22 lb tank / (3 vials) 0.5 ml frozen, washed sperm.
Shipping $220.00 / Sperm $2,025.00
Showing posts with label frozen sperm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label frozen sperm. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Everything You Want To Know About My Sperm Donor
There are a couple of reasons I'm nervous about this post, but I'm throwing caution to the hyenas and going for it. The world of sperm donors and frozen sperm is crazy, big, overwhelming, odd, and....kinda funny. We've talked a little about the process already here, so you might want to check that out first if you're just getting on the ride.
I've had two donors in two years, one for the majority of the time that I was IN LOVE with (yeah, I'll explain), but he retired (yes, that's what they call it) and so for this last cycle I had to switch to a new donor, much to my dismay. It was like an epiphany when I found my first donor #3804. He was tall and blond, blue eyed, smart, with both math/science, and an art background. He has his own business as an architect, and had the cutest baby picture I had EVER seen. His final answer on the long profile was the last straw. He talked about the birth of his son with his wife, and what a profound experience it was. He wanted other women/couples to be able to experience that. I felt like I knew this amazing guy, and he was going to be my baby daddy. I was so dead set on him, but after the first miscarriage was never able to get a positive pregnancy with him again. Once a donor turns thirty five, they are required to retire (some lose interest and retire well before that). Unfortunately, after two years of trying, I used the last of my golden stock, and had to sit down and pick a new donor.
Donor searches are insane. You can search by anything you can imagine, height, weight, eye color, ancestry, hair color, profession, ethnicity, anything. I wanted a donor who had some of the traits that I do, but had traits that will compliment my strengths and weaknesses too. Also, let's be honest, I'm breeding an athlete here. *grabs ball and glove*. I'm tall, athletic, and creative/artistic, but my math and science skills are weak, so I looked at tall, fair haired donors, who had some sort of interest in the arts, but possessed pretty significant math and science skills. It's hard (really hard) not to get caught up in "oh but his brother had acne", or "his mother was big boned", but eventually, after many lists, you sort out what's really important, and what's not. The awesome thing about sperm banks is the testing. They test for genetic and chromosomal abnormalities, on top of the regular sperm health and motility testing. They say less than 10% of the applicants for donation are excepted. They look closely into family medical history, and even education level and GPA. As I mentioned above, their answer to that long profile question, "Why Did You Become A Donor" plays a big part in my decisions.
We don't get to see adult pictures, names, addresses, contact info or any of that good stuff that could allow us to be complete stalkers (which I totally would be), but we do have access to a short profile, long profile, staff impression, personality test, facial feature summary, even handwriting analysis and audio interview. Some of the basic things you can peek at for free, but the more detailed aspects, you have to pay for (of course)
Let's look at some examples from my current donor #12154. (You may have to zoom a bit to read the specifics, sorry I couldn't make it any bigger) :(
Staff Impressions: Sometimes these are super helpful, and sometimes (like in this case) not. Usually they are really detailed, it just depends on who wrote it I suppose.
The Short Profile: This gives you a lot of information, it's free, and can help weed out donors quickly. Basically, it's the first two pages of the long profile. It tells you height, weight, eye color, blood type, ethnicity, profession, GPA, and answers a few basic like/dislike questions.
I've had two donors in two years, one for the majority of the time that I was IN LOVE with (yeah, I'll explain), but he retired (yes, that's what they call it) and so for this last cycle I had to switch to a new donor, much to my dismay. It was like an epiphany when I found my first donor #3804. He was tall and blond, blue eyed, smart, with both math/science, and an art background. He has his own business as an architect, and had the cutest baby picture I had EVER seen. His final answer on the long profile was the last straw. He talked about the birth of his son with his wife, and what a profound experience it was. He wanted other women/couples to be able to experience that. I felt like I knew this amazing guy, and he was going to be my baby daddy. I was so dead set on him, but after the first miscarriage was never able to get a positive pregnancy with him again. Once a donor turns thirty five, they are required to retire (some lose interest and retire well before that). Unfortunately, after two years of trying, I used the last of my golden stock, and had to sit down and pick a new donor.
Donor searches are insane. You can search by anything you can imagine, height, weight, eye color, ancestry, hair color, profession, ethnicity, anything. I wanted a donor who had some of the traits that I do, but had traits that will compliment my strengths and weaknesses too. Also, let's be honest, I'm breeding an athlete here. *grabs ball and glove*. I'm tall, athletic, and creative/artistic, but my math and science skills are weak, so I looked at tall, fair haired donors, who had some sort of interest in the arts, but possessed pretty significant math and science skills. It's hard (really hard) not to get caught up in "oh but his brother had acne", or "his mother was big boned", but eventually, after many lists, you sort out what's really important, and what's not. The awesome thing about sperm banks is the testing. They test for genetic and chromosomal abnormalities, on top of the regular sperm health and motility testing. They say less than 10% of the applicants for donation are excepted. They look closely into family medical history, and even education level and GPA. As I mentioned above, their answer to that long profile question, "Why Did You Become A Donor" plays a big part in my decisions.
We don't get to see adult pictures, names, addresses, contact info or any of that good stuff that could allow us to be complete stalkers (which I totally would be), but we do have access to a short profile, long profile, staff impression, personality test, facial feature summary, even handwriting analysis and audio interview. Some of the basic things you can peek at for free, but the more detailed aspects, you have to pay for (of course)
Let's look at some examples from my current donor #12154. (You may have to zoom a bit to read the specifics, sorry I couldn't make it any bigger) :(
Staff Impressions: Sometimes these are super helpful, and sometimes (like in this case) not. Usually they are really detailed, it just depends on who wrote it I suppose.
The Short Profile: This gives you a lot of information, it's free, and can help weed out donors quickly. Basically, it's the first two pages of the long profile. It tells you height, weight, eye color, blood type, ethnicity, profession, GPA, and answers a few basic like/dislike questions.
(Yeah, 6'3'' / 220 lbs, we'd better hope I've got some birthing hips)
Lots of good answers here, seems pretty well rounded, that's what I'm huntin.
The Long Profile: It's basically a continuation of the short profile, and deals mostly with family medical history. A page is dedicated to each family member, starting with immediate, and going back to great grandparents, and out to aunts and uncles. It also talks about environmental hazards the donor may have been exposed to, and the donor's fertility history. Here is an example of one family member page.
There is also a huge grid for family medical history that covers everything from mental/emotional disorders to breast cancer and heart disease. This page even shows the medical history of first cousins. It's really easy to read and helpful to see what conditions might run in the family.
Baby Picture: These are usually hilarious. The kind of picture that your mom shows to your prom date when you're 16. My first donor's was heartbreakingly cute, but since we are talking about the current donor, who is pretty darn cute too, in a Michelin Man sorta way, here ya go.
The last part of the basic information package is the Donor Essay. This is a more in depth question and answer page. I love that we get to see the handwriting of the donor on all of this (gotta watch out for that serial killer handwriting), and any misspellings or mistakes they make. *no pressure guys*. I think this is the page that really gives you a feel for what type of person they are/will be.
LOVE it. This is the guy for me :)
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Bitter Disappointment
So while it might seem that tracking ovulation here in 2010 would be an easy task, technological advancements in medicine and everything else are insane these days, so surely someone would have come up with a fool proof method of timing inseminations, or sex even, perfectly for ovulation. Such is not the case as was evident, and not for the first time, this cycle. After weeks of fertility meds, natural remedies, acupuncture, meditation, spitting on things, peeing on things and checking cervical position and mucus, and waking up to a beeping thermometer, I missed my ovulation. Therefore the $2,000 worth of sperm I have sitting in my kitchen will have to pack their little bags and head back to California today. An entire cycle, and $300 shipping wasted.
There are four common ways to track ovulation. Cervical position, cervical mucus, basal body temperature, and Lh surge. Hormone fluxes reign over your entire cycle, and you can tell a lot by what is surging, and falling. Your pituitary gland regulates these various hormones, and the timing of their rising and falling. Immediately before, usually 12-36 hours, ovulation, an Lh surge will be detectable in your urine. These tests are called OPKs, or ovulation predictor kits. They range from cheapy to super expensive, and just wading through the waters of OPKs is like being up to your neck in a quicksand pond full of alligators. Not everyone, every cycle will get a positive OPK. I have NO idea why this happens, but about a third of the time, I get nothing but negatives, yet still ovulate normally. This was one of those cycles.
Lh is first detectable in your saliva, approximately 5 days before your urine. From what I understand it goes saliva, then blood, then urine. So for those of us trying to time the shipping of sperm, this extra notice can be extremely helpful. There is a newish machine on the market that measures your saliva every morning and anticipates your "window of fertility". This machine also has a vaginal wand that provides "ovulation confirmation". This is a jackpot for those of us TTC for multiple reasons. 1) It confirms that you are indeed ovulating, 2) Gives you the ability to track timing after the fact, i.e. okay, we inseminated today, and got ovulation confirmation tonight, so we know we got the timing right this cycle, and 3) It tells you that you can stop peeing on things and have a total breakdown because you missed your window and have to send back your sperm. (as was the case for me this cycle).
Frozen sperm lives anywhere from 8-24 hours once inseminated, so the object is to inseminate as close as possible to ovulation without missing it on either side. Most research indicates that it is virtually impossible to get pregnant by inseminating *after* ovulation, so you always want to err on the side of early.
Since I'm still in breakdown mode, I'll save basal body temperature and cervical mucus and position for another post, go have another huge bucket of coffee, and figure out how to pass the time for the next month.
There are four common ways to track ovulation. Cervical position, cervical mucus, basal body temperature, and Lh surge. Hormone fluxes reign over your entire cycle, and you can tell a lot by what is surging, and falling. Your pituitary gland regulates these various hormones, and the timing of their rising and falling. Immediately before, usually 12-36 hours, ovulation, an Lh surge will be detectable in your urine. These tests are called OPKs, or ovulation predictor kits. They range from cheapy to super expensive, and just wading through the waters of OPKs is like being up to your neck in a quicksand pond full of alligators. Not everyone, every cycle will get a positive OPK. I have NO idea why this happens, but about a third of the time, I get nothing but negatives, yet still ovulate normally. This was one of those cycles.
Lh is first detectable in your saliva, approximately 5 days before your urine. From what I understand it goes saliva, then blood, then urine. So for those of us trying to time the shipping of sperm, this extra notice can be extremely helpful. There is a newish machine on the market that measures your saliva every morning and anticipates your "window of fertility". This machine also has a vaginal wand that provides "ovulation confirmation". This is a jackpot for those of us TTC for multiple reasons. 1) It confirms that you are indeed ovulating, 2) Gives you the ability to track timing after the fact, i.e. okay, we inseminated today, and got ovulation confirmation tonight, so we know we got the timing right this cycle, and 3) It tells you that you can stop peeing on things and have a total breakdown because you missed your window and have to send back your sperm. (as was the case for me this cycle).
Frozen sperm lives anywhere from 8-24 hours once inseminated, so the object is to inseminate as close as possible to ovulation without missing it on either side. Most research indicates that it is virtually impossible to get pregnant by inseminating *after* ovulation, so you always want to err on the side of early.
Since I'm still in breakdown mode, I'll save basal body temperature and cervical mucus and position for another post, go have another huge bucket of coffee, and figure out how to pass the time for the next month.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Everything You Never Knew About Frozen Sperm
Since there happens to not be a male member in my little domestic family, the issue of sperm becomes,
well, an issue. There is a whole world of frozen sperm out there that is really pretty fascinating. For instance, it ships Fed Ex, can be frozen for years Austin Powers style, and is incredibly, incredibly expensive for those of us whose households don't have a free flowing supply.
Let's start with the bank, the cryobank. Our particular one is the California Cryobank, one of the most well known and well respected out there. I continue to be so impressed with their professionalism and compassion. We start on their website (www.cryobank.com if you're interested in poking around) with a donor search. You can literally see, pick, and screen more about your potential donor, than most of you probably did for your potential spouses. Height, weight, eye color, hair color, skin tone, build, blood type, heritage, occupation, GPA, complete medical history, complete family medical history going back 3 generations and including aunts, uncles, first cousins, and siblings, exposure to chemicals, almost ANYTHING you can imagine. You can purchase a baby picture of the donors, handwriting analysis, facial feature report, audio interview, staff impression, even see which celebrity the staff thinks the donor most resembles. There are anonymous donors, and open donors. The open donors agree to at least one instance of communication after the child is 18. Of course, you pay a little more per sample for open donors.
I am adopted, and possess a freakish amount of personality from my birth parents both of whom I met for the first time at twenty years old. I would be an excellent nature vs. nurture experiment, and let me tell, nature is very, very powerful. It is because of my background that I A) Have chosen an open donor, and B) am very particular about which donors I consider. I would have been furious had there been absolutely no chance for me to meet my birth parents, both of whom I am extremely close with now, and I would never want to deny my child that opportunity. I also have first hand knowledge that no matter how I raise my child, they will have an extremely significant amount of their biological father in them, both in personality, and physical appearance, and I want to be sure I find exactly what I'm looking for. Now, I realize this sounds a little "designer baby" ish, and I can assure you there are moments when you realize you just scratched through that donor because his sister was big boned and his cousin had acne in high school, but for the most part, you find yourself "attracted" to donors that possess the same attributes you would be looking for in a partner, whatever those personal priorities might be. For me, it's things like intelligence, creativity, athleticism, and a passion for family.
After a certain age, cryobanks "retire" donors. This can create a problem for families that are having a hard time conceiving, or that are attempting multiple children from the same donor. Most banks have a "storage" program for families who want to buy now and squirt later, but that option pretty much depends on financial situation. In our case, we used the very last available vial from our donor last month, to no avail, and had to pick a new donor for the first time since this whole thing started. I was basically "in love" with the last guy, and it was incredibly hard to realize that it wasn't meant to be. I am pleased with our new donor, and hoping we have better luck in the very near future.
Lastly, lets talk price. There are several types of samples, ICI or unwashed, and IUI or washed, are the two most common. ICI samples are samples that have not been pretreated and are suitable for intracervical inseminations. They average $535 for a ONE milliliter vial for an open donor, and about $430 for an anonymous donor. IUI samples are washed before freezing, removing the dead cells, waste material etc, and are suitable for intrauterine inseminations. They are $645 for ONE ml for open donors, and $535 for anonymous donors. Most doctors, couples shoot for two inseminations per cycle, so at minimum two vials per month. Do the math. This doesn't count shipping the 22 lb tank over night both directions, or the extra donor information you might purchase. You can imagine for a couple struggling with fertility for two years how much the costs add up. However, I know when we bring our new baby home, every single cent will have been worth it, but what a struggle in the mean time.
well, an issue. There is a whole world of frozen sperm out there that is really pretty fascinating. For instance, it ships Fed Ex, can be frozen for years Austin Powers style, and is incredibly, incredibly expensive for those of us whose households don't have a free flowing supply.
Let's start with the bank, the cryobank. Our particular one is the California Cryobank, one of the most well known and well respected out there. I continue to be so impressed with their professionalism and compassion. We start on their website (www.cryobank.com if you're interested in poking around) with a donor search. You can literally see, pick, and screen more about your potential donor, than most of you probably did for your potential spouses. Height, weight, eye color, hair color, skin tone, build, blood type, heritage, occupation, GPA, complete medical history, complete family medical history going back 3 generations and including aunts, uncles, first cousins, and siblings, exposure to chemicals, almost ANYTHING you can imagine. You can purchase a baby picture of the donors, handwriting analysis, facial feature report, audio interview, staff impression, even see which celebrity the staff thinks the donor most resembles. There are anonymous donors, and open donors. The open donors agree to at least one instance of communication after the child is 18. Of course, you pay a little more per sample for open donors.
I am adopted, and possess a freakish amount of personality from my birth parents both of whom I met for the first time at twenty years old. I would be an excellent nature vs. nurture experiment, and let me tell, nature is very, very powerful. It is because of my background that I A) Have chosen an open donor, and B) am very particular about which donors I consider. I would have been furious had there been absolutely no chance for me to meet my birth parents, both of whom I am extremely close with now, and I would never want to deny my child that opportunity. I also have first hand knowledge that no matter how I raise my child, they will have an extremely significant amount of their biological father in them, both in personality, and physical appearance, and I want to be sure I find exactly what I'm looking for. Now, I realize this sounds a little "designer baby" ish, and I can assure you there are moments when you realize you just scratched through that donor because his sister was big boned and his cousin had acne in high school, but for the most part, you find yourself "attracted" to donors that possess the same attributes you would be looking for in a partner, whatever those personal priorities might be. For me, it's things like intelligence, creativity, athleticism, and a passion for family.
After a certain age, cryobanks "retire" donors. This can create a problem for families that are having a hard time conceiving, or that are attempting multiple children from the same donor. Most banks have a "storage" program for families who want to buy now and squirt later, but that option pretty much depends on financial situation. In our case, we used the very last available vial from our donor last month, to no avail, and had to pick a new donor for the first time since this whole thing started. I was basically "in love" with the last guy, and it was incredibly hard to realize that it wasn't meant to be. I am pleased with our new donor, and hoping we have better luck in the very near future.
Lastly, lets talk price. There are several types of samples, ICI or unwashed, and IUI or washed, are the two most common. ICI samples are samples that have not been pretreated and are suitable for intracervical inseminations. They average $535 for a ONE milliliter vial for an open donor, and about $430 for an anonymous donor. IUI samples are washed before freezing, removing the dead cells, waste material etc, and are suitable for intrauterine inseminations. They are $645 for ONE ml for open donors, and $535 for anonymous donors. Most doctors, couples shoot for two inseminations per cycle, so at minimum two vials per month. Do the math. This doesn't count shipping the 22 lb tank over night both directions, or the extra donor information you might purchase. You can imagine for a couple struggling with fertility for two years how much the costs add up. However, I know when we bring our new baby home, every single cent will have been worth it, but what a struggle in the mean time.
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