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Then I became pregnant! The timing seemed fortuitous.

I remember the image of the little critter - at some stage between embryo and fetus, looking so much like those pictures I had seen in one of my favorite books: a child is born.

She recommended that I started charting my temperature and gave me the card for a reproductive specialist.

FACT: 90% of all women trying to get pregnant conceive within 12 months of first starting trying.

It does not make them less sad, of course, but they are common.

Early miscarriages are common.

Still, like those photographs.

I was ecstatic, and informed everyone.

Still, unlike the fluttering and skipping of a living being.

It was 2 years into my program - all the requirements that I had worried about were out of the way, and only the fun research remained.

I had known that academically before my miscarriage.

Week 7, I began bleeding.

Now, when I had ....

I saw a nurse-practitioner at the University health center, who said she couldn't find any obvious reasons why I might not be able to conceive.

I went as far as buying a thermometer.

I was also quite busy dealing with all the requirements for my degree and a bit anxious that a pregnancy would make it more difficult.

A fertility specialist appeared outside our budget at the time.

This meant that we didn't have that much opportunity to try getting pregnant.

An ultrasound confirmed that there was no heart beat.

I started becoming concerned once he had joined me, several of my professors had become pregnant shortly after marrying, and I had had a handful of false alarms consisting of quite delayed periods.