Resources
Finding the right sperm bank?
This is a question that is very hard to answer. Each person has different needs and wants. Some people want photos and that is at the top of their list. Other people would prefer not to have a photo so this is not important at all. Some would like to hear an audio tape, others have no desire.
We encourage you to pose your questions in our forum and see what feedback you receive.
Soon we will have a comparison document online for your review of options.
Books
Sperm Donor Offspring:: Identity and Other Experiences
(Paperback)
by
Lynne Spencer (Author)
Product Description
Sperm Donor Offspring: Identity and Other Experiences explores the psychological
experience of sperm donor descendants, in order to examine the impact and
implications of reproductive technologies.
Experiences of Donor Conception: Parents, Offspring, and
Donors Through the Years (Paperback)
by
Caroline Lorbach
"My mom told me when I was seven years old that I was born by AI."
"If Jake wanted to meet his donor I wouldn't stop him."
From finding out you have an infertility problem, through considering
whether - and how - to tell your children about their conception, this
thoughtful volume provides much-needed guidance and information. Drawing
on the first-hand experiences of parents, offspring, and donors,
including the author's own and her family's story, this is a 'must read'
for all those concerned with the significance of advances in
reproductive technology for society and the individual.
Book Info
Consumer text describes the step-by-step process of using donor
conception. Author shares personal experiences regarding offspring and
donors and discusses how to tell children about their conception.
Provides suggestions on dealing with emotional and ethical issues.
Softcover.
Having Your Baby Through Egg Donation (Hardcover)
by
Elen Sarasohn Glazer (Author),
Evelina Weidman Sterling (Author)
Patricia Mahlstedt, Ed.D, Psychologist, Private Practice, Houston,
Texas Patricia Mahlstedt, Ed.D Psychologist, Private Practice Houston,
Texas
...indispensable resource for all involved: married couples, singles,
gay/lesbian couples; donors/gestational carriers; medical personnel;
friends and family
Carole LieberWilkins, M.A., Marriage and Family Therapist, Los
Angeles
...chocked full of information and resources... covers medical, ethical
and psychological aspects completely than anything previously available.
Mommies, Daddies, Donors, Surrogates: Answering Tough
Questions and Building Strong Families (Paperback)
by
Diane Ehrensaft (Author)
From Publishers Weekly
With the spread of nontraditional families and the rise of infertility,
"assisted conception" (donor insemination, egg donation, surrogate mothering or
any combination of the above) is a big new fact of life. After two decades of
counseling "biosocial" families, Ehrensaft, a clinical and developmental
psychologist (Parenting Together; Spoiling Childhood), wrote this
honest, down-to-earth manual to help parents work through the problems. Just
because people are brave enough to create nontraditional families doesn't mean
they've anticipated the difficult questions those arrangements raise. Do shared
genes give the biological parent more rights than the "social" parent? Is it
wrong to have fantasies about sperm donors? How do you decide how much to
involve the "birth other" in the "family matrix"? At what age do you tell your
child his or her birth story? What do you tell them? Ehrensaft groups the issues
thematically with plenty of firsthand anecdotes. An experienced therapist, she
acknowledges up front many things we do that we shouldn't: social moms feeling
jealous of surrogates, parents hiding the truth from their children, etc. She
understands—and then nudges parents in a better direction. This is a
terrifically useful book for nontraditional families and everyone (teachers,
ministers, therapists) who works with them. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All
rights reserved. --This text refers to the
Hardcover edition
Hope & Will Have a Baby: The Gift of Egg Donation (Paperback)
Ordinarily, most people don't think twice about how to build a family. Having biological children is presumed to be the way it is going to happen -- until it doesn't. It is at this stage that parents begin the journey to explore additional options, and this journey is not always easy.
For those parents who choose third party reproductive assistance, these books provide a delightfully new and refreshing way to tell children about their unique beginnings. Written by mental health and reproductive specialist Irene Celcer, and boldly portrayed by internationally recognized illustrator Horacio Gatto, each stand-alone volume recounts the same story from a different perspective, highlighting four distinct pathways to conception: egg donation, embryo donation, sperm donation, and surrogacy. Each book in this collection provides a great vehicle for parents to tell children how they came into this world.
Available separately, the other books in the Hope & Will
collection are The Gift of Embryo Donation, The Gift of Sperm
Donation, and The Gift of Surrogacy.
Mommy, Was Your Tummy Big? (Hardcover)
by
Carolina Nadel (Illustrator)
Product Description
A mother elephant explains her use of donor eggs to her child. With charming
illustrations and simple words, "Mommy, was your tummy big?"can help parents who
used in vitro fertilization and donor eggs begin to explain the process to their
small children.
The book has been praised by many mental health professionals who work with
fertility clinics, and an NYU Child Study Center article offers it as an
example of how to tell a young child about his/her donor egg origins. It is on
all major lists of books recommended for helping parents explain the use of
donor eggs, including that of ASRM(American Society for Reproductive
Medicine) and those of bloggers, such as The Town Criers.
Paperback versions are available in Spanish and covering Donor
Insemination on Lulu.com and the entire book can be viewed free of
charge at my website: CarolinaNadel.com.
About the Author
Carolina Nadel, the author and illustrator of "Mommy, Was Your Tummy Big?", has
a background in medicine and lives in the Washington, DC area with her husband
and 4 year old son. "I chose elephants to tell this story, because in vitro
fertilization was used to help an elephant at the National Zoo conceive her son
and I realized I had a lot in common with her!"
Book Description
More and more women are choosing not to let being single stand in the way of
becoming a mom. In this honest and often hilarious guide, Louise Sloan shares
the details of her own funny and heartbreaking journey to single
motherhood-including cyberstalking an anonymous sperm donor, dealing with
exploding semen vials, and being mistaken for a horse breeder-as well as the
experiences of many other women across the country. Knock Yourself Up
offers an inside look at the logistical and legal processes of opting for single
motherhood, drawing on the personal stories of women who have done it.
Addressing a range of topics such as coping with loneliness, financial
struggles, complex reactions of family members, and more, Knock Yourself Up
covers the emotional and practical issues and provides the kind of intimate
answers you won't find anywhere else to questions like:
- When is the right time to decide to have a baby alone?
- How do I choose the right sperm?
- Is this fair to the kid?
- How do I tell my parents?
- How do I tell my dates?
- What's it like to be pregnant on your own?
- If I do this, will I ever have sex-or a life-again?
Informative and entertaining, Knock Yourself Up is a fun-to-read, up-to-date
guide for any woman who is considering taking the baby plunge, with inspiring
stories from women who have created happy families on their own.
