Can you really make a baby with a turkey baster?
It’s a question that has undoubtedly appeared many times at booze-filled dinner parties and girls’ nights. You’d be forgiven for thinking the answer is: of course not.
Judging by the series of unconventional pregnancies popping up in the US, it seems such a method may not be unfathomable after all.
DailyMail.com has discovered a plethora of online companies offering $99 pregnancy kits; a collection of paraphernalia – including a pipette-like tube – that purports to help distribute sperm in the vagina in a way that is likely to lead to fertilization.
And judging by some couples’ social media accounts, it’s working.
Hanna Rewerts and her wife Kara, from Tampa, Florida, mention DIY kits they bought online for the birth of both their children, now three and one.
Remarkably, both – a ready-made kit for Hanna and one they cobbled together themselves – worked the first time.
Hanna Rewerts (right) and her wife Kara (left), from Tampa, Florida, credit the DIY kits they bought online for the birth of both of their children, Hudson, 3, and Halton, 1
Remarkably, both kits – one ready-made kit for Hanna and one they put together themselves for Kara (pregnant in the photo) – worked the first time
Like many couples who choose this option, the couple wasn’t keen on the barrage of medical appointments and tests that traditional fertility treatments would entail.
In vitro fertilization (IVF) is the most popular method for non-sexual conception, such as in same-sex couples. it involves eggs are harvested 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 form of artificial insemination, which is simpler and cheaper. During IUI, sperm is placed directly into the uterus using a small catheter.
But DIY IUI does not require any medical appointments at all.
It can be as simple as tracking ovulation and purchasing over-the-counter aids, including a sperm container and a needle-free syringe.
The sperm 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 sperm as close to the egg as possible.
“I didn’t want to take medication or pump hormones,” Hanna told DailyMail.com.
“I just wanted it to be a little more natural, because for us that obviously can’t happen.”
“It was so 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 chose a tall, slim, white donor with a college education. The couple bought all of his sperm – nine vials at $900 each – because they didn’t want their donor to be able to donate to other couples.
The vials were transported to a cryobank near the couple for proper storage at a cost of $50 per month.
When they decided to try it, the first vial was sent home in a small nitrogen tank containing dry ice to maintain sperm quality.
After 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 planned.
The couple was about to go on a trip, so they went ahead with the insemination and hoped for the best.
They sucked up half a teaspoon of semen with a syringe and Kara inserted it, followed by a disposable menstrual disk, which resembles a menstrual cup.
The menstrual disc holds sperm close to the cervix for longer periods of time, increasing the chance that sperm will swim through the cervix and uterus into the fallopian tube to fertilize an egg, while also preventing sperm from leaking out.
“The cup is probably the most awkward thing because it’s just awkward and weird. But once it’s in, it’s in,” she added.
Mosie Baby is a $99 home insemination kit that was the first to be approved by the FDA last December
“It was very fortunate, and I’m very grateful that it worked 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, then kept the menstrual disc in for 12 hours.
Hanna said: ‘I think the biggest thing that helped us was the menstrual cups, because the sperm had nowhere else to go. It was like, even if you didn’t ovulate that day, and you 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 it worked?'” Hanna said.
“It was very fortunate, and I’m very grateful that it worked the way it did.” For their second child, Hanna was the one who became pregnant.
They performed the exact same procedure, this time using a Mosie Baby syringe — part of a $99 at-home insemination kit that was first approved by the FDA last December.
Hanna kept her menstrual disc in for eight hours after insemination and had a positive pregnancy test just five days later.
Their friends and family were ‘delighted’. “Everyone likes to hear how it happened,” Hanna said.
“For us it wasn’t the money factor. I just wanted it to be a more intimate situation. But the money is also a big part of it. It’s still cheaper than IVF.’
A New Jersey couple also became pregnant on their third try with Mosie Baby. “We started to accept that it just wasn’t meant to be,” they said, after spending more than $5,000 on several IUI treatments
A range of these kits are available online at sites such as Amazon, ranging from $50 to 100.
But are they really that infallible?
IVF has a success rate of about 24 percent across all age groups per cycle, meaning women often need more than one attempt.
Experts agree that artificial insemination and intercourse have similar success rates, at about 30 percent per menstrual cycle.
There is “no difference” in the chance of conception using artificial insemination compared to intercourse, Dr. Lora Shahine, reproductive endocrinologist at Pacific NW Fertility in Seattle, told DailyMail.com.
However, intrauterine insemination in a fertility clinic has a greater chance of success than home inseminations or intercourse because it shortens the time and distance the sperm has to travel. This is because in clinics a catheter is used to allow the sample to reach further into the vagina.
In general, IVF has higher success rates than IUI, experts say.
IVF has a success rate of about 24 percent across all age groups per cycle, meaning women often need more than one attempt. Meanwhile, experts agree that artificial insemination and intercourse have similar success rates, at about 30 percent per menstrual cycle.
DIY IUI can be helpful for couples who have problems with sexual intercourse, Dr. Shahine said, such as painful sex for the woman or erectile dysfunction for the man.
“Many people struggle with the ‘trying’ part of having a baby and home insemination kits give couples a different way to try in the privacy of their own home,” she said.
Other motivations for the do-it-yourself method include the widespread problem of lack of access to care.
‘Location to a fertility clinic, the cost of fertility treatments and wait times to see a fertility doctor can all be obstacles. People can try inseminations at home before seeing a fertility doctor or while waiting for their first appointment,” said Dr. Shahine.
However, there are also disadvantages, explains Dr. Shahine.
For example, if you go all out without talking to a doctor, you risk covering up serious fertility problems that require medical treatment.
“I worry that people are putting off fertility testing or consultations with a fertility clinic because they are spending time on at-home inseminations,” she added.
Then there’s the matter of finding a sperm donor. The cells are often obtained from a friend, or sometimes from a stranger through online forums such as Facebook sperm donation groups.
But experts say unregulated sperm donation increases the risk of STDs, which can leave a woman infertile or with a non-viable pregnancy.
Mosie Baby was founded by husband and wife team Maureen and Marc Brown after struggling to conceive for over two years.
After two and a half years, they visited a fertility doctor, who said there was nothing wrong with either of them, and suggested they try IUI.
After doing IUI in a doctor’s surgery to conceive their first child, the couple became pregnant with their second child after a single cycle with Mosie – a healthy baby boy named Frank, born in August 2016.
A New Jersey couple also became pregnant on their third try with Mosie Baby.
“We started to accept that it just wasn’t meant to be,” they said, after spending more than $5,000 on several IUI treatments.