If you used a Sperm Bank

msjcordova

Did you buy your vials in advance or as needed? About a month ago I called the Sperm Bank we are using only to find out that our donor only have 2 IUI ready vials left until December. We had to buy the last 2 to ensure that we would have a vial for November and December. He will have more at the end of December but we didn't want to be stuck with no sperm when we needed it! Also, did you get so many months free for storage at the sperm bank you used?

thiswillbe

We bought 2 at a time (and shipped both to the RE's office)-- one to use on IUI day, and one backup in case the first was a poor sample or had some other issue once it was thawed. This was in large part because we wanted the flexibility of being able to switch donors after a few tries if necessary (we got pregnant on our last try with our favorite donor; after 3 months we would have switched donors).

No free storage at the bank we used, but that wouldn't have influenced things one way or the other unless our donor was in exceedingly short supply (ours always had 10 or so vials available).

thefamilyway904

We're buying as we go. In order to qualify for free storage at our bank, you have to buy 8+ vials at one time. Our plan is to change donors if we aren't yet pregnant after 3 cycles, so buying in bulk wasn't worth it.

msjcordova

Our plan is to do the 3 cycles also and then switch if needed.

ctbride08

we always purchased three at once (well, except for one month when we bought a single vial so we could do b2b IUIs) - the main reason was to save on shipping.  It was the same cost to ship one vial or 100 so we shipped them all at once and had free storage with our midwive's office.

Two*True

We bought 3 at once to save on shipping cost.  Our RE stored it for free.

cymru

We bought 4 and had them all shipped to the RE's office. We used two each month ( back to back IUI's)

Looking back now I wish we had bought a few more for a chance at a full blood sibling for Annie. Our donor was retired right after we bought our samples.

~Kennedy

Mrs._F

We bought 3 vials to start in order to save on shipping (like CT said - same price to ship no matter how many vials you buy, and shipping isn't cheap!), and thinking that we'd consider switching donors if not pregnant after 3 tries.  The midwife office where we did our iui stored them for free.  Our bank also does "buy back" so if we had extra vials and didn't want to hang onto them for siblings, we could have returned them for a refund (we opted instead to continue storing them with the midwives, since there is no charge).

jennandmel1024

Our OB did just 1 IUI per month so we always just bought one and had it shipped each month. We decided to try each donor 3 times before switching so we never wanted to buy in bulk so we wouldn't have to pay for storage or have more than what we needed. Since we are planning on both of us carrying a child we decided it's not important to us for each of our children to have the same donor.

madisonpeas

We were allowed to reserve vials that stayed a the bank for no charge initially, but now it seems things have changed there and we need to pre pay.  Regardless, we have had two shipped at a time for our ICI tries at home.  We will basically do the same for b2b IUIs in January.  We think we can do short term storage at the NP (like until the next month) but not long term.

2brides

We bought 2 per cycle and used both (back to back IUIs.)  We didn't want to pay for storage and we weren't that committed to a particular donor.

JoySeattle

I think we may be the exception. We're planning on sticking with this donor because he's the only donor that matches C's race and unique ethnicity combo.

We bought 12 vials with 3 years free storage and paid for an additional 2 years at a discounted rate. The first year of storage ends in December, so we have 4 more years and 9 more vials.  If we get don't get pregnant after using all 12 vials and/or IVF, we'll most likely move on to foster-to-adopt.

valancy

When we were looking at a unique ethnicity for a donor, there was only one we could find at any bank. We definitely planned to buy and store vials.  But we moved on to more "generic" profiles and feel less attached to any particular donor.  Now that we're less attached, we feel less strongly that we need to buy in advance, or store vials for a future child.

Our plan now was to buy enough vials for 3 months with one donor, then re-asses.  Of course, that donor was sold out the day we made the decision, so now we're doing month to month with our second choice until we can either get the donor we want or decide something else. So, nothing at all like we expected!  I will admit, not having guaranteed vials in the bank makes me a little nervous.