Lately I have been hearing from women who would love for me to return to creating new podcasts. I took 2011 off from the work, but hope to return this year with new shows -- and perhaps a webinar series! I currently have 46 shows available, with more than 39,000 downloads. Here's what's available.

Periodically on the discussion boards, or in individual emails to me, women will ask for information about Pacific Reproductive Services, which is a less well-known sperm bank that was formed in 1984 to help single women and lesbian couples who were facing discrimination in family-building from the medical community.

I've been looking for additional sponsors to help develop Choice Mom resources, and one that has long been interested in working with us is European Sperm Bank USA.

This is the kind of story we are always afraid can happen -- tends not to in this era -- but has.

I just returned from Orlando, where hundreds of specialists in reproductive medicine gathered for their annual convention -- largely focused on helping women get pregnant with up-to-date research and technology. Here is some of what I learned, and people I talked to.

Well...this is a very interesting article on sperm donors who work outside of the banks, and why some of them do it that way.

We all think we know how our cycle works. Until it's time to time ourselves for the purpose of insemination.

As we develop more (largely FREE!) e-books and other special guides for the Choice Mom community, I thought this would be a good place to list everything so far available. This list will grow, so keep checking back.

It's finally here! The Choice Mom Guide to Donor Sperm. Click here for the e-book, available as a complimentary guidebook for anyone who is choosing or has chosen sperm donation to build their family.

I heard from Fiona H. in Australia about the House of Parliament's decisions there about regulating the donor industry.

A woman on the Choice Mom discussion board asked what she could do to better guarantee her child's genetic health from an anonymous donor.

One thing I'm excited about is that in the coming months we will be featuring more content for our communities in Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. Here is the story of one of us, currently living in the United Kingdom, that is in keeping with the February focus on "Partners."

This new-and-improved website has been in operation now for nearly a year. I'd like to share some interesting new data about where we tend to be living, the stages we are in, and what we prefer to read on this website.

A Choice Mom who is always thinking of ways to boost the community emailed recently to suggest a "sperm sharing" service.

There is a national discussion starting in the Australian Parliament about how to regulate and legislate donor conception practices across federal and state lines.

Several years ago I got a call from the long-time co-founder of California Cryobank (CCB), gently and intelligently "checking me out" as an educational partner in his attempt to help his colleagues in the sperm bank industry understand why some policies needed to change. Since then...

ONLY TEN COPIES LEFT IN PRINT! Years ago I collaborated with Wendy and Ryan Kramer, the mother-and-son co-founders of Donor Sibling Registry, on some new tools for families created by donor conception. This was one of them.

There is nothing that prompts more questions on Choice Mom discussion boards than when a single woman is purposely trying to conceive. We quickly learn how little we know about something we've been taught can be so easy. The Choice Mom Guide to Fertility gathers the most common questions and answers them, with the help of 15 fertility specialists we interviewed specifically for this book.

This is one in a series of Q&As I am conducting with members of the donor sperm industry. The goal is to help educate Choice Moms-in-the-making about important policies that should help inform their decision about which bank to work with, even before choosing a donor.

This is a continuation of Lori's story, who realized that someday her donor-conceived child might need to qualify for federal student loans. Since the paperwork requires income records for both parents, and since there are plenty of other occasions in her state of Alabama where having a blank or "none" on the birth certificate might not work with government employees, she wanted to be proactive. She was surprised to learn recently what she really needed it for.

submitted by Lori
Will you ever have to prove your donor child doesn’t have a father? When I gave birth to my daughter via anonymous donor IUI in 1999, I hoped that the information regarding her father would be left blank on her birth certificate.

This is one in a series of policy comparisons ChoiceMoms.org is developing about the donor sperm industry. It's important for Choice Moms to be comfortable not only with a particular donor, but with the sperm bank that recruits and tests him. No one regulates the industry and women should understand the differences between banks before they "get in bed" with any donor.

This woman shared her story on the Choice Moms discussion board, and I thought it was a great reminder to women using a known donor: Make sure you talk about sperm testing before spending too much time trying to conceive.

Long-time Choice Mom supporter California Cryobank announced at the New York City event in July 2010 that it was opening a New York branch office in the fall. It will be located across from Grand Central Station, at 369 Lexington. The benefit for Choice Moms is....

I lived in New York City 18 years, so it's always a little odd for me to fly in and out of town for a weekend workshop, as I've done the last two visits. But we do pack a lot of information-sharing and support into these events, and the NYC event held in July 2010 was quite dense with resources. Here is some of what we shared.

I am happy to announce that Choice Moms® is launching a growing library of regional resource guides for the Choice Mom community. The first guide is now available, with its ongoing collection of insights and tips offered by experts and single women specifically from the New York City area.

I've been asked by some to offer comment on the study about donor-conceived kids that was released in May 2010 by the Commission on Parenthood's Future, in conjunction with the Institute of American Values.

Before Jessica had her baby girl in May, she had a long journey of thinking, and negotiating with a known donor. Here's her story in audio form.

Egg and sperm donor banks must adhere to certain safety standards, related to infectious disease testing. However, the donors themselves are not required to have genetic testing. That's why it's important for you to know the standards of the bank you want to work with -- and know what questions to ask.

One advantage of sperm donor conception is that you are looking at your eggs and a donor's sperm much more scientifically than if you were conceiving with a man you fell in love with. That means you have tools at your disposal to prevent potential medical problems for your child. Your sperm bank might have evaluated your donor’s family history, but have you had yours evaluated as well?

Someone recently posted on one of the Choice Mom blogs that a friend of hers was intending to have sex with a stranger in order to get pregnant, and not tell the man. Not surprisingly, this made the friend uncomfortable.

At the Choice Moms Expo in Minneapolis, local sperm bank director Amy Erickson-Hagen of Cryogenic Laboratories talked to women about how to select the right sperm donor.

A woman asked on the discussion board: "Does anyone know how important it is that you have a doctor who is experienced in handling frozen sperm and the cryopack, and warming the little guys up? My first two attempts were the first two times my clinic has ever handled frozen sperm, in our little town of 9,000 people. My doctor has the vials in a water bath with a soup bowl and a mug from the staff kitchen at the clinic.

Karen offered this up on the discussion board. "After my 3-year-old god-daughter ran around the sushi bar last night repeating "sperm" and NOT using her indoor voice, I came up with these code phrases to talk about donor insemination:

What do you do if your doctor tests the thawed sperm and discovers that the count seems low? Can you get a refund? One woman on the Choice Mom board reported that she requested a refund, only to find that she was given a 40% refund for a low-count vial, instead of 100%, because the vial was only 40% low. Which seemed like an odd policy. So we queried other banks for their policies. Here's what some of them reported:

Once upon a time, doctors advised infertile couples to keep the fact of donor conception a secret from everyone, including the child. Led partly by the lessons of adoption, and especially with more importance today placed on knowing ones genetic markers and family medical histories, being able to make limited contact with the donor someday has become encouraged.

A growing number of independent websites and discussion groups have formed that connect donors directly with people who are in search of sperm. There obviously are no safeguards with this kind of contact. Many of the donors indicate they are giving altruistically, motivated only to help people create families.

submitted by Kenzie
Even before I made the choice to conceive with a known donor, I knew that however I conceived I would be doing it myself with as little medical intervention as possible. After all, it's my body, my fertility, and in the end I'm creating my family. It feels very important to me to take responsibility for and to understand the process, as well as the result.

We asked a few sperm banks about their policies about sending sperm to the home:

A common concern of Choice Moms-in-the-making is how the success rate differs when using fresh and frozen sperm. Do you diminish your chances of success when using frozen sperm? I asked two experts, with two perspectives, about their thoughts.

Whether a woman is using ICI, IUI, or doing home insemination with frozen sperm, she must order either unwashed or washed sperm from a bank.

A fatal heart condition was passed on to at least nine of a donor's 24 children. While screening for all genetic issues is not possible, the question is: if this came to light for your donor, how would you (and the donor) learn about it? Read new comments on this post, and add your own for our report card.

If you are purchasing frozen sperm, how can you be assured of getting the sperm count you need in post-thaw for the best chance at success? Sperm banks are not regulated, so no one but the bank itself is checking their quality control. Some women report that their doctor tests a sample of the sperm before insemination to be sure it has a good count. If the doctor's testing methods are accurate, this can help.

Many parents focus on finding a donor with specific characteristics, but don't pay as much attention to the policies of the sperm bank they plan to use. This can have a profound impact on the family and the child someday. Do not pick a bank simply because it is the one recommended by your doctor.