Conceiving as a single woman

The right time to try to have a baby depends on your unique circumstances. It’s an incredibly personal decision.

You may be single, married, or in a same sex relationship. You might be yet to have your first child, or maybe you have a medical condition that could impair your ability to conceive.  If you're not in a position to try for a baby now, egg freezing may be an option to help preserve your fertility.

Egg Freezing - Taking the first step

To get started, we recommend you make an appointment to talk with a fertility specialist. At this consultation, the specialist will explain options and help you form an initial plan. He or she will also arrange some initial screening tests to assess  your fertility. 

The Process of Egg Freezing - Egg freezing involves all the steps of an IVF cycle, up to and including egg collection. More info here

Egg Freezing Pricing - we have introduced new pricing for egg freezing that is simpler and includes medication - more info here

Treatment options with Donor Sperm

For single women wanting to conceive with donor sperm

IVF depends on well-controlled conditions to give eggs and sperm the highest chance of getting together to create a pregnancy. More 

As the name suggests, intra uterine insemination involves preparing sperm in the lab, then putting the best sperm directly into the uterus in a procedure that’s a bit like having a cervical smear. More

Things to know:

• You can choose either IVF or IUI with donor sperm, however with IVF the pregnancy rates are higher and with IUI you are receiving a lower technology fertility treatment, therefore the cost is less than an IVF cycle. 
• For women aged over 40 years old we do recommend IVF, to give the best possible chance.

Accessing a sperm donor

There are two types of sperm donors at Fertility Associates, a personal donor, or a clinic recruited donor. A personal donor is a family member or a friend, that you may have asked before seeking treatment. A clinic donor is recruited by the clinic through advertising across the country.

Current sperm donor wait times can be found here. 

The fastest option to starting treatment is through a personal donor, as we do have a waiting list to access clinic donors.

It is also important to understand the legalities involved which include the Status of Children Act and the Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Act 2004.  Fertility clinics can also only store sperm for 10 years as part of the HART act. Please see the helpful information links below.

Personal donor

If you choose a personal donor, we will let the donor decide how fast he wants to progress through the various preparation steps.

We encourage personal donors to share information, including medical.

Independently of the clinic and during the process your personal donor may choose to donate to others families – we recommend you discuss this prior to treatment to reduce any misunderstanding. 

We also encourage the use of ICSI with IVF cycles using a personal donor, based on our results of achieving fertilisation and pregnancy.

Clinic donor

All clinic donors meet the World Health Organisation criteria for having ‘normal semen’.  However, some men’s sperm survives the freezing and thawing process better than others, which means some donors are suitable for IUI, while some will require IVF treatment.  If you choose IVF cycle we will use ICSI as this helps the chance of fertilisation and pregnancy. This cost is built in to the fees.

Current wait times can be found here. 

If you don’t have a personal donor you can join the waiting list for a clinic donor.  We will talk you through the wait time and keep you updated. 

We do have a waiting list for clinic donors which varies depending on the amount of donors and their restrictions. Each donor can restrict their donation based on relationship status, and ethnicity is also a consideration for both donor and recipients.

Good to know:

• You will be provided profiles of suitable donors, we will then reserve the sperm for you.
• You don’t own the sperm – but it is reserved for you until you achieve a pregnancy or it is used up.

Risks involved when finding a sperm donor online

If you find a sperm donor online, we recommend having your treatment through a licensed clinic.  This will protect your health, safety, and legal rights, and provide thorough consideration of the needs of everyone involved.  Importantly this includes the long-term outcomes for children born through donation. ANZICA (Australian & NZ Infertility Counsellors Association) have put together this info sheet about the risks involved and what to consider - here. 

Your fertility

Age, weight, general health and past medical conditions can all impact fertility. The sooner you understand your own chances, the better your chances with fertility treatment.

At your first appointment                

At your first appointment you will meet your doctor, they will go through your medical history, answer any questions you may have and undertake fertility tests and scans. They can also talk to you about accessing a sperm donor and the waiting time involved.

Whatever your situation may be, our team of fertility specialists is here to help – and if you have any questions along the way we also have a great resource with the Pathways booklet which outlines every step of fertility treatment involving a donor.