DIY Sperm Shipping?!

[quantumleap]

Has anyone ever done this? Thoughts? Experiences? a la: http://knowndonorregistry.com/component/content/article/228-how-to/shipping-sperm/122-shipping-sperm-how-to-prep-pack-and-ship-the-donation

Our known donor is pretty far from us - requires a $$$ plane ride to get to him. They would ship to us, but I feel a little hesitant! This seems a little sketchy, and I'm sort of grossed out by the egg yolk additive and the antibiotics, BUT, it would be a fraction of the price, if it works. Back story is that we did 4 failed cycles with frozen bank sperm and then found our awesome known donor. I've gone to him each time, and we've done 4 cycles which have resulted in 3 pregnancies. So, awesome success rates with in person, known donor, complete failure with the frozen stuff, and here we are. Opinions?

Thanks so much.

[easttowest]

Yes, we used the kits sold by Donor Home Delivery and NW Cryo. And since my wife is now 18 weeks pregnant, yep, it works! Just follow the directions exactly, and be prepared in case you ovulate on a Sun or Mon, since you can't get deliveries those days. Insem on the Sat since fresh sperm will live a fairly long time.

[quantumleap]

Well that's awesome! Congratulations! 

We're in Canada, so I still have to look in to how that changes things. We've always joked about shipping the sperm, but never really thought it was feasible unless we wanted to get "official" and go through a bank, have it spun and frozen, never mind all the psychological assessments, yadda, yadda. Not an adventure we wanted to have! 

Did you use more than one kit at a time? There seem to be kits with multiple vials, but not with multiple shipping containers. We've always done ~4 insems in a cycle, cause I'm there, so we figure we might as well take advantage. I'd like to do two if we go with this system, but there's no way the container would get back to them and then back to me in a 36 hour window (which is the window we usually work with). 

I just lost babe #3 at ~10 weeks, and it's been completely shocking and devastating and so, so sad, and it's made me a little extra frantic to have this work, and FAST. 

[cordelia15]

We also shipped and got pregnant through the mail.  We used donorhomedelivery. . I know people who used babydustdelivery??  (I think that's the name, or at least the baby dust part) 

We did two kits, for the reason you said.  If you need more than one month, you can reuse the shipping parts and just order the TYB and save some money but you have to ship the kits back.  You can also order some shipping kits once you see what they look like but if you are just starting, I say just go for it with the two.   I emailed the folks at the babydust site and the woman there said that was the way to go, that the bulk ones were if you were just doing it once a month.   

Sorry about your loss.  I do agree the shipping and timing got a little stressful, especially if you weren't as regular as we like to insem on day of surge and day of O so had to obviously do a little guess work and hope for no Sunday or Monday ovulation.   

Good luck and please feel free to message me with any questions.