How do you time shipping specimen?

grizgirl

Hi everyone, I was wondering how you timed the shipping of the specimen for IUI. I'm concerned that I'll receive it either too early or too late. There is a sperm bank in my hometown. Has anyone ever paid to have their donor's specimen stored an another facility? Thanks for any advice!

a_walton2

Hi grizgirl, It usually takes approximately 2 days. Order shipping to go out Monday, it should be at your ob gyn or RE office by Wednesday. Your dr' s office should keep it for you until they are ready to use it. I' d say have it there at least 2 weeks before your cycle starts. Good Luck and baby dust.

grizgirl

Oh, I had no idea the doctor's office could store it. I was thinking I'd have to time it for when I needed it. Thank you.

Bandit

Ask the doc's office if they have storage. If they do have them ship it early and store it there. My doc did not charge me anything until I got pregnant. I still have one vial there and 2 at CA. Good luck.

grizgirl

Thanks anissa! I actually made an appointment next week to talk to my np about how the timeline will go and things like that. I got so nervous making that call! Good things are happening. :D

I'm hoping they have some kind of storage. The office is not an RE but an OBGYN. They seem to push for you to use the local sperm bank but I'm not happy with their selection or rep for sibling and donor connections. I figure worst case I can pay the bank in town to store.

Bandit

My doc office had the tank to keep the frozen sperm and he was just an OB. Are you in Boston grizgirl?

grizgirl

Oh cool Anissa, fingers crossed my doc does as well. Nope I'm in Montana.

grizgirl

Well according to my np, the office does not store specimens. I'm going to call the office staff and double check. I guess I'll be making a lot of calls, going to check other obgyns to see if they do and call the local sperm bank to see if they'd store specimens from a different bank. Bummer.

grizgirl

Oh crappers. Just finished making a bunch of phone calls and it seems that there is nowhere to store in my town period. The local sperm bank isn't licensed to store, they just collect and ship to on in Washington. I'm super nervous about timing this now!

Bandit

Is there an IVF location there? Someone has to store speciamns. How do they store embryos?

grizgirl

Good question, I don't know. There aren't any RE's in my town so I'm thinking maybe not? Closest RE is in WA for me. It seems like all of the obgyns here use the bank with a local lab. The lady I talked to there made it seem like all she does is hold the dry tanks sent from WA until they are used (within a few days). I did email the WA lab and ask about storage at the local lab in case she was wrong.

The office I go to and one other are the only ones listed for infertility treatments in my town. Both said they don't store. Mine said you bring the vial in yourself, the other said they keep the tank and thaw the day of your IUI.

I'm just worried because thus far keeping track, my ovulation is not predictable.

Bandit

Grizgirl ask CA how long the tank is good for keeping the sperm frozen. That may help you out there. So odd question what do they do if you do IVF? They send the embryos elsewhere?

grizgirl

I will ask them that. I posted on the ask CCB forum about this hoping they've dealt with the problem before.

I'm not sure if anyone here does IVF. Maybe they just refer to an RE. I was told there is a fertility clinic in my state but it is 5 hours away. The one in WA is 3 1/2 hours away.

I was hoping to try my first IUI next month but I'm thinking I should track my cycle at least another month to see if it is getting more regular. I've started a lot of supplements and been losing weight so it might be somewhat predictable.