Can you really make a baby using a turkey baster?
It’s a question that has no doubt come up many times at boozy dinner parties and girls’ nights out. You’d be forgiven for thinking the answer is, of course not.
However, judging by a series of unconventional pregnancies that are popping up across the United States, it would seem that such a method is not unfathomable after all.
DailyMail.com has discovered a host of online companies offering pregnancy kits for $99; a collection of paraphernalia, including a pipette-like tube, intended to help distribute sperm into the vagina in a way that is likely to result in conception.
And judging by some couples’ social media accounts, it works.
Hanna Rewerts and her wife Kara, of Tampa, Florida, credit the DIY kits they purchased online for the birth of their two children, now ages three and one.
Surprisingly, both (a kit already made for Hanna and one they had improvised themselves) worked the first time.
Hanna Rewerts (right) and her wife Kara (left), of Tampa, Florida, credit the DIY kits they purchased online for the birth of their two children, Hudson, 3, and Halton, 1.
Surprisingly, both kits, one already made for Hanna and one they had cobbled together for Kara (pictured pregnant), worked the first time.
Like many couples who choose this option, the couple didn’t like the onslaught of doctor appointments and tests that traditional fertility treatments would entail.
In vitro fertilization (IVF) is the most popular method for non-sexual conception, for example for same-sex couples. it implies The eggs are collected and fertilized with sperm in the laboratory, before the embryos are inserted into the uterus. An average IVF cycle costs between $15,000 and $30,000.
Then there is intrauterine insemination (IUI), a type of artificial insemination, which is simpler and cheaper. During IUI, sperm are placed directly into the uterus through a small catheter.
But DIY IUI does not require any doctor’s appointment.
It can be as simple as tracking ovulation and purchasing over-the-counter tools, including a semen container and a needle-free syringe.
Semen is injected into the vagina, around the time an ovary is due to release one or more eggs, and instruments are used to keep the semen as close to the egg as possible.
“I didn’t want to have to take medication or inject hormones,” Hanna told DailyMail.com.
“I just wanted it to be something more natural, because obviously it can’t happen naturally for us.”
“It was really nice to be able to say ‘we got pregnant at home’ instead of saying it at the doctor’s office,” she added.
They found a sperm bank and decided on a tall, thin, white, college-educated donor. The couple bought all their sperm (nine vials for $900 each) because they didn’t want their donor to be able to donate it to other couples.
The vials were transported to a cryobank near the couple to be stored under proper conditions, which costs them $50 a month.
When they decided to start trying, the first vial was sent home in a small nitrogen tank containing dry ice to maintain sperm quality.
Once the couple opened the box, they had 30 minutes to use the sample.
They had been tracking Kara’s ovulation for about four months, but when they received the sample, Kara, a business development manager, had not ovulated as scheduled.
The couple was about to leave on a trip, so they went ahead with the insemination and hoped for the best.
They aspirated half a teaspoon of semen into a syringe and Kara inserted it, followed by a disposable menstrual pad, which is similar to a menstrual cup.
The menstrual disc keeps sperm close to the cervix for a longer period of time, increasing the likelihood that sperm will swim through the cervix and uterus to the fallopian tubes to fertilize an egg, while also preventing let the semen escape.
‘The cup is probably the most uncomfortable, because it’s just uncomfortable and strange. But once it’s there, it’s there,’ he added.
Mosie Baby is a $99 home insemination kit that was the first to be approved by the FDA in December of last year.
“It was very lucky and I’m very grateful that it worked out the way it did,” Hanna told DailyMail.com.
Kara lay on her back with her legs in the air for 10 minutes to let gravity do its work and then kept the menstrual disc in place for 12 hours.
Hanna said, “I think the biggest thing that helped us was the menstrual cups, because the sperm had nowhere to go.” It was like, even if you didn’t ovulate that day and ovulated the next day, it would still be there.’
Ten days later, Kara had a positive pregnancy test.
‘We were very surprised. I was like, ‘Are you sure that worked?'” Hanna said.
“It was very fortunate and I’m very grateful that it worked out the way it did.” For her second child, Hanna was the one who got pregnant.
They did the exact same procedure, this time using a Mosie Baby syringe, part of a $99 home insemination kit that was the first to be approved by the FDA in December of last year.
Hanna kept the menstrual disc in for eight hours after insemination and had a positive pregnancy test just five days later.
His friends and family were “excited.” “Everyone loves to hear how it happened,” Hanna said.
‘For us it was not the money factor. I just wanted it to be a more intimate situation. But money is also a big part of it. It’s still cheaper than IVF.’
A New Jersey couple also got pregnant on their third try with Mosie Baby. “We began to accept the fact that it just wasn’t meant to be that way,” they said, after spending more than $5,000 on several rounds of IUI treatments.
A variety of these kits are available online at sites like Amazon, and they cost between $50 and 100.
But are they really that infallible?
IVF has a success rate of around 24 percent across all age groups per cycle, meaning women often need more than one attempt.
Experts agree that artificial insemination and sexual intercourse tend to have similar success rates, which are around 30 percent per menstrual cycle.
There is “no difference” in the chances of conception through artificial insemination compared to sexual intercourse, Dr. Lora Shahine, a reproductive endocrinologist at Pacific NW Fertility in Seattle, told DailyMail.com.
However, an intrauterine insemination performed at a fertility clinic will have a greater chance of success than home inseminations or sexual intercourse, he said, because it reduces the time and distance the sperm must travel. This is because clinics use a catheter to help the sample reach deeper into the vagina.
In general, IVF has higher success rates than IUI, experts say.
IVF has a success rate of around 24 percent across all age groups per cycle, meaning women often need more than one attempt. Meanwhile, experts agree that artificial insemination and sexual intercourse typically have similar success rates, hovering around 30 percent per menstrual cycle.
Home IUI can be helpful for couples who have difficulties with sexual intercourse, Dr. Shahine said, such as painful sex for the woman or erectile dysfunction for the man.
“Many people struggle with the ‘trial part’ of having a baby and home insemination kits allow couples to try it in the privacy of their own home in a different way,” she said.
Other motivations for the DIY method include the widespread problem of lack of access to care.
‘The location of a fertility clinic, the cost of fertility treatments and waiting times to see a fertility doctor can be barriers. “People can try inseminations at home before seeing a fertility doctor or while waiting for their first appointment,” Dr. Shahine said.
However, there are disadvantages, explains Dr. Shahine.
For example, doing something completely homemade without speaking to a doctor runs the risk of overlooking serious fertility problems that require medical treatment.
“I’m concerned that people may delay fertility testing or seeing a fertility clinic because they spend time doing inseminations at home,” she added.
Then there is the matter of finding a sperm donor. Cells are often obtained from a friend or sometimes a stranger through online forums such as sperm donation Facebook groups.
But experts say unregulated sperm donation increases the risk of contracting STIs, which could leave a woman infertile or with an unviable pregnancy.
Mosie Baby was founded by couple Maureen and Marc Brown after struggling to conceive for over two years.
After two and a half years, they visited a fertility doctor, who told them there was nothing wrong with either of them and suggested they try IUI.
After undergoing an IUI at a doctor’s office to conceive their first child, the couple became pregnant with their second child after just one cycle with Mosie, a healthy baby boy named Frank who was born in August 2016.
A New Jersey couple also got pregnant on their third try with Mosie Baby.
“We began to accept the fact that it just wasn’t meant to be that way,” they said, after spending more than $5,000 on several rounds of IUI treatments.