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Hello and welcome to the Fairfax Cryobank Family Forum!
The forum has a new look and the Fairfax Team is so excited to create the best experience for our users.

To Note:
Private Donor Groups and Private Sibling Connection Groups are now located under the category "Groups". Search the donor number in the search box and you should find exactly what you're looking for!

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2) Once prompted to confirm your request please list this information so we can verify your information:
Name (under which the vial was purchased)
Email
Clinic Name
Donor number
Child Date of Birth

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Connecting with 1/2 Siblings?

shanashana Junior Member Junior Member
Hi Everyone,

I am at the start of my journey... I haven't even had my first consult appointment and have no idea if infertility is even an issue for me! As per my personality, however, I am already obsessively looking at sperm donor sites, downloading everyone possible, and scouring medical records. I have actually found more donors I like at another site mainly because I am definitely interested in an ID option and this site ONLY does open ID. The main thing that keeps me coming back to Fairfax -other than that I live in Maryland so it's local - is this forum. I think it is great that there is all this built in support from people going through literally the same process as myself. I am very family oriented and if there was a man in my life I would be doing this the old fashioned way, but there is not and I am 37 (and 3/4, enough said!) I am already sad for my future child that he or she will not have the big family that I have (2 sisters and a brother, nieces, nephews, cousins.)

So my question is this... I see that there is an opportunity for closed forum threads for parents of children who used the same donor (the other donor site does not seem to have a similar option). How often is this utilized and to what extent do people connect? I am not looking for a new BFF here but I would love for my child to have the opportunity to at least get yearly, or even more frequent, updates on his or her siblings so that if they ever are interested in meeting one another it will not be an awkward meeting in their 20's or 30's after a long search process. I think family is important, and I know my own extensive family will be awesomely supportive, but would love for my future kid to have the opportunity to have some known siblings. :)
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Comments

  • Fairfax CryobankFairfax Cryobank Administrator Senior Member
    There are over 800 posts in all the private forums of people connecting with others who have used the same donor! Some of the donor forums are very active and others are used as a brief introduction. There are even some that have pictures of several half siblings who have met in person, which is really neat to see how similar they look. We add new user requests every week and the private forums are constantly growing.

    Medical updates are also posted in each donor’s private forum.

    Good luck in your journey!
  • allie0730allie0730 Junior Member Junior Member
    Hi Shana, I did the same thing you are contemplating. I never found the right guy and did IVF with donor sperm. I posted on this forum that I was looking for any mothers to my donor. I did not get any responses and soon forgot about the site. Recently, I went back on and found a mother that had twins had used the same donor. Her last posting was last November, so I was worried that she might have given up on me responding. Luckly, she responded right away and we have been emailing and sending pictures of our children to each other. I hope one day we will all be able to meet. Like you, I want my child to know his half siblings. I wish you the best of luck. Allison
  • shanashana Junior Member Junior Member
    Hi Allison,

    That is great to know! Congrats on the baby :)
  • KatrinKatrin Junior Member Junior Member
    I am also a SMBC with 2 children from the same donor (2816) and have found everyone very helpful. I like the fact that I can create a community of people who share my struggles but also for my children so that hopefully they can meet other families like ours, where a donor is a fact of life. I would love for them to have friendships with children from their donor as well as just DC children.
  • brandybrandy Junior Member Junior Member
    There are also donor sibling registries that are completely independent of any one bank -- so go with the donor you want; the rest will follow.
  • azlesterazlester Junior Member Junior Member
    Pathetically I am having a hard time navigating this site/forum. I am also a SMBC and came on here today in search of others who have used my same donor. Sadly, I don't know how to do that! Can anyone help me find a way to contact others who have used donor #4009? Thanks!
  • jauck11jauck11 Member Member
    Hi,

    Try typing your donor's ID # in the search engine at the top right of the forum page. See which posts come up. Good luck!
  • mjvmjv Junior Member Junior Member
    Do you know the link to any of those sites? I know I was not the first pregnancy w my donor, but the others don't seem to be interested in linking up here. I would like my son to have those connections as well..
  • docanwdocanw Junior Member Junior Member
    Looking for others who have used donor 4173 - Have a beautiful one year old baby boy with this donor and would like to have another with same donor but he is no longer available. Anyone have leftovers or want to connect half sibs?

    Thanks!
  • BarbraBarbra Member Member
    Hi Shana,
    I love the fact that we have this forum to contact other moms who have usd the dame donor. I have to say there isn't really that much activity on here. But I have become friends with another mom and we even met and the kids get along so great, her twins are 6 months older than my daughter so that works out great for playdates. plus we live about 30mins from each other. Our kids know each other as friends and for now since they are so young, that is how we will keep it. it is wonderful when I see photos of the other children. I was hoping that one day there will be a sibling registery here. As questions come out I always answer my daughter honestly on a level she can understand.
  • Mommy&MamaMommy&Mama Junior Member Junior Member
    I have tried to connect with other parents of children through the donor that I used (2858), but no one has responded. Does it go well for everyone who has connected?
  • mjvmjv Junior Member Junior Member
    I started a donor thread for 4512 and I haven't heard from anyone yet either. Maye they're too busy being new parents? :) I hope for my son's sake to one day connect with his half siblings.
  • JuliusJulius Junior Member Junior Member
    It's great to see that some people have connected with half siblings. I feel really luck to have made contact with 2 other parents. It took longer than I thought it would, especially since we all chose an ID option donor. I think that once you have the child you do get busy, and I have to admit to a little bit of fear factored in. For awhile I just wanted to be "normal" and not think about the donor aspect. After a few months, I started thinking about half siblings and how I owed it to my daughter to get information while it was still available. I was surprised at how much I have enjoyed seeing photos of one of her half sibs.
  • kris&shankris&shan Junior Member Junior Member
    I love this site. Our donor has reached his 25 family limit, and I think our baby was the first reported pregnancy, unless one was reported at the same time as ours, so it was months before we heard anything from a donor sibling family. Now we are in contact with 3 other families and have seen pictures of one of our son's half brother, which is awesome. My partner and I are really hoping to keep in contact with the other families through this site and would love to meet everyone in person one day. We want our son to know as much as he wants about his half siblings. We are all private messaging each other more than posting on the closed forum, but it's through the closed forum that we have found each other. It's just a hassle with the wait time in the closed forum since a moderator has to approve every post.
  • moni0811moni0811 Junior Member Junior Member
    Hopefully you can connect with someone! Also, I am a SMBC, but I will be began TTC next year. Good luck!
  • ctinayctinay Member Member
    Hi. 4512 is at the top of my list. Did you ever see an adult pic of him though?
  • moni0811moni0811 Junior Member Junior Member
    I think that it cool to connect with your Donor 1/2 sibling!. I have already done that. My donor # 2870, have connect with another Mom. Even though, I am not TTC yet. But I have somewhat of an idea, what my future child would look like. Even know, if you can't connect with other parents, that has the same donor as you. There are other parents can share the same unique experience. Since we all choice donor sperm, so we can have a child.

    Good luck and wishing everyone happy, happy baby dust!!
  • KatrinKatrin Junior Member Junior Member
    I am so happy that I am in touch with several of the mothers and that our kids get together. I want them to have that connection to the other half of their gene pool. I would also love to get together with other families of different donors. I want my kids to grow up knowing other kids like them both biologically related and just other DC children. If there are any families in the Northeast that want to do a reunion of sorts, I would be happy to try and organize.
  • mjvmjv Junior Member Junior Member
    Hi DucklingMama are you still planning a get together? I was also thinking this would be a good type of exposure & I am in the northeast.
  • s_chica619s_chica619 Junior Member Junior Member
    mjv wrote: »
    I started a donor thread for 4512 and I haven't heard from anyone yet either. Maye they're too busy being new parents? :) I hope for my son's sake to one day connect with his half siblings.

    Hey @mjv and @Mommy&Mama: I say just keep at it. There isn't much activity in the forum but if you keep at it maybe something will pop up. I posted something when I was three months pregnant and then didn't come back on until my girls were about four months and we connected with a 1/2 sib. Just found another one too! It's awesome! Great keeping in touch with the moms and getting updates and everyone is so nice. Just keep checking from time to time you never know what will pop up. Congrats on the babies girls.
  • KatrinKatrin Junior Member Junior Member
    Hi MJV ... I am always open to meeting other DC families. I haven't had any other interest but we could try a get together.
  • spartanfanspartanfan Junior Member Junior Member
    I have posted to a private forum for my donor (2782) as a reply to another post, but haven't heard back. I know there are plenty of 1/2 sibs out there because I got a message that my donor was close to the 25 family limit and his vials are no longer available. I am a SMBC and come from a small family (I have one brother who has one daughter and we have no first cousins) so I think it would be great for my child to eventually be able to connect with some of his 1/2 siblings. So, I will keep hoping for replies. Also, my son has a minor, correctible birth defect and I'd love to know if any of his 1/2 siblings experienced the same thing.
  • BarbraBarbra Member Member
    Spartanfan, I wish you so much luck in connecting with your baby's 1/2 siblings and their mamas. I have connected with 4 other moms of my daughter"s siblings, and I can't express how wonderful it is. We see each other as much as we can, which is not too hard being that we live pretty close to each other.
  • spartanfanspartanfan Junior Member Junior Member
    Barbra wrote: »
    Spartanfan, I wish you so much luck in connecting with your baby's 1/2 siblings and their mamas. I have connected with 4 other moms of my daughter"s siblings, and I can't express how wonderful it is. We see each other as much as we can, which is not too hard being that we live pretty close to each other.

    Thanks Barbra, that's encouraging. I think someone will eventually want to connect. I've heard from one other person who used the same donor, but it was on a different thread because my son has a minor correctible birth defect and she was inquiring about it. I have since reported the defect to Fairfax so they can notify others who used that donor. So far I have been told that there are no others with the defect so it may have just been sporadic. We've emailed a few times back and forth but I didn't want to ask her about connecting because I figure if she is interested in meeting other 1/2 siblings she will seek out those posts on the forum.

    How did your daughter react to meeting the 1/2 siblings and how old is she? My son is only 3 months old but I have yet to figure out how to go about telling him I used a donor and at what age to begin discussing it with him. Do you mind me asking how you've done it?
  • Soon2BASingleMomSoon2BASingleMom Junior Member Junior Member
    I would love to meet up with my daughter's half siblings and their mothers. Donor 4620 is also maxed out, so there should be plenty of babies. I'm in east Texas so that may be a problem with meet ups.
  • spartanfanspartanfan Junior Member Junior Member
    I know this is an old post but in case you check it, I wanted to let you know that I love these forums. Through the forums, I have been able to connect with another dibling family very similar to mine and we have since been able to share our stories and children's pictures privately. We email updates about our kids and it's nice to know there are other families out there like ours. I hope that one day my child will be able to meet some of his donor siblings and this forum is probably the way we will be able to connect with them. I know there are other donor sibling registries but I haven't found them useful yet. Good luck!
  • trebuchet37trebuchet37 Junior Member Junior Member
    I am a member of the private forum for my donor and have already connected with the mothers of two diblings!
  • cathmariecathmarie Junior Member Junior Member
    Hi! We have a child by this donor (2782) as well! I have posted and requested to be added to the private forum but thought I'd say hi here too. :-)
  • CCNJ1CCNJ1 Junior Member Junior Member
    Hi I am a SMBC who used Fairfax Donor 1444. My boy/girl twins are turning 14 in May. I have found two other boys and girls who I am not really connected with on another website. I am looking for other half siblings to compare similarities and differences.
  • madacin05madacin05 Junior Member Junior Member
    Hi! I have a daughter with this donor and would love to connect with you.
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