S5:E11 - Lucia (part 1)

S5:E11 - Lucia (part 1)

From No need for Prince Charming by Alisha Burns

May 11, 2026 · 1h 5m · Season 5 · Episode 11

About this episode

Luce shares her complex IVF journey and the challenges of premature birth in this two-part episode.

The Long Road & the Night Everything Changed Trigger warning: this episode discusses pregnancy loss and premature birth. This is a two-part episode. Part 1 ends at the birth. Part 2 — the NICU journey and life now — drops next week. Some stories you have to tell in two parts. Lucia's is one of them. Luce is a nurse based in regional Victoria who froze her eggs at 36, made the decision to go solo shortly after, and then spent the next four years navigating one of the most complex IVF journeys I've heard on this podcast. Four egg collections. Multiple transfers. Multiple losses. A late endometriosis diagnosis that may have changed everything. And finally — on the most chaotic, stressful, nothing-going-right transfer day imaginable — the embryo that stuck. What happened next nobody could have predicted. Luce got to 22 weeks before noticing spotting one evening. She messaged her midwife friend. She messaged her obstetrician. She drove herself to the appointment the next morning, convinced it was nothing. And within hours she was in an ambulance, lights and sirens, being transferred to a tertiary hospital in Melbourne — four centimetres dilated, membranes visible, 22 weeks…

People in this episode

Host: Alisha Burns

Guest: Luce

Topics covered

  • IVF journey
  • pregnancy loss
  • premature birth
  • nursing
  • personal stories
  • healthcare experiences

Keywords

  • IVF
  • egg freezing
  • premature birth
  • endometriosis
  • hospital experience
  • pregnancy
  • NICU

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: No need for Prince Charming

Places: Victoria, Melbourne

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