Podcast · Tech & Science

No need for Prince Charming

by Alisha Burns · English · Tech & Science

The podcast for all Australian women considering, creating or conquering life as a solo mum by choice (SMBC)

New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 1 hr 2 min
Latest: 12 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

12 Oct 2026 · 1 hr 2 minNew

S5:E33 - Merry, Sullivan & Sinclair

She does both, and solo is easier. Merryn grew up thinking life would look a certain way. Her parents together, her aunties and uncles together, everyone partnered, everyone staying. She figured the same would happen for her. She spent her 20s travelling Europe, living in Perth, playing football, nursing, having classic terrible dating stories. She moved back to Victoria at 30, booked a fertility check just to see where things stood, and met someone through a friend from work. She thought she’d finally got it right. Two weeks after her son Sully was born, her best friend took her for a walk…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

S5 · E32 · 5 Oct 2026 · 39 min
S5:E32 - Sam & Bubba
She always knew Sam walked into a fertility clinic at 24 with her friend as her fake partner, because she assumed single women weren't allowed to do this alone. When the counsellor handed her a booklet with a section on solo mums, she had a quiet revelation: she didn't need to pretend anything. She went on the donor waitlist that day. Then she waited three years. Sam is an emergency department nurse in Canterbury, New Zealand, who grew up in a family with a cycle of difficult relationships and decided early that the best thing she could do for herself — and for a future child — was to do it…
S5 · E31 · 28 Sep 2026 · 59 min
S5:E31 - Fertility Counselling & Donor Conception — What Solo Mums Actually Need to Know
Every woman going through donor conception at a fertility clinic in Australia is required to attend implications counselling. And almost every one of them turns up expecting to be assessed, judged, and told whether they're worthy enough to be a mum. Narelle Dickinson has been working in this space for 30 years. She finds that deeply sad. Narelle is a reproductive psychologist, fertility counsellor, and the director of Lotus Health and Psychology in Brisbane. She specialises in the prenatal and perinatal field, works in the surrogacy space, supports families through birth trauma and pregnancy…
S5 · E30 · 21 Sep 2026 · 51 min
S5:E30 - Claire & August
The Plan Always Had a Next Step Claire always knew she'd be a mum. She told her mum at 18 that if she didn't find someone, she'd do it on her own. Her mum said she wouldn't need to. Claire filed that away and thought: well, if I do, I'm fine with it. At 30 she decided she was financially ready, had ticked off enough of her travel list, and started. She didn't make a big announcement. When she eventually told people, nobody was surprised. What followed was not the quick journey she'd hoped for. A pre-existing endometriosis diagnosis from 19 sent her straight to IVF with her doctor at Monash…
S5 · E29 · 14 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 5 min
S5-E29 - Brooke & Mia
The wake up call Brooke spent most of her 30s in a relationship with a man who already had a child and didn't want more. She told herself she was okay with that. She spent 10 years telling herself that. And somewhere in those 10 years, quietly, she started filling out IVF paperwork in the background. She never did anything with it. COVID arrived. She went back to it in 2021. She saw a counsellor, got on the donor waitlist at Melbourne IVF, found the Facebook sperm donation groups deeply uncomfortable, met a recruited donor and drove home knowing that wasn't right either. And then her brother…
S5 · E28 · 7 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 23 min
S5:E28 - Alex, A & Ollie
From the Very First Try to Six Months In Some women come to this decision with a clear plan. Alex came with a deadline: if I'm still single at 30, I'm doing it on my own. She hit 30. She went to Bali to celebrate. She came home and got her AMH checked. It was on the lower end of normal. That was enough. What followed was three years, a recruited known donor in Victoria, two early miscarriages, a laparoscopy that found stage two endometriosis she never knew she had, multiple egg retrievals across a bulk bill IVF clinic in Queensland and then their full service program, unexplained…
S5 · E27 · 31 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 3 min
S5:E27 - Alisha & Alexandra - part 2
Four and a Half Years Later — Alisha's Update A note: this episode mentions the loss of Alisha's son Jeremy, who was stillborn 12 years ago today. She shares it with gratitude and without distress — but as always on this podcast, take care of yourself first. When I recorded my first ever episode of No Need for Prince Charming, Lexi was almost two. She is now six and a half. A lot has changed. I've been meaning to do this update for a while, and today felt like the right day — because it's the 12th anniversary of losing my son Jeremy, and I'm launching something I've been building towards for…
S5 · E26 · 24 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 16 min
S5:E26 - Kate & Amelia
She never gave up! Some journeys are long. Kate's is one of the longest we've shared on this podcast — and one of the most quietly remarkable. Kate came to solo motherhood later than she planned, and for reasons that had nothing to do with not wanting a child. For much of her 30s she was managing Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, a chronic pain condition so severe she was on strong medication whose effects on a foetus were not yet known. She finished three masters degrees, achieved a third-degree black belt in karate, and built a career — all while navigating a condition she would not wish on…
S5 · E25 · 17 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 7 min
S5:E25 - Acupuncture and Fertility with Dr Michelle Smith
Acupuncture for IVF & Fertility — What Solo Mums Need to Know | Dr Michelle Smith, Ova Acupuncture Most fertility specialists will tell you to try acupuncture. Very few of them explain why. This week I'm joined by Dr Michelle Smith — acupuncturist, Chinese herbal medicine practitioner, and director of Ova Acupuncture in Brisbane. Michelle specialises in fertility and women's health, has two clinics in Brisbane, and sees women from all over Australia, including many solo mums by choice. She's also, as of this recording, 13 weeks pregnant via IVF — her first transfer — doing this solo, and…
S5 · E24 · 10 Aug 2026 · 58 min
S5:E24 - Kaitlynn & Sully
Nine People, One Tiny Town, and the Boy Who Brought the House Back to Life Kaitlynn was never much of a dater. In her early 20s, her mum — who, as mums do, knew her best — floated the idea of going it alone. It took another six or seven years of on-and-off conversation before Kaitlynn, now 29 and living in a four-generation household in remote Tasmania, finally sat down and started putting the pieces together. When we first spoke to Kaitlynn, she was weeks out from her first fertility appointment — bloods done, paperwork filed, donor shortlisted, waiting on cycle day one. Her closest clinic…
S5 · E23 · 3 Aug 2026 · 41 min
S5:E23 - Choosing Rose with Beth Sadowsky
Every donor-conceived child from an SMBC will ask it eventually. Mummy, why don't I have a daddy? Most of us lie awake at some point worrying about how to answer it. What words do we use? How much do we say? What if we get it wrong? This week I'm joined by Beth Sadowsky — solo mum by choice, life coach, and author of Choosing Rose, a children's picture book written specifically for SMBC families. Beth is based in Florida, USA, and her daughter Lily is 7. The book started as a letter Beth wrote to Lily while she was still pregnant — a way to prepare for the conversation she knew was coming —…
S5 · E22 · 27 Jul 2026 · 45 min
S5:E22 - Jessica & Teddy - Part 2
She Chose Her Mother's Coffin With Her Newborn in the Next Room A brief note: this episode includes the death of Jessica's mum from cancer during Teddy's first year, and a hospital stay for Teddy shortly after. It's heavy in places — but told with real warmth, and it ends somewhere good. Jessica brought Teddy home five days after his birth, straight into a household COVID exposure that saw her evacuated to her brother's for a week. It set the tone. Over the following eight months, her mum's cancer — held at bay through years of chemo — stopped responding. On Christmas Day, watching Teddy on…
S5 · E21 · 20 Jul 2026 · 43 min
S5:E21 - Jessica & Teddy - Part 1
Ten Years, One Afternoon, and a Donor She Wasn't Supposed to Find That Fast A brief note: this episode touches on Jessica's mum's terminal cancer diagnosis, which arrived while she was starting IVF. Nothing graphic — just wanted you to know it's there. Jessica always knew she'd be a mum. What she had, that a lot of solo mums don't, was a role model: her aunt, a solo mum by choice back in the early '90s, back when it wasn't spoken about at all. Jessica set herself a deadline — 32 — and spent the years before it doing the groundwork: leaving a teaching career that had wrecked her mental…
S5 · E20 · 13 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 2 min
S5:E20 - Emma & Franklin - One appointment changed everything
One appointment changed everything Emma never romanticised motherhood. She spent her whole career caring for other people's children — as a live-in nanny, a live-out nanny, and eventually a kinder assistant — and somewhere along the way she started asking herself whether she'd regret not having a child of her own. The answer was yes. And that was enough. She didn't come to this with urgency or grief or a ticking clock. She came to it with clarity. When her best friend's AMH results came back unexpectedly, Emma went and got her own tested. Her level was 8, at 32. She booked an appointment…
S5 · E19 · 6 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 8 min
S5:E19 - Krisina, Otis & Ari
Two Kids, One Heart Condition, and No Regrets A brief note: this episode mentions a miscarriage between Kristina's two pregnancies. She shares it with grace and without distress, but we wanted you to know it's there. Kristina spent her 30s doing what she loved — living in different countries, working big marketing jobs, going out, seeing things. Children were always in the plan. A partner never quite materialised. And then her mum — a retired GP who had spent her career delivering babies — started dropping not-so-subtle hints every time she saw her. By 38, Kristina made the appointment. What…
S5 · E18 · 29 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 13 min
S5:E18 - Lindsay & Aric
First Try, Water Birth & Teaching Full Time Lindsay is the kind of person who, when she decides something is happening, makes it happen. She promised herself at 27 — the day she left her marriage — that not having a partner would never mean not having a child. She promised herself again at 30, moving to Scotland on her own without knowing a single person. And she promised herself at 35 that if she was still single, she would make it happen that year. She was. She did. One round of IVF at Melbourne IVF. Nineteen eggs retrieved. Six embryos. A frozen transfer in December, just before her 36th…
S5 · E17 · 22 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 16 min
S5:E17 - Renee & Aria - 7 years in
Most of the stories on this podcast start at the beginning. This one starts seven years down the track — and it's one of the most valuable perspectives we have. Renee made her first appointment at 37, after a colleague finally said the quiet part loud and told her to just do it already. She did two IUI rounds, had a bad experience with her first IVF clinic and walked away, found Dr David Wilkinson at City Fertility, and on her third and final round — a frozen transfer she specifically advocated for against the default fresh option — fell pregnant with Aria. She was 39. Aria is now seven. She…
S5 · E16 · 15 Jun 2026 · 39 min
S5:E16 - Ashleigh & Z - Eight Months from Egg Freezing to Pregnant
Eight Months from Egg Freezing to Pregnant Ashleigh's story is one of those ones that will genuinely reassure anyone who is at the very beginning of this journey and quietly terrified about how long it might take. She was 33 when a friend planted the seed about egg freezing. She went to an initial clinic consultation — more curious than committed — and on the same day, a colleague at work mentioned she'd just had a baby via IVF with a sperm donor. Two seeds in one day. Eight months later, Ashleigh was pregnant. There were no complications. No failed transfers. No long waitlists. She found a…
S5 · E15 · 8 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 21 min
S5:E15 - What you need to know about being induced as a solo mum
Nearly half of first-time mums in Australia will have their labour induced. Most of them have no idea what that actually involves until they're in the middle of it. This episode is here to change that. I'm joined by Nat — Melbourne midwife, solo mum of three boys, and someone who has had three very different births of her own (including one that ended with her in ICU — more on that in her own episodes, which are linked below, but maybe save those for after you've had your baby). Nat works in a Melbourne tertiary hospital, and she's here in a personal capacity to give you a practical,…
S5 · E14 · 1 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 11 min
S5:E14 - Maree & Ellena - From the very first appointment to the other side
When Maree came on to record, she had just had her very first IUI. She was 35, freshly into treatment, overwhelmed by the scan schedule, quietly terrified, and moving back in with her parents to make it financially possible. We recorded Part 1 that day. Then we waited. Part 2 picks up on the other side — after two unsuccessful IUIs, a full IVF cycle with PCOS that produced 29 eggs and four embryos, a frozen transfer that worked on the first attempt, and the arrival of Ellena via a planned maternal-assisted caesarean. Maree pulled her own daughter out. She cut the cord herself. In between,…
S5 · E13 · 18 May 2026 · 1 hr 8 min
S5:E13 -Gemma,Thomas & Henry - PCOS, Perinatal Loss & Pregnancy After Loss
Trigger warning: This episode discusses perinatal loss, pregnancy after loss, premature birth. Some stories hold grief and joy in the same hands. Gemma's is one of them. Gemma is the youngest of three sisters, from one of those enormous, chaotic, deeply close families — her mum one of eleven, Gemma one of twenty-something first cousins, Christmases that required crowd control. Motherhood was never a question. The path to it just looked nothing like she expected. She started IVF at 40 through City Fertility with Dr David Wilkinson, following a PCOS diagnosis that had been quietly there for…
S5 · E12 · 18 May 2026 · 1 hr 2 min
S5:E12 - Lucia & Gabe (part 2)
Part 2: 160 Days, and Then Home Trigger warning: This episode discusses premature birth, NICU and neonatal medical procedures. Missed Part 1? Start with S5:E11 — Luce's IVF journey, multiple losses, and the night her membranes ruptured at 22 weeks. Gabe was born at 10:35am on a Wednesday morning, weighing 598 grams. He was 30 centimetres long. He came out flat and silent, and a team of eight people swooped in immediately. Luce didn't know he was a boy for five full minutes. By quarter past twelve, she was in a wheelchair going upstairs to meet him. What followed was 160 days in hospital —…
S5 · E11 · 11 May 2026 · 1 hr 5 min
S5:E11 - Lucia (part 1)
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…
S5 · E10 · 4 May 2026 · 38 min
S5:E10 - The Considering Stage: Why Making the Decision is the Hardest Part
Why Making the Decision is the Hardest Part — with Carrie Meckler This is a different kind of episode. No birth story. No IVF timeline. No newborn update. Just a conversation about the stage that doesn't get talked about nearly enough — the one before any of that happens. Carrie Meckler is a licensed therapist based in North Carolina who is also a solo mum by choice to a beautiful two-year-old boy. She runs a six-week group program specifically for women in the considering stage, and she joins me this week to talk about what she sees in her clients — and what she went through herself — when…
S5 · E9 · 27 Apr 2026 · 1 hr 12 min
S5:E9 - Michelle & Vayda-Rae - The long wait, the leap & life on the other side
The long wait, the leap & life on the other side Michelle always knew she wanted to be a mum. What she didn't know was that the path to getting there would involve a two and a half year wait just to choose a donor. She made her first appointment at Fertility Associates in New Zealand in 2014 at the age of 34, was told there were five donor profiles to choose from, and was promptly put on a waitlist. She spent the next two and a half years living in parallel — open to meeting someone, but keeping her eye firmly on this path. When the call finally came in 2016, she sat down with her five…
S5 · E8 · 20 Apr 2026 · 49 min
S5:E8 - Nicola & Luca - Solo Mum by choice from the start
Solo Mum by choice from the start: Nicola & Luca Most women who come to solo motherhood have a moment — a relationship that ended, a birthday that passed, a realisation that waiting wasn't working. Nicola never had that moment. She just always knew. From the time she was young, she never pictured a partner. She pictured kids. Solo motherhood wasn't a plan B for Nicola — it was the only plan. And what makes her story so valuable for this community is that the hard parts she navigated weren't about the decision itself. They were about trusting herself enough to actually go through with it.…
S5 · E7 · 13 Apr 2026 · 56 min
S5:E7 - Nelly & Violet
From Chronic Illness to Solo Mum: Nelly’s Long Road to Violet ⚠️ Trigger Warning: This episode includes discussion of miscarriage, fertility challenges, and medical complications during pregnancy. Season 5 continues with Nelly’s story — one of resilience, persistence, and navigating an incredibly complex path to motherhood. Nelly didn’t grow up assuming she would have children. With a history of renal failure, transplants, and years of medical treatment, motherhood didn’t feel like a given. But over time, that quiet desire became impossible to ignore. In this episode, she shares: Living with…
S5 · E6 · 6 Apr 2026 · 56 min
S5:E6 - Megan & Jasper
Megan’s Solo Mum by Choice Journey: Taking It One Step at a Time Season 5 continues with Megan’s story — and her journey to becoming a solo mum by choice. In this episode, Megan shares how she approached this decision step by step instead of focusing on the end result, and how that made the process feel more manageable. In this episode, she talks about: Listening to other solo mums and how that helped her feel less alone Taking the process step by step instead of focusing on the end result Known donor conversations and why facilitated conversations are important Adjusting her relationship…
S5 · E5 · 30 Mar 2026 · 1 hr 30 min
S5:E5 - Jane, Jude & Charlie
Jane’s Solo Mum Journey: IVF, Identical Twins & A Pregnancy That Changed Everything Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussion of pregnancy complications, pregnancy loss, premature birth, and NICU. Please listen with care and skip this episode if now is not the right time for you. Season 5 continues with Jane’s story — and this is a story that will stay with you. Jane always knew she wanted to be a mum, but after years of dating and never finding the right partner, she made the decision at 35 to pursue solo motherhood. What followed was a long IVF journey, big financial decisions, and…
S5 · E4 · 23 Mar 2026 · 1 hr 2 min
S5:E4 - Hayley & Oliver
Hayley’s Solo Mum by Choice Journey: From “One Day” to Done Season 5 continues with Hayley’s story — one that will resonate with so many women sitting in the “I know I want a baby… but when?” stage. Hayley didn’t wake up one day suddenly certain. Instead, her journey was gradual. Thoughtful. Honest. In this episode, she shares: When she realised motherhood wasn’t something she wanted to gamble on The internal shift from “maybe later” to “now” Navigating the donor process The emotional reality of doing this without a partner What surprised her most about stepping into solo motherhood This…

About No need for Prince Charming

The podcast for all Australian women considering, creating or conquering life as a solo mum by choice (SMBC)

No need for Prince Charming is a English tech & science podcast from Alisha Burns. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Alisha Burns
Language: English
Category: Tech & Science
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 1 hr 2 min
Latest episode: 12 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1611935133

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