On sperm storage - how much? Very apprehensive...

[NIP]

I'm pre-HRT. Hopefully will start in a couple of weeks. In advance of this I'm storing sperm with a view to having children with my partner in the future. I'm wondering though how much the people who decided to store chose to - because I'm becoming increasingly apprehensive about the thought that I and my partner are going to have a very finite number of attempts. I'm planning to store five times (two done already), across two different clinics. The clinic I've been to already freezes each "sample" in 8 separate vials for use in IVF, which gives 5x8=40 total attempts. IVF success rates generally run at 30%. We only want two children, so I know that amount I'm storing is probably seriously overkill.. but I can't shake the nightmarish vision in my head of the last vial approaching after a series of failures. I think it would help to hear from people who've gone through the process of storing sperm. And that's probably one of the strangest sounding sentences I've ever written.

[LilDevilOfPrada]

I did it 10 times, its was expensive but I forgot how much I just remember I could of bought a brand new LED 3D tv back in 2010 when I did it. The storage cost isnt to high but clinics differ so I caNT comment. Its a god choice for me seeming I am bi if I am marry a girl then baam

[Danielle Emmalee]

Well if each trial gives you a 30% chance, at 40 trials that gives you a 99.99993633% chance of success.  If that's good enough odds for you, it should be enough.  Those odds work unless there is something besides just bad luck working against you, such as slow sperm or low sperm counts. 

Even if you bring the chance down to 5% each trial, at 40 trials that still gives you about a 87% chance.

[Christine167]

Well if each trial gives you a 30% chance, at 40 trials that gives you a 99.99993633% chance of success.  If that's good enough odds for you, it should be enough.  Those odds work unless there is something besides just bad luck working against you, such as slow sperm or low sperm counts. 

Even if you bring the chance down to 5% each trial, at 40 trials that still gives you about a 87% chance.

It's not the chance to fertilize that's the big worry. My first child with my wife ended in a miscarriage 
You eventually try again but if you are on stored supply and can't produce more it puts looking at that last vial into perspective.

[Danielle Emmalee]

It's not the chance to fertilize that's the big worry. My first child with my wife ended in a miscarriage 
You eventually try again but if you are on stored supply and can't produce more it puts looking at that last vial into perspective.

True, a percentage of healthy live births compared to number of trials would be a more useful stat.  And as long as it isn't 100% there is always a worry, if it wasn't true, people wouldn't play the lottery knowing their chances are so close to 0%.  So I guess what you have to do is decide on a percentage that you're comfortable with and decide that if it doesn't happen maybe it wasn't meant to be.  Whatever way anyone decides there can always be regret or thinking along the lines of "What if I stored just 1 extra vial?"  Of course this goes with any choice you make in life.  Of course you can also take into consideration the chances of advances in science allowing you to have a genetic child without having the ability to produce sperm, allowing lesbian couples to have a child with genes from both parents or something similar.

[Joanna Dark]

If you're this worried about it, perhaps you should rethink what you're doing st present, hold of on HRT, have a baby, then transition. Maybe I am not the best person to comment since I like men and if any of this stuff were to happen we'd just use his sperm.

[Murbella]

I've read in a few places about trans women who were able to produce sperm again by going off hormones for 6+ months.  It's not certain that this will work, but it is an option in the event you run out at the bank.

[Violet Bloom]

I just started another thread about my recent first experience with a fertility clinic and sperm banking.  They seemed to be confident that only one 'deposit' would be necessary unless testing found the sperm quality or count to be inadequate.  Cost was $300 (Canadian dollars) for initial deposit and banking/freezing, $150 each for any additional deposits, and $240 annual storage fee.  This clinic is part of a large teaching hospital and may have some costs offset by OHIP (public health insurance).  I don't know if the prices would be typical of private clinics or of anywhere else geographicly.

[NIP]

Thanks for the replies. I think I've decided to store a third sample at my second clinic making it six total. RE: Violet being told one is enough, I think it's important to note that female reproducibility can have difficulties too (and for both genders minor complications are much more frequent than generally assumed) and assuming just because your "parameters" are good that you won't have trouble later on your partner's side. This was something the clinic I saw advised me about, as well as pointing out that as using the stored material requires the use of assisted conception methods sperm parameters are not that important as for instance IVF employs the selection of single sperm under a microscope, so even if your count is very low it isn't much of a hindrance as long as a few are healthy. Despite my "parameters" all being above the WHO guidelines (which doesn't mean anything other than one shouldn't have huge difficulty conceiving - my numbers were still pretty low), I was still advised to store "at least" two samples per prospective child.

[Violet Bloom]

The clinic reported that I successfully banked "20 Straws" in the initial session.  I don't know the exact meaning or significance of this term and I don't know how they split it up for freezing storage.