Womanhood and motherhood are themes that launch thousands of conversations every day. Exploring feelings and sharing knowledge brings clarity and comfort, yet the delicate phase of “trying for a baby” remains a taboo subject. 
It can be a time of concern and tension for women and their partners, but it remains just a whisper.
A landmark campaign, called Conceivinghood, is empowering women, and couples, through pre-pregnancy with a range of candid and inspiring videos of women revealing their experiences.
They talk openly about the emotional rollercoaster of trying to conceive, promoting greater awareness and de-mystifying an important stage of life when people can feel confused and isolated.
The pressures are significant. It should be a joyous, natural process yet around one in seven couples struggle to conceive. And it can take longer than expected to conceive for 40 per cent of women. This is compounded by women delaying starting a family until later in life when their fertility is declining.
The innovative Conceivinghood campaign, devised by Clearblue, features women sharing their thoughts and experiences as they start their journey to create a family. The hope is that their testimonies will help women understand and navigate the stresses of getting pregnant.
“We are very proud to launch this campaign,” says Giulia Zanzi, head of marketing for fertility, at Clearblue. “Women’s reproductive health deserves to be back in the global spotlight. Many think the difficult part is deciding that now’s the time they want a baby, but actually what we’re hearing is the journey to get pregnant can be an unexpected emotional rollercoaster.
The journey to get pregnant can be an unexpected emotional rollercoaster
“We’re providing both facts and stories from real women so others can understand more about their fertility and not feel so alone during their journey.”
The “facts and faces” approach aims to destigmatise the pre-pregnancy phase, generate conversation and confidence and, ultimately, give women control during this significant period of their lives.
“This new campaign, representing the huge community of women experiencing fertility issues, including secondary infertility, miscarriage and any difficult path to bringing home a baby, really means the world to us,” says Alice Rose, of the Cat + Alice (www.catandalice.com) infertility support initiative.
“Feeling seen and acknowledged will go such a long way to changing the social narrative and will help those going through it feel comforted, validated and less alone. We’re so glad to have supported Clearblue with their campaign and will continue to help them connect with the community we are part of ourselves and do our best to represent.”
Clearblue encourages women who are embarking on their journey to pregnancy to visit uk.clearblue.com/conceivinghood where they can watch the Conceivinghood experiences from other women and may choose to share their own story
