Recent experiences with NW Andrology?

[DesertSunsets]

Anybody have any *recent* experiences with NW Andrology and Cryobank?  I've heard a few things floating around about them but most of them are from '06 - '08.  Perhaps naively, I'm hoping maybe things aren't that bad.  

Any experiences you've got to share would be much appreciated.  

[gellybeangrl]

I have not had any experiences with them. Since our bank MWSB has closed we have to find a new one. We are looking at using NWSB here in the near future.

What have you heard about them? Was it bad? 

gelly

[DesertSunsets]

Well, not many people over at the Donor Sibling Registry have very good things to say about them.  One woman had a baby with some serious genetic defects that came from the donor and she notified the bank but they continued to tell other people that donor had no issues.  Another lesbian couple sent in their paperwork and it came back marked as "Incomplete" because the partner put her info down in the "Husband or Partner" section and then initialed on the lines as well, and the bank told them they only wanted the person intending to utilize the sperm's information, not her partner's unless he was a man.  Or something to that extent.  It all seems kind of convoluted, honestly.  

I've found a few mentions of NW Andrology in these forums and the reviews seem to be mixed.  About half say they had no problems, conceived fairly quickly. The other half say the bank had bad customer service and one couple said something was wrong with their sperm - but they didn't specify what.  

But like I said, these complaints and comments were all from a few years back, so I don't really know what to think.  

??

[gellybeangrl]

Humm...interesting! I'm curious to know if anyone has had any bad experiences with them lately. I'm not so worried about the customer service rep not being nice but, the possiblity of the donors having genetic defects and bank not passing that info on is really scary.

gelly

[DesertSunsets]

I agree.  The idea of having less than good customer service is vexing but not a deal-breaker.  My main concerns are about the genetic screening the donors go through and the bank's willingness to disclose problematic sperm.  Also, I've read a few things about the bank deleting donor profiles after their stock has run out and the families who have children wishing to know their biological father are out of luck.  Even if the donor agreed that he was willing to meet the children that came into being due to his donation.  

Since we plan on using a Willing to be Known donor, that is worrying me.  I'm still seeking more information; there is one couple in this forum right now who are using NW, they are on their first cycle now so they wouldn't be able to know if there are genetic or disclosure issues.  That's why I was hoping for someone who conceived and has given birth to a child fairly recently with NW's sperm.  

[DesertSunsets]

Also, I found on their website that they have a forum full of people who are or have been NW clients, and I have yet to find anyone complaining about the bank... but the forum is controlled by NW so they may remove posts that they feel have the potential to hurt their business.  Might be worthwhile to look through some of the postings though.  

http://www.nwcryobank.com/forum/

[Monarchgrrl]

My product from NWA is crying in the other room, being held by her mother, fighting sleep. She is 3 mo old. We bought sperm in January 2010. I have nothing but good things to say about them. I love that they are cheaper than most places and will deliver to your home with no doctor supervision or note. We were very particular about the donor and there are only a handful of our type available across the country so we were happy to find him there since we were going to do this at home without a doctor signing anything for us. They were really helpful on the phone. Everything was simple and easy. And it worked on the second try. The ONLY thing that I kinda didn't like was that the receptionist was male so it felt weird ordering sperm from a man and telling him when my cycle dates were. But it probably helps the men who donate, which is why I bet they have male receptionists. Anyway, if you have any specific questions let me know.

[mommy55]

I haven't logged in here in quite some time, but saw this discussion and wanted to throw in a few words about my experience w/ NWA.  Mirroring what was said in the above post, my product from NWA is down the street at his daycare right now!  Our almost-9-month-old is perfectly happy and seems perfectly healthy (e.g. no genetic issues that we know of).

We wanted to try to get pregnant at home, so NWA was a pretty obvious choice since they ship directly to a customer's home.  It took us 5 attempts:  3 attempts with the first donor, 1 attempt w/ the next donor, and the 5th attempt (new donor) was our lucky one.  That donor had a pretty good track record, but is unfortunately "sold out" at the moment.

We didn't have any issues with customer service - I liked the guy who answered the phone!  He was always very helpful in terms of giving me up-to-the-minute info on their donors.  We were relatively picky about our choice and we also needed a CMV- donor.  I never felt rushed in the process - called multiple times before we placed our first order.  The only shipping problem we ever had was b/c of a snowstorm - our shipment was delayed by a day, but it wasn't a big deal.

I know this doesn't necessarily reflect on the sperm bank, and it may not even reflect on the donor, but our son is probably the most laid-back baby I've ever known.  I don't just say that as his biased mother - we've heard it from so many people.  He's a ridiculously happy bundle of fun!

Good luck!

[ValzQueen]

I have been reading forums about NWSB and have yet to find bad things about them. A few things i foudn that were negative were things my spouse and I can deal with such as bad customer service. However I would love to know of anyone who used NWSB and conceived, maybe how many tries it took and if it was at home or not and possibly what donor you used that conceived quickly? My wife and I were devastated to find out MWSB closed down, we were preparing to order from them in April and just got the bad news so now we are on crunch time researching various banks trying to choose the right one to go with. NWSB seems like a winner though due to the fact we do not have to have a MD signature and the cost isnt bad at all. They have plenty of donor's that we are looking for to ttc with using. We just want to know maybe the most fertile donor or a donor that recently was used and a baby was conceived or delivered using NWSB. And also do we have to pay for the insemination kit that comes with the sperm? with MSB we didnt?

Thanks so much

Mia :)

[osker]

Mia, I would try NW's forum to answer those questions. There's a ttc board there with tons of support and people who can answer any question you have. http://www.nwcryobank.com/forum/

There really isn't a "most fertile" donor at any sperm bank. You can have a donor with high sperm counts, or low sperm counts and still some women will get pregnant and others won't.

I would encourage you to decide if you're going to use NW and do your paperwork immediately if you're planning on doing an insem in April. The paperwork and approval process can take 4-6 weeks, so you might be looking at May at this point.

[happycalm]

Hi, Mia.

I've been primarily a lurker on the NW forum for a while now. I just wanted to chime in to say that many who use the board are not so keen on sharing who their donor is. You can of course ask but don't take it personally if they don't respond with that level of detail. This question gets asked really often and you might even find a discussion already happening that suits your interest. Often women are directed to the photo gallery that will indirectly tell you that the donors listed under the photos produced children. But of course not all of those women who gave birth submit photos of their children.

I did not use NW (we went with OHSU). I was on their board for a while because there are a lot of lesbians there. But I like the tone and size of this forum better. It feels a little less drama-focused and smaller, more intimate.

Good luck.

[ValzQueen]

Hey HappyCalm,

Thanks for that information. I dont know why ppl wouldnt share that information to help another couple or single woman out. We come to this forums to share information and express ideas, give opinions with the goal of helping someone else out with our information given and our experience shared. But I dont know that's just me. I wouldnt take it personal though. Thanks.

We did research NW though and decided to go with them so we will be preparing to do the at home insemination next month, super excited.

Again thanks,

Blowing baby dust to those who are ttc and congrats to those who have succeeded. Keeping fingers crossed.

:) Mia

[southernfriedkarma]

A friend of mine in Boston is currently pregnant with twins from NW,and she's the one who recommended them to us.  We have not actually used any sperm from NW because we're still in the buying profiles & getting my hormones right phase, but I can say that I've had good experiences with NW's Customer Service recently.  The guy who usually answers the phone is very nice and has answered lots of questions to save me from buying profiles that wouldn't be a good match for us. I don't know if we'll end up using NW because their number of Rh+ and CMV- willing to be known donors is small, but the customer service doesn't seem to be a problem. 

[simon506]

Hi my wife and I have been using NW. They have a guy(s?) in customer service who really are not particularly sensitive on the phone. Maybe he is insanely busy IDk but he is never especially friendly when I call. The orders are super fast, the shipping is easy to understand and the tank comes in excellent shape with explicit, picture instructions. Honestly, if MWSB had not suddenly closed we would still be using them. But NW has a reasonable price and they photo matched me easily. The paperwork does not seem to be homophobic. For whatever reason only one name goes on the file. In this case it is my wife and I make the order in her name with my card. It is shipped to her, despite me signing for it and me inseminating it in her lol. So I would not take that personally. They even included instead cups in our package! How cool and thoughtful to give us 2 insem options.

[simon506]

NW does charge 20 bucks for the kit. But you can buy a box of the syringes and another 20 bucks get you a box of catheters online from many sites. Look for the Tom Cat Catheter and a 3ml syringe without a needle or with a removable one.

[ValzQueen]

Thanks for that information. We have been wondering where can we purchase syringes and catheters without the hassle of involving a doctor.

Mia :)

PS. It is unfortunate what happened with MWSB however NW seems like they are going to work out just fine.

[mommy55]

The kits from NW are $10 each.  The donor we used in the past (035L) is no longer available, so that won't help you.  Apparently he was quite popular and successful - we got pregnant on the first try using his sperm!  It took us 5 total tries using NW sperm over the course of 7 months.  We did everything at home - our biggest draw to NW was the ability to do this w/o a medical professional.

I honestly don't remember the number of the donor we just used and I don't know whether or not we've been successful, so I can't pass on any other donor-specific info.  I do think the NW forum has a lot of donor-specific chat though.

As someone else said above, their shipping tanks are in great shape and the instructions are very explicit.  I'd like to add one thing and this is ****purely from my/our point of view**** - on the try when we got pregnant in 2009, we only gave the sperm about 5 mins to thaw.  We had previously waited about 8 mins each time.  Not saying that had anything to do with our success, as it could have been many factors.

Good luck!  I think their prices are reasonable.  Our paperwork process took a week or so when we started this process a couple of weeks ago.  They've obviously kept everything on file so we didn't have to re-do that this time around.  I don't think I'm awfully picky about customer service, but we liked them well enough to not even consider another bank this time.

[imhismommy]

We used NW and got pregnant on the third try. I am absolutely happy with my baby and never had any problems with customer service. I liked that they shipped to home, and it was less expensive than other banks. That said, there have always been little things that made me question their accuracy. Most recently, they have changed their website and the donor information for our donor changed! Important things like whether or not he wore corrective lenses have changed!?! It does NOT inspire confidence. There have been other ladies who have mentioned they told them that they were out of their donor's vials and then they "found some in back storage" later. Again, that kind of recklessness does not inspire confidence. It just makes you wonder.....

The postives are that they were easier to use than other banks, cheaper, ship to your home without Drs. signature.

Negatives: It's hard to have confidence or trust what they say because of the above mentioned issues, and they don't share as much information about their donors as other banks.

They did help me to concieve one perfect baby though, so I can't complain too much. Just wish I had a little more confidence in our donor's profile. As it is, I don't even trust that the blood type listed was correct. Ugh. 

[osker]

NW has responded to these inaccuracies by pointing out that they are in the midst of a website change. They stated that these differences were glitches in the new programming and are being fixed.  I would imagine that the information that the donor wrote on their profile themselves would be correct.

[imhismommy]

Whew. Thanks for clearing that up osker. I just saw where NW cleared it up on the forum. That's such a relief.