Sperm hunt

I am finding this wait now between appointments quite challenging. Thankfully life is busy at the moment so time is flying by and tomorrow it will be 2 weeks til our counselling session and 'big bloods.'

We have also been looking into our options more when it comes to sperm. Initially we just presumed we would use the clinics own bank, as it is cheaper initially and easier, but then we keep getting told of the shortage and how you could be waiting several months for a match and then you get very little information about the donor, just basic profile really. We have therefore decided that we are going to go down the route of importing sperm from Denmark, which initially costs £600 more but after 3 cycles we will recoup it back by saving £200 a cycle as sperm and shipping combined is cheaper than one vial in uk. The initial extra cost is £800 for a pregnancy slot, as in the UK only 10 families can be created from one donor and we have to pay for this law! I think it is a good thing but also a pain that we have to pay for a law we didn't create! It also is a joke because they could have 100 further children in Denmark anyway.

We briefly considered importing from America as they do not charge a pregnancy slot and meet this cost themselves and have a large selection of donors including adult pictures, but they do not buy back unused sperm and shipping is more costly and our clinic do not have a relationship with them like they do with the Danish one so they will charge us extra to import and store.

It is a minefield.

We will still have more choice in Denmark sperm bank than UK and can see a more in depth profile and baby photos. We want to have 2 or 3 children so obviously sperm is a long term investment in the mission to complete our family and we are thinking not only about baby no 1. but hopefully their brother and sisters to come :)

Seeing a baby photo will help ease my anxiety about inadvertently choosing a donor with ridiculously strong features that the child inherits and will ease that small place in my mind that will be trying to suss out if he or she resembles the donor. While I do not care ultimately who or what our children look like, I would love for them to look like my wife, because she is beautiful and I love her and I dislike the fact it will never be both our DNA in our bundles of Joy and so I at least want to see what the donor looks like so I know at least this much.

Roll on two weeks, so we can then sit around and do more waiting

Waiting for the next appointment...

We have got our appointment for counselling and further bloods in 4 weeks time. The bloods take 4 weekish to come back so hopefully in 8 weeks we will be on the list and waiting for a match and sperm. This can take days to months. We have mentally prepared ourselves for a 3 month wait, any longer than this and we plan to reassess, though I think there will be an element of we have waited this long. We are keen to avoid paying for a full price cycle as we are very keen to donate eggs too.

I want time to go quick but also realise we need to enjoy life outside of TTC too.

We have everything crossed x

AMH

Good news in our household. My wife not only has a awesome uterus/ovaries but her AMH level has come back and is 36 which puts her in the good bracket. I feel so relieved, as the wait really stressed me out. Not even a bath or chamomile tea worked.

Now we are waiting for the appointment for counselling and 'Big bloods' which test for any infections and make sure you do not carry cystic fibrosis or other possible serious conditions. Fingers crossed we don't have too many weeks to wait for the appointment.

One step nearer.