Vials stored for future sibling(s) - how many?

[DesertSunsets]

It's always been our dream to have our children conceived using the same donor.  Now that we are pregnant with our first, we've been planning on buying more vials of our donor.  I found out today that he has fewer vials than I originally anticipated (although still a sufficient amount), so now I'm getting antsy to stockpile more vials.  

It took us five unmedicated cycles at home and ten vials of sperm to get my wife pregnant.  We have two vials left in storage.  It will be my turn to carry next, likely in three years.  We're both 25 years old with no known fertility issues - though I know that can change in three years.  

If you have sperm stored for future siblings, how many vials do you have?  How did you come to choose that number?  

Anybody's experience here would be appreciated!  I don't want to lose my chance to buy more of our donor's vials before they are all gone.  

[escher]

We have 12 vials stored. But we're older than you and it took us 14 vials to get pregnant with #1, so maybe that makes a difference. Like you, we're probably going to switch who is pregnant next time.

[prettyisa]

Hi Desert,

We've got 5, but we're doing IVF, so that is theoretically enough to guarantee us a second and possibly third. When we were still hoping to get preggo with IUIs we planned on keeping 12 on ice--with the thought that we'd have several double tries and then still some for medicalization if we needed it. Good luck! It's a lot of money to sink if you only need that one try, but if it's important to you, I'd say it's probably worth it.

[indigoscot]

here's our story.  we originally bought 6 of our donor because the clinic we were using said that was the best number to get in case we "werent compatible".  i got pregnant on try #2 which left us with 2 vials.  we went to buy more and our donor had retired and was out of vials. 

fast forward to april of 2008 and we managed to luck out and get 6 more ici vials due to another client reactivating our donor.  with those 8 we managed to conceive our next 2 children. 

if we had to do it all over again, i'd make sure to have AT LEAST 12 vials in storage.

good luck!

g

[KSDoulaMama]

Our KD moved to Korea, yes Korea, and left us with 23 vials on ice. This was just lucky, because he managed to bank those up in just three trips to uh... make deposits. We want to make one more baby, and we'll probably start trying in July or August. Even with that many vials, I still get nervous, even though I know it's a ton. And in all seriousness, he COULD come back to the US and bank some more hypothetically. I'm sure we'll have leftovers and have nothing to do with them- unless I guess he finds some other lesbians who want his sperm or something, haha.

[southernfriedkarma]

We only have two vials in storage.  Our donor is retired and there is no option to get more, so we hope it works quickly in a couple of years.  I've also scanned the DSR and our bank's message boards to see if anyone is selling vials from our donor, but no luck so far.  If we don't conceive #2 in two tries, we'll likely have to find another donor.  And if we ever want #3, we'll certainly have to choose a new donor.  Not an ideal situation, but genetic kinship isn't as important as building a family for us.

[Muttchen]

We orignially bought 13 vials. Then, as fate had it, it took 21 vials to get pregnant and carry a baby to term. When I was pregnant with her we bought 4 vials and stored them, it would've been more but that was all he had left. I wanted to buy at least 6. When it came time to TTC again, we got pregnant with one vial, on the first try! We now have 3 stored but aren't sure we are going to have anymore just yet.

[justrose13]

I just called our bank to see what was available.... they said there was plenty readily available, plenty in quarantine, and the donor is still part of the program. she told me not to worry about buying and storing just yet, to call every couple months and check. do y'all think I'm dumb to trust that?? we aren't hell bent on using the same donor for future but would really prefer to. we don't really have the extra $$ to buy and store right now, either.

[escher]

I think it makes perfect sense to wait if you're not set on absolutely having to use the same donor and if now is not a good time financially to buy. It sounds like you will be very likely to get to use the same donor even without buying now and paying the storage fees. I think we would have waited to buy if we had gotten information like that.

Originally Posted by wehrli 

I just called our bank to see what was available.... they said there was plenty readily available, plenty in quarantine, and the donor is still part of the program. she told me not to worry about buying and storing just yet, to call every couple months and check. do y'all think I'm dumb to trust that?? we aren't hell bent on using the same donor for future but would really prefer to. we don't really have the extra $$ to buy and store right now, either.

[prettyisa]

Wehrli--I think you're ok to wait. Maybe start a sperm piggy bank and buy a vial or two whenever you've got extra cash? But if there are that many available I think you don't need to scramble for funds immediately. Do you already have a timeframe for #2?

[DesertSunsets]

Wehrli - after DW got pregnant, I called the bank to check on our donor's supply.  I was told he had 100+ vials, and thought to myself that it seemed like we had a little bit of time before having to buy a bunch more.  A month later, I had a strange inkling to call again and check in.  I was told, by a different employee, that he did still have 91 vials but 30 of those were IVF vials, and 60 of them were IUI vials, and only one was ICI.  We'd planned on only buying ICI vials... so that didn't work out.  He has no vials in quarantine and he's no longer donating.  Of course, sixty vials of IUI is nothing to sneeze at, but I admittedly was a bit nervous.  We aren't going to stop having kids just because they won't have the same donor, but it would be a definite positive for us and is something we do desire - particularly since we plan on switching who the bio mom is.  We did end up buying that last ICI vial, as well as seven IUI vials.  We had two left in storage from the original 12 we bought to get DW pregnant.  

From the sounds of it though, I would not think your donor is going to all of a sudden be totally unavailable.  It seems like you've got some time.  I do agree with Isa, though, maybe just buy one here and there as it's possible?  

Good luck!

[indigoscot]

wehrli, i have heard of many people thinking the same as you "oh he's still donating, i have plenty of time to buy some" but what happens if he suddenly retires, or there's a rush on his vials and when you want some he's in quarantine?  even our backup donor who was still donating in early 2011 has since retired and has no vials available.  it happens really quickly once they retire.  if you REALLY want this donor again, buy them on credit and pay it off.  this is not something i would EVER say to someone in any other circumstances because i HATE putting things on credit but in this instance that is what i would recommend.

we came REALLY close to not being able to use the same donor for all three kids...and we were extremely lucky with the number of vials it took to get pregnant...for the three of them we used a total of 11 vials.

good luck!

g

[wishin'&hopin']

I'm going to bump this to emphasize what indigoscot just said...if you feel it is important for any children you have to share a donor, buy whatever you can, when you can.  We thought we'd be able to purchase from the general pool of our donor.  But, we waited b/c it seemed like soooo much money.  Then, we ended up being limited to the sibling only pool b/c he'd sold out (and is no longer donating)...we bought the cap from the sibling pool, but since we may want 2 more children (we will evaluate after #2, if that works out) we may end up running out of our donor vials.  

I'm am so bummed right now...

[pokeyAC]

I'm sorry to hear that.  What a huge bummer!  Does your bank facilitate exchanges between recipients?  For example, someone might have vials stored of your donor but not decide to use them, the bank won't give them a refund, but they might be able to sell it to you?

[wishin'&hopin']

Families can "donate" back to our bank if the sperm has not left the bank and then the vials can be resold.  Soooo, that means that it may be possible to get more vials in a couple of years (if no one else wants them b/c we did hit the cap on purchasing from the sibling only pool).  On the plus side, I remain very happy that our sperm bank (TSBC) has some of the smallest family limits (10).  I am aware of two donor sib's from the same donor but don't know any details beyond that.  

On the other hand, I should take a deep breath because we now have 12 vials...but the freak out I had was in knowing that after we use those 12 (if we do) that there are quite simply no more.  I also think that I will be doing some reevaluating of why using the same donor feels so important...

[NZmumof2]

Our clinic has a 3 families limit but not a number of sibs limit.  We've had a total of 24 vials, got two left...  He donated again years ago so we could keep some on ice.  We'll be done afer this kid (#4) so the other two are not going anywhere at this point!

Anna