00:00 [Music]
00:18 I'm James.
00:19 James?
00:20 Emma.
00:21 Emma.
00:22 What's your name?
00:24 Emma.
00:25 And we have Hallie.
00:27 [Music]
00:35 All my life was about just training.
00:37 That was my whole life, just dedicated to training.
00:39 And I just thought, this can't just be my whole life,
00:43 the whole time I wasn't really paying any money.
00:45 And I wanted a family as well.
00:49 So I decided to start my own company,
00:53 my own welding company.
00:55 Can I say that?
00:57 Specfab Welding.
00:59 Anyone need any welding doing, you know, I'm your man.
01:01 So I always knew I was going to have issues having kids
01:07 from competing in bodybuilding.
01:10 I took steroids and, yeah, just didn't think anything of it.
01:17 When you're younger you don't really think of those kind of situations.
01:22 You never think it's going to happen to you.
01:24 And then the time came where, you know, I wanted kids.
01:28 So I ended up doing, I went to the doctor's blood tests,
01:32 had sperm sample done, but it turned out I had no sperm whatsoever.
01:41 Obviously a massive shock.
01:44 And then I just went on a journey where obviously stopped all that.
01:51 And I just thought, you know, didn't know what to do really.
01:54 There was more time, more tests, still didn't come back.
02:00 And then in the end I went through the sperm treatment
02:04 and it was successful.
02:08 It was like winning the lottery, to be honest with you.
02:10 It was amazing. It was the best feeling ever.
02:13 And then, yeah, and then going on to the--
02:15 Yeah, because I've got polycystic ovary syndrome as well.
02:19 So I knew it was going to be a tough journey for me as well.
02:26 So combined we thought it was going to be like near on impossible.
02:31 It's amazing, absolutely amazing.
02:33 Before having children, like we obviously, we enjoyed ourselves.
02:38 We went on lots of holidays, but there was always something missing.
02:41 There was always, we always longed to have that family.
02:46 And when we got married, everyone, everyone would say,
02:49 "When are you going to have kids? When are you going to have kids?"
02:52 And we'd always deflect.
02:54 We'd say, "Oh, no, we don't want kids."
02:57 Because we're fed up of saying, "Oh, we're not sure yet."
03:02 So we just used to deflect it all the time.
03:05 But it used to get to us so much.
03:08 And when other people around you are getting married
03:11 and just having kids and you're really, really, really happy for them.
03:15 Yeah, you are.
03:16 Like you really are, but there's a little bit of, you know.
03:20 A little bit of envy.
03:22 Yeah, but it is still amazing.
03:26 I always felt happy for other people.
03:29 I genuinely didn't think it would ever happen.
03:32 No, I didn't know. I did not think it would ever happen.
03:36 And it really has.
03:38 And I think, I feel for all the people that are still going through it
03:44 because it's a tough, tough journey.
03:47 Yeah, we know quite a few people who are going through it
03:52 and we just say, "It will happen."
03:56 Yeah.
03:57 Because a lot of males just don't like talking about it.
04:02 So, for example, everyone seems to assume it's the female.
04:07 That it's just the female that has the issue.
04:12 But just look at all routes and don't let your masculinity take over,
04:23 if that makes sense.
04:25 Just go with it.
04:28 And talk, mainly. Talk.
04:31 I'm here if you need to talk. Everyone needs to talk.
04:34 That was the main reason that I wanted to say my full story
04:40 because I wasn't going to, but I just thought, "Why not?"
04:43 I've got two beautiful kids. I am a man.
04:47 Yeah, it happened.
04:50 So there's always hope. There's always hope.
04:54 I think talking is the main thing.
04:56 The talking is the main thing, yeah, definitely.
04:59 The main thing.
05:00 I know as a male that can be difficult,
05:03 but for me, it would change me as a person, to be honest,
05:07 going through this whole journey.
05:09 I love to talk to people and I kind of--
05:13 when things like this are brought up, I can kind of sense,
05:16 especially when couples and people say,
05:19 "Oh, no, I don't really want kids," or anything like that.
05:22 You know deep down that there's some kind of underlying--
05:26 not that you can't confront them or anything like that,
05:29 but I just know that I am there if they want to talk
05:34 and don't be embarrassed.
05:36 There's nothing to be embarrassed about, really.
05:38 [music]
05:52 [BLANK_AUDIO]
Comments