It takes a village???

I started this blog for several reasons. First, I wanted to have a place to keep my family and friends updated on this process. Second, I thought blogging would be a good way to process all the thoughts I have racing trough my mind. Third, I figured it would be a great way to get feedback on all the decisions I've got to make.

On that note, I've got some questions for anyone reading this post.

When choosing a total stranger to be the other half of your child's genetic make-up, do you:
1. choose someone like you or someone completely different for balance?
2. What about looks? Similar to your family or movie star look-alike?
3. Do you want a donor with a picture? Would you accept a donor without a picture?
4. Do you want a donor with a proven track record? Keep in mind - that means there are half-siblings out there - maybe a lot of them.

There are a dozen other questions, but we'll start with these. I've looked through several sperm banks and the range in available information is vast. Here are a couple of examples:

My cowboy sperm bank offers up this on their short profile. (Their extended profile provides a little bit more medical history but not much more personal info.
Meanwhile, another bank offers this and this for their donors in their short profile and I haven't looked at their long profiles yet.

I think you get what you pay for and I don't just mean the swimmers. The cowboy sperm bank is about $200-$300 less per vial than the second bank. Is the extra info worth that much? Keep in mind that this may take many vials so we could be looking at a couple thousand dollars difference before we achieve babyhood.

Do you see my dilemma? If my kid is anything like me, he/she is going to have a lot of questions about his/her donor. So I need to be armed with info. On the other hand, I'd hate to have to say to my offspring, "I can't afford to send you to college because I spent thousands of dollars buying your donor's genius sperm, but at least we know he was really smart."

The corner bar is starting to look better and better all the time. As my brother says, "The odds are good but the goods are certainly odd." So, let's hear your thoughts. I mean, most of you are going to have to deal with this kid as well - at least at family gatherings.

I think when I narrow down my list of possible donors, I may put it to a vote on this blog. I believe a very wise woman wrote a book entitled, It Takes a Village. I'm just not sure this is what she had in mind.