Sperm bank question

[by-the-lake]

Hello- Can you ladies please tell me which the best 'bank' there is in terms of numbers of spermies? Any clue will help tons. Thank you

[abeecharmer]

hi - my RE recommends Fairfax or California Cryobank. I think each of those 2 banks guarantee 10 million motile cells per IUI vial. I didn't research other banks, so I don't know if that is an industry standard. . .

good luck!

[QTRANDI]

We've used California Cryobank (kinda spendy) and NW Cryobank (cheaper).

I'd suggest California Cryobank - 100%. I would not suggest NW Cryobank (and my doctors office will no longer use them after this cycle).

I can't say any more than that at this point........

Good Luck!
Randi

[JennM1021]

I've used CCB and Fairfax and had pretty good numbers from both. Although...CCB sent me an empty vial once...so I guess that kind of soured me on them. : One thing about them is that they won't give out count ranges or anything before you place an order, so you have no idea what you'll get ahead of time. I'm not sure if Fairfax does...as I only used them once...in a rush to order at the last mintue...but I got pregnant! : But, like I said...the counts were good from both..well over the 10 million guarantee. I'd say look for donors that have reported pregnancies...so you kind of know the spermies have done the job before. Good luck!!

[quasar]

Xytex guarantees 15 million motile sperm per vial. Their sample size is smaller than some of the other banks though, at 1/2 mL per vial. Seemed to work well for us though. They were able to do a weekend shipment to us too by a private carrier when I did an OPK and saw I was going to ovulate early one cycle. they are a pretty darn expensive bank, but they're pretty easy to get ahold of, and if you actually talk to them over the phone and not just online, they will sometimes give out information on sperm counts. We were given a range when we called, and were very pleasantly surprised to find the sample we got was even higher than expected.

It all depends on what you're looking for too. Xytex has a one-time fee to look at pictures and things for 3 months, whereas a lot of othe rbanks charge per profile, which can add up quickly. They also have a lot of known donors, if that's important to you.

Our second choice of banks would have been Midwest, but I really was stuck on the idea of being able to see pictures of the donor, and also to have them willing to be known. Midwest I think has pretty great success rates, and they are inexpensive compared to a lot of the others.

[TTC1]

I have used Fairfax, but didn't like their counts. I've switched to Midwest sperm bank and they seem to have fantastic sperm counts and motility(I have seen a few woman post counts from 102mil to 150mil with 67-88% motility). They also guarantee at least 20 million motile sperm per vial. I have heard that Xytex is good too.

[ladida1977]

I used cryogenics lab.. cryolab.com.. I dont know if I am allowed to post actual websites on here. I liked them because the werent overly expensive and they gave me alot of the stuff for free that most banks dont.. like a medical history.. summarys.. a lil bit of audio and a baby pic. Everything worked out with them.. and they have good customer service ;-)

[AngelaM]

I just want to put in a big plug for TSBC, The Sperm Bank of California (different than CA Cryobank). They were great in many ways, and guarantee 20 million motile per CC for every donor. One thing I really liked though is that unlike California Cryobank, TSBC will tell you the numbers of donors ahead of time. This helped me choose someone with higher numbers (~75 million), which finally seemed to make the difference. CA Cryobank won't tell you the numbers on their donors, and a friend of mine had a very discouraging experience- she had six vials of her first choice donor shipped to her REs, after being assured by CA Cryo that he had many pregnancies on the books, only to discover that the sperm they had sent was just above their guaranteed minimum. Her RE's office said that they considered such numbers subpar, but of course, once it leaves the bank, you can't switch donors, so she just kept on trying, but never got pregnant.

Anyway, I had a great experience with TSBC, and highly recommend them.

[by-the-lake]

Thank you for all of the valuable input.

[AugustLia23]

It varies depending on the individual donor. The donor a friend of mine used was from New England Cryogenic Center was something like 253 million sperm per .5 cc, which is a LOT. We used California Cryobank, a donor who had proven pregnancies and never questioned the sperm count and each pregnancy was acheived on the 2nd try or earlier, so it must have been enough. Each bank has a minimum, and as far as I know, most banks will be able to tell you which donors have the highest counts(the aforementioned friend used that as her deciding factor after trying for 3 years, she was ready, and it worked, she's due with babe #2 from the same donor). If you are using frozen sperm, I think it's nice to do IUI to put it closest to the egg at the right time. We did IUI's at home and it worked out wonderfully.

Remember, it only takes one sperm.