Home insemination! Why we chose it...

It's simple really- it's much cheaper to do home insemination that it is to go to a clinic. But it's not the only reason we chose it. 

My partner is a British National, I'm American. If anyone knows how fortunate I am to live in England, it's me. Not only is our relationship recognized, but in Hertfordshire county we're entitled to up to three free IVF treatments courtesy of the NHS. If it's free, why arent' we doing it? Well, we've done a lot of research, which is really hard to come by, and decided we prefer trying to conceive with fresh sperm instead of frozen sperm. We attended several seminars and talked to various women's clinics and all of the statistics they had were for couples with fertility issues who are trying to conceive. No one seems to have accurate statistics for women who don't have any fertility issues who are conceiving with donor sperm. Fresh sperm results in live birth nearly 40% of the time, whereas frozen sperm resulted in live birth 18% of the time- for couples with fertility issues. So we decided that since I don't have any fertility concerns, fresh sperm would probably be even better and have a higher percentage of success than frozen sperm. 

Aside from that, I prefer the idea of conceiving at home with my partner, instead of in a clinic with strangers. There are obvious precautions to take with a home insemination and known donors, like testing for STI's. There is a test available called the NAT, Nucleic Acid Test, that can give rapid results for HIV1, HIV2, Hep, etc. This test is hard to come by from your general practioner, but can be done through a private clinic for around £300. The main reason they freeze the sperm is to quarantine it and double check for STI's. If you get the NAT test, you don't need to quarantine the sperm. If you decide home insemination isn't for you, but you still want fresh sperm, this is something to consider. 

In a nutshell, that's why we chose to do it at home...