She went through IVF three times with her former partner, suffered an ectopic pregnancy, investigated surrogacy and then decided to adopt after finding out she was infertile. Our names were to be used at all times – we were Lisa and Chris, not ‘Mummy’ and ‘Daddy’ and we knew and respected this.

All the experiences are so well written and I’ve found this to be a very therapeutic and uplifting book as I too parent plus. It was so easy to empathise with her on her journey to motherhood and she describes what she went through to get there in an easy to understand but well written way. I found myself drawn to it all given that I can relate to the very early stages of Lisa’s desire to want a baby.

I think the grief was so acute because the minute the test is positive, you map out your whole life with that child. Chris and I stood on the other side of that door for about 20 minutes, looking at each other and listening to her gurgling into her bottle and singing to herself, hardly daring to move or make a sound for fear that we might disturb her. Thoroughly moving book and a brave and honest account of the epic journey some women face to become a mother. If anyone reading this is struggling to have children please pick up this book it will give you courage and their is help available out their. The idea of adoption is not always easy for other children to understand; they imagine her being picked from rows of cots in an orphanage, like Tracy Beaker or Annie.

Nobody batted an eyelid; there was too much paperwork to get through and too many questions to be answered concerning Billie’s wellbeing. Excellent book for anyone thinking about adoption and asking themselves whether they are right for it. I would get used to these meetings and they would become almost second nature over the coming months, but for now, it was all so new to me and I was terrified to put a foot wrong. Highly recommend to anyone experiencing fertility problems, baby loss, grief or people who plan to adopt a child. While the assessments were being carried out by the courts, as well as giving Billie her everyday care, we would be taking her for regular contact visits with her birth mother and monthly ‘looked-after child reviews’ with social services, not to mention being on the receiving end of home visits from social workers and district nurses.This was really just a meeting to see how we were all doing now that the care plan had been carried out and Billie was starting to settle in with us. We gave Billie lunch and dinner and bathed her with her new bath toys and wrapped her in a new pink snuggly towel.

In a raw and inspiring story of one woman's journey through motherhood, family life and self-discovery, Lisa explores the many forms that family can take, and discovers the power of embracing your Plan B. When cookery author and TV presenter Lisa Faulkner learned that she wouldn’t have biological children, her plans and expectations for her life were derailed. I hope I have shown her what it is to be in a loving relationship, and that life comes with its rips and tears, but they can be sewn up again.I wanted the everyday things I saw mums do: finding a high chair in a cafe, putting the pushchair in the car. When that began to look too complicated legally and also too expensive, I launched us into adoption, not taking a breath.