Hey ladies ❤️
I have my first consult with an endocrinologist on Monday to start HRT! I’m so excited to begin this part of the journey but have one snag that I’m having trouble getting past.
My wife and I are trying to store some of my sperm in case we want a second child in a few years. Obviously I need to do this before I can start E, but am having issues finding a bank near me and figuring out how much to store, how to prep and all that.
So a couple questions for those that went through the banking process before starting their journeys:
How much should I bank for IUI to “effectively guarantee” there will be enough stored to get a positive pregnancy? I’ve heard that IUI has a really low success rate, but I have no idea how much sperm is used per session and exactly how much I should store to make sure we don’t run out?
Any one have experience using a mail in service? And if so, what was the process like? And are their labs out there that accept insurance?
What do I need to do in order to prep for deposit? I’ve read that abstinence for 5-7 days is ideal. What about medical tests or referrals?
Generally, any recommendations on mail in labs would be really helpful. Preferably with a lower up front cost for the mail kit, washing and prep, and maybe a year of storage to start off?
Thank you for any insights ❤️ this is my last step before I can dive into HRT and want to get to my biHRTday so bad 😭
Ooo. That’s a really good point and I didn’t even think of that. I can totally see that being an issue.
I thought I could just go to a fertility doc and they’d take care of it all for me, but it looks like I need to find my own bank and I’m just a little lost as to what all I need to do to get the ball rolling.
Search engine of your choice and enter “gamete storage [location]”
You’d probably be better off with a place than a mail-in service if you can swing it, “whether insurance will pay for it” depends very much on what country you are it, and if you do end up going with a mail-in service consider the fact that if you place your swimmers in your mail box, it will go to a distribution center before continuing on to whatever lab its headed toward and degrees and minutes count.
You can cut down that time they aren’t temperature controlled if you are able to transport your package to the distribution center yourself and mail it from there, but then there’s still the issue of where and when to get your gametes from you into the package.
You’re right, that was my US privilege showing. My bad.
I am located in the US. In the state of Indiana - but I hear you. It really depends on location and my coverage whether I could get it covered.
I’m going to keep looking for a relatively close bank around me because a mail in kit does make me nervous. At bare minimum, I would definitely make sure not to start taking E until I knew for certain there were no issues from transport.
If you can at all make it north across a border there seems to be clinics in both Kalamazoo and Jackson and one imagines the longterm safety of a gender minority and that of her stored genetic material might be more assured in Michigan than Indiana.
Further terms you can use to search are ‘sperm bank’ and ‘fertility clinic’.