meeting Olivia.
