Rainbow Flag Health Services

[soso-lynn]

Anyone use them? Any thoughts or comments?

They have a no circ rule, refer people to a midwife for help on getting pregnant, actively recruit donors of all sexual orentation and do open ID as soon as 3 months after birth. Too good to be true?

[FtMPapa]

Their invasiveness turned me off - i.e. demanding my health profile, imposing the no-circ (which they have no ability to enforce).

I did like the low numbers of pregnancies they allow per donor.

The con for some may be that they're a small bank, they have a limited list of profiles. I considered that a plus.

[lexbeach]

I know families who have used them quite happily. It seems like the way to go if you can't find a known donor otherwise. In retrospect, I wish we had used them, but at the time when we were first ttc, dw especially was freaked about by the known donor thing. I just wanted to be pregnant and didn't press the issue. For pregnancy #2 and #3 we were able to use the same donor we used the first time, which for us took priority over being able to use a known donor (after the kids were born and attached to us, the idea of using a known donor seemed much less threatening and we wished that we could give our kids more than just a number and a list of favorite foods/etc.).

If you don't mind the rules (which I wouldn't) and the limited number of profiles, then I say go for it!

Lex

[soso-lynn]

I am really leaning towards them, but it would involve doing the insemination myself and driving accross the border to do it (I am in Canada). The other options in term of sperm banks that are allowed to ship to Canada are pretty slim and sometimes a bit creepy, especially seeing for myself the number of people using the same ones (I work at a fertility clinic). I also would prefer a more radical minded person as the other genetic half to further children. All of the "All-American Football-playing family men" from other banks annoy me.

I guess I need to choose between the convenience of getting everything done at work or having to travel a bit and try to organize all of the logistics.

If anyone knows of a doctor, midwife or anyone else close to the US/Quebec border who could help with a comfortable place to do the insemination, that would be great. For some reason, the idea of checking in a hotel with a sperm tank and my 4 year old just seems too much.

[FtMPapa]

Have you thought about looking for a known donor on your own?

What about picking up the tank in the US, driving back to Canada, and then storing the sperm in Canada? The tanks stay frozen for about a week, you could recharge it. (Assuming you can get access to liquid nitrogen and a tank, and that you can risk having the whole works confiscated at the border - and that is a risk, it can happen.)

Have you looked at Repromed? I think that's the right name, the sperm bank in Toronto. For me, they were the cheapest, they offered profiles I liked, and they had the most restrictive of all the banks policies on the number of pregnancies per donor. I've since moved to the US and found a known donor.

Good luck!!!

[soso-lynn]

The clinic I work at deals with Repromed quite a bit, but most people still use Xytex and CanamCryo (affiliated with icky Fairfax Cryo, home of the sex selection procedure, which is thankfully illegal here). We also have a few donors donating directly to the clinic, but I don't think I would be allowed to use them.

A problem am I facing is the whole "race" thing given that my daughter is not white. I get to see how many pregnancies happen from the same 3 or 4 donors and I just do not want my future children on Oprah when they are 18 with their 30 half-siblings.

I did not think about bringing it back to Montreal. Now, my brain is coming up with a bunch of fraudulent plans using paperwork from work... I think I need to come up with a better plan, or at least investigate the consequences of trying to cross the border with sperm that has not been deemed safe enough for Canadians. I will also investigate if I could get a clearance to have it shipped to me and kept where work, especially since I would like to order a lot and have handy for the future.

As for using a known donor, I am not sure about that. Legally, the only way to do it and be ansolutely safe would involve a 6 month quarantine period. I am so thankful every single day that I do not have to deal with my already existing child's bio-dad that the idea of willingly putting myself in a situation where some guy might want to claim any kind of legal right over my children just seems odd.

Maybe I'll go back at look at the Repromed offerings.

Oh, and I hope am not intruding here. I usually hang out in the single mothers forum but I think i'll feel more at home here discussing these things.

[Raene]

I know that's true, that legally it's dangerous to use a known donor, but personally I felt better about it for many reasons. If you find a guy who wants nothing to do with the child it's the way to go (if that's what you want).

We used a friend's husband and he doesn't consider the baby to be his, never will, and just wanted to help us out. Just for legal reasons we did write up a contract and have it notarized, and I did pay him for his services, but I know that's not likely to hold up in court. But...I feel much better about it than using frozen sperm from Guy X.

[AugustLia23]

We were pleased with the services, but it didn't work for us due to the sad lack of ethnic donors.

[madison]

I used Rainbow Flag and have been quite happy with the results (my five year old adorable brilliant son). :

I will happily use them again.

However, the first time I tried to get pregnant was after 9/11. I worked then at Paramount Pictures and because of the new security measures on the studio lot, I was called down to the guard gate to open my nicely frozen on liquid nitrogen spermies and explain what they were to the horrified security guards. After that embarrassing episode, I had them delivered to a friend's office. Be careful where you send your spermies

madison

[quasar]

Yikes, Madison! That would be embarrassing! I only had to explain to the guy refilling my tank what it was for... I wasn't really prepared to have to do that am I'm sure I turned a bright red as I stuttered through my explanation. The second time I was questioned, I told him I was a dog breeder and was a lot less embarrassed.

[Sohmakun]

Originally Posted by FtMPapa

Their invasiveness turned me off - i.e. demanding my health profile, imposing the no-circ (which they have no ability to enforce).

I did like the low numbers of pregnancies they allow per donor.

The con for some may be that they're a small bank, they have a limited list of profiles. I considered that a plus.

Wow! You took the words right out of my mouth. Thats scary....

I also didn't like that they had a small selection of minority donors (particularly African-American and Jewish men)