European Sperm Bank

[kokeshi]

Gosh has anyone used it? I feel like I'm selecting a kennel club breed. PLease help with any eords of wisdom and lovely results. It seems so clinical.

[minicorrect]

We used it and got the full pen portrait for our donor and now have a wonderful 16mo DD. Service was great and fast. Would recommend them (but totally get your kennel club analogy!)

[Geekybird]

We also used European Sperm Bank. We were sick of being told by our clinic that there was a shortage of sperm in the UK...we weren't getting any younger! ESB were really easy to use, very efficient, really friendly on the phone, and actually we think we were given more info about the donor than we'd have got in the UK, so to us that felt less clinical. There's actually something quite reassuring about them being professional, we thought. We've got a pic of the donor as a baby (which helps you imagine what your baby might look like - we wanted ours to look at least a little like the non-birth mother!), a voice recorded interview, and full family health history. I also like the idea that your donor can't be used elsewhere in the UK once you've booked a pregnancy slot, and that you can request more of the same for siblings. The Sperm Bank will only deliver to a registered clinic, so you can't have it delivered home for personal use, but other than that, I really recommend them. The sperm is fully tested as it would be in UK, and they'll either prep it or not (our clinic did this as part of our treatment anyway, so that saved us some money.) If you're seriously considering using them, I recommend paying the money (can't remember how much it is) that means you can check out the donors in more detail before you make a decision. That felt less like a kennel club to us! Oh, and I guess the most important bit is...after 4 go's at IUI and 1 IVF we're now 17 weeks pregnant! Hope this helps...

[makingafamily]

Hi

We used ESB and now have a wonderful 6 month DD. We thought they were excellant and provide much more info than many uk clinics

Geeky. My understanding is that there are 10 uk pregnancy slots per donor

It is a bit weird Internet shopping for sperm, we ended up spending a Friday night with a bottle of wine and the laptop making notes but in the end it really came down to a cute baby photo. Good luck

[hester]

I haven't used them, but very best of luck

[wrighty2010]

Hi, saw your posts and wanted to reply. I haven't heard of this website but agree that the internet is a minefield and it does all seem very clinical. My friend was advised to go abroad for a donor as it was easier and cheaper, however she found a website in uk that has great advice and profiles of all donors, have a look see what you think www.prideangel.co.uk

[pregnantteen]

im thinking of using it

[Jojojoem]

What does the pregnancy slot mean?

[amida]

I´m the swedish mum of a 4 year old girl conceived with the help of a European Sperm Bank donor "Viggo" ID #7062. I´m also the chariwoman of a non-profit swedish organization called the Scandinavian Seed Siblings.

Did you use sperm from European Sperm Bank to conceive your child? Would you like to contact the half siblings of your child? Or the donor himself? Please send an e-mail to [email protected]

The Scandinavian Seed Siblings is a non-profit swedish organization with members from England, Germany, Sweden and Denmark. Please visit our web page: seedsibling.org

[wrighty2010]

Hi, did you have any luck just wondered how you got on or if you managed to find an alternative. Best wishes

Dawn x

[Milli1011]

Just used the European Sperm bank and am now a couple of weeks pregnant. Staff there was great, helpful and friendly, especially as we were in a rush to get the sperm over to the UK for my next cycle. London Women's Clinic recommended this sperm bank to us. I was really surprised that I felt I really had an impression of the donor after reading about him and especially after listening to the audio interview.We chose our donor in the end, because we both could have imagined him being a friend of ours.

[tricky77]

congrats Milli1011 - that is fantastic news!
We also used ESB, and they really were incredibly helpful and efficient. I had a million and one question during our choosing process, and I always had an email reply almost straight away.
We ordered enough vials so that both myself and my partner could use, and have stored half of the units with ESB for the time being and the other half have been shipped to our London clinic for me to use.
We are just waiting for my next cycle to try for the first time....we missed this months because of a badly timed ski holiday!
fingers firmly crossed we get lucky!

[Violet0912]

Hi everyone,
I just bought two units from ESB. Will have them delivered to my clinic in Glasgow. I am so hyper at the moment. I have lots of questions of how it is going to be from now on. I have my IVF booked for January.
I am just going round threads and got a bit scared about failed IVF.
Very best of luck to everyone

[Cbh1978]

Hello, we used it via the Diersklinik in Aarhus, Denmark. And we now have a wonderful baby son, after our fourth treatment. The Diersklinik is amazing, so much better than the UK I think, and by the time you have factored in costs to transport the sperm flying through the air to the UK, a trip to Denmark works out even. And that is from someone who lives nowhere near airports etc. not on commission, but cannot recommend the place highly enough. And we now love Denmark!

[chieftainothepuddingrace]

Just to update (I was previously kokeshi). I went ahead with the ESB and were impressed by their smooth and professional service.

I now have a gorgeous wee 11 month old baby boy who is the light of my life. Unfortunately his '2nd mother' didn't quite feel the same and we were unceremoniously dumped, and thrown out the house when he was only 15 weeks old.

I would like to ask for any experience of good family lawyers in Glasgow because the CSA have said that even though the HFEA of 2008 gives equal rights and responsibilities to the child as a heterosexual coouple, the CSA 'haven't caught up with the law yet' and won't pursue my case for child maintenance.

If anyone has any advice or experience in this arena (child maintenance and lesbian couples who've had a relationship breakdown) then I would really appreciate it.

Best of luck to whomever is still on this journey. I don't regret it for a second!

[BloodyAwful]

Sorry to hear of your struggle Chief. I know of a lawyer called Nat Gamble who is involved heavily in all things to do with same sex family law who I'm sure could help. She has an "ask a lawyer" section on the Fertility Friends website which I'm sure would be a good place to start for advice. I hope she can help.

[chieftainothepuddingrace]

Hi BloodyAwful,

Thanks so much for your reply. I actually emailed Natalie Gamble about 6 months ago and she was incredibly helpful in telling me what the CSA 'should' be doing for me, but aren't depsite months and months of appeals and reviews. It's from speaking to her that I got on to my MP who has raised a complaint with the CSA as we speak.

However, NG is based in London and doesn't accept legal aid, which is something I require.

I think I'll start a thread in legal matters to catch a bigger audience.

Many thanks all.

[Goalie]

Sorry to hear about the split, but fab news about having a little boy! I used sheehan, kelsey, oswald family law specialists, based in Edinburgh, when i adopted our first ds (fortunately didn't need to do this with our second ds as the law had changed and we were both named on birth certificate). Rachel Kelsey was very knowledgeable on civil partnerships, dissolutions and other gay issues. She wasn't cheap, but I would certainly recommend her.

[birdandbee]

We were planning to go with Xytex sperm bank in the USA..... We hadn't really considered ESB.... Should we?