I feel so lucky to be able to be involved in creating a family’s life journey. I just love it, it’s truly amazing and deeply satisfying. Working on the donor sperm programme is particularly rewarding, it gives same sex couples and single women the opportunity to conceive, people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to have a baby of their own. The relationships I build with the donors and the recipients is really special and so rewarding for me as I get to support them through the journey they are on. Every day I get a buzz from the amazing thought – this client is now pregnant and that is the direct result of what we have done for them. And a year later they bring in their beautiful babies into the clinic to show them off, and every single time it blows me away. It’s an honour.
I honestly feel like I have found my calling in life. But it’s funny, I kind of fell into fertility nursing by chance. After I graduated with BHsc in Nursing, I was working as a ward nurse in Auckland but wasn’t sure what I was passionate about so decided to do my OE to the UK. I took a year out from nursing but I fell in love with the UK so wanted to get back into my medical career. I signed up with a recruitment agency to help me find a great job in a specialist field. One day I got a call from my recruiter, Kate, telling me about a job that had come in at the London Fertility Centre. I had no experience in this specialized field but I felt excited and straight away said “Sure, I’d love to go in and meet them”. The next day I went in for the interview and it sounded so fascinating and cutting edge, I told the team I would love to learn about this field and would give it my all. They called me the next day to tell me the job was mine.
Two years ago I moved back to New Zealand, where I was offered a job at Repromed, as a Fertility Nurse. Here I support our fertility clients from the pre-conception, right through to the early pregnancy stages. I also look after the egg donation and sperm donation programmes – both the donors and the recipients. And working in such a small and niche team, we are all so invested and involved from the beginning, from our receptionist to the specialist.
Fertility is a fast-growing industry. A lot more people are having their babies later in life, when fertility is reducing, so there is a very real need for more medical staff in this field. I am whole-heartedly invested in this industry, it is a really exciting time to be involved in fertility and there is so much to learn. I recently attended a conference run by Fertility NZ called “Single Mothers by Choice”, where women talk about their journeys as single women having fertility treatment. And last year, I attended the Fertility Society of Australia conference in Adelaide. It was a fantastic opportunity to attend presentations and seminars about leading technologies in IVF, and was also a chance to make new contacts here in NZ and in Australia. I soak it all up, I want to give our patients the best advice and support that I can.
My work days are flat out, and always so different. I have a lot of contact with the donors, recipients and IVF clients, through email and telephone calls. Understandably, they often need a lot of reassurance and I like to be able to give that to them whenever they need it. If it means I need to be on the phone to them for half an hour or so to talk through their concerns, of course I will do it, and I get a real thrill over being there for them. Some clients ring me as they are feeling really anxious, or angry or sad about their outcome and through talking to them, I can help to bring them a place of calm and understanding. I love being able to be there for them on their level and help get them back into feeling in control. It’s a hard job emotionally, I feel their pain. But I love what I do and my patients see that. I think that helps in this industry, that I am really genuine in my interactions with my clients. It’s a vocation, a heart thing for me.
Repromed offers public and private fertility treatment for all. To find out more about the donor programme, new clients can book a 15 minute phone consultation with a fertility doctor free of charge. Call 0800 483 105 or email
Individual results may vary depending on your personal circumstances.
