Sperm Donor Banks
Today I wanted to write about credible Sperm Banks. You can research and find a plethora of choices, its actually quite overwhelming to see how many places to get donor sperm from.
My suggestion is to use these two:
Please definitely do your homework and look into your choices. We felt comfortable with these two. We actually ended up using Fairfax and are very happy with their services and product. You will also find that most nurses recommend Fairfax Cryobank and California Cryobank because of their distinction and credibility. Their acceptance and testing criteria are very prudent.
Once you decide which one to pick from , you enter another world, the Sperm Donor Matrix. You will know the donor better then you know your partner.
This step will take the most time because picking your donor is hard work. However, there are alot of tools they offer to make is easier like some have baby pictures, some have lifetime pictures, voice recordings, and medical history. A good thing to check is if there are any reported pregnancies. Also the type of washes you can use with your procedure: The three washes are IVF, ICI or IUI . For our cycle we were able to use IVF and ICI, this helps because sometimes they might have it in one wash but not the other.
My advice is do not rush into it but if you really like a donor check right away how many vials they have available. The Doctors suggest at least 2 vials for each cycle to be sent so make sure you buy enough for back up as not everyone is lucky on the first try.
We bought our donor out because the first time he was on a waiting list and there was a waiting list for that list.
Once the bank sends the doctor the vials they can not be returned so you either must discard or have your doctor store them for you (if they offer this service- its called cryopreservation) Otherwise once you buy the sperm you will have to pay the back for storage. This runs about $375 a year. If you become pregnant and are done with your family, all donor sperm not touched from bank can be returned for half the price.
Please feel free to ask me any questions if I missed anything on this part.