Doing our first ICI at home in Feb

jenandsarah

We are tracking her schedule on ovulation as best as possible. Using temp readings and ovulation kits. We have not picked a donor yet. I am really stressing about this because each donor seems to have something in their medical history that scares us... what should we do? I know I cant avoid everything, but I wanna give our baby the healthiest life possible starting with their genes.

How did you all pick a donor? Also we are trying to pick someone from the "family solutions" area as their ICI sperm is cheaper..... is that a good idea?

1 vial only gives us one chance right?

GeminiJai

jenandsarah wrote:

each donor seems to have something in their medical history that scares us... what should we do?

Although they'll eventually be "Super Heroes" to us, once we conceive and they help bring a beautiful child into our lives... Donors are not super human and- you're right: you will be extremely lucky to find a donor who has a blemish-free medical history. Realizing this- and acknowledging that I've never dated anyone whose family was entirely illness/disease-free, I decided to focus on donors who didn't have the SAME medical issues as my family background (breast cancer, heart disease, diabetes), as to hopefully not double my child's chance of being susceptible to those same issues later in life.

jenandsarah wrote:

How did you all pick a donor?

I chose donors based on physical appearance, personality traits and backgrounds which were important to me (taller than 6', dark hair, light eyes, athletic, artistic, well-educated, good sense of humour, close with family- with Irish/German/Scottish/Welsh decent)... In addition to that, medical history was a huge factor- as was reported pregnancies. Later into my search, I decided that ID Options would be a plus but wasn't a deal-breaker. Once I narrowed it down to 3, I picked my absolute favourite from those and purchased his baby picture. Oddly enough, despite being 6' tall, having brown hair and green eyes- he looks eerily similar to me as a child (I'm 5'3", blonde and green). I later purchased the other 2 donors' baby pictures, as well, which then reassured me that I had made the right decision the first time.

jenandsarah wrote:

1 vial only gives us one chance right?

Yes, 1 vial = 1 attempt.

I'm no expert but I hope at least some of this helps you to narrow down your search and/or set your mind at ease! I wish you both the best of luck with whatever your choose

-Jaime

jenandsarah

Jaime- you were so very helpful thank you! I think we will need someone with no issues with high blood pressure as my partner has that on her side of the family.
We have narrowed it down to 2 donors and have purchased both of their baby pictures..... We like both of them. Financially we are using "family solutions" because it is the cheapest route and we are going to buy it in bulk because i believe these donors do not have any more vials then what is already there. Will keep updates!

J&S