Would you choose a donor who had 'no reported pregnancies'?

[AfterEightAnyTime]

Hi,

Just that really.

Have found a donor who ticks so many boxes. Although it's worth saying, that like so many others, the boxes we wanted ticking in the beginning the most, have since changed. Anyway, was getting quite excited and just felt that 'connection', but then scrolled down to see there have been no reported pregnancies.

Would this put you off? I have emailed the sperm bank, to ask how long the donor has been on their books, but haven't heard anything yet.

Thanks!

Are you having IVF or IUI? For IUI I would be cautious but for IVF your clinic will have a close up view of the sperm so can tell you about anything they might see that suggests it is not good quality. Having said that Sperm Donors tend to go through a lot of checks so usually have better than average quality sperm. It also means there are less donor siblings out there at the moment, and he is more likely to be available in the future if you want siblings. I conceived my child through donor sperm and I have no idea if the donor had children before.

@HappyPumpkin81, we're not sure yet. I'm having some tests in a few days to see if my fertility is still good. I had some a year ago and at 35, was advised to try IUI, given my results. Could very well be a different story now, but also dw is having the tests too, so we really know where stand.

If my results come back just as good, we may give IUI a couple of goes, but if it's dropped at all, regardless of the clinic's recommendation, I think we'd go straight to IVF.

Regarding sperm quality, I always assumed that sperm banks only selected high quality sperm 🤔

Wouldn't bother me. They have to pass lots of quality checks to be accepted. It's possible that he's a fairly new donor and just hasn't been selected yet.

If they tick your boxes then I'd go for it. Everyone would have had to be someone's "first" - it wouldn't bother me

Could be a new donor due to losing job because of covid.

@bitheby, yes, this is what I'm hoping.

It would be good if they told you on their profile how long they've been donating for.

Yes, I would.

No, it hasn't put me off. I used a sperm donor with no reported pregnancies for an IUI treatment last year which was unsuccessful. I was told by the embryologist that the sample was of a very high quality (as to be expected from a sperm donor). I have one blocked fallopian tube and was 38 years old at the time, so most probably the treatment failed due to me. Earlier this year, I used the same sperm donor again for an IVF treatment which was successful.

Wouldn't bother me. I'm not even sure if my sperm donor had done other pregnancies or not. They check the quality so much, if there's an issue it's either because they are new, or because most women using donor sperm might well have fertility issues themselves.

@Isadora2007
But they are not paid (if UK based).

£35 to “cover costs” which we all know isn’t really to cover costs. So it is a way that some people make money… similar to surrogacy payments really.

Yes. For my first IVF round, I chose a donor who seemed perfect aside from having no reported pregnancies. A month or so later I checked and he had reported pregnancies, so was probably just down to him being 'new' and not having donated for long. I certainly wouldn't see it as deal breaker, just a nice to have.

I wasn't too happy with the results from my first round, but don't know that that's down to the donor. Nevertheless, am considering changing donor for the second round as it's something that's within my power that may impact my results.