We went through Legacy. They partnered with a service called Splitit and they technically handle the payments but all of it was taken care of through the Legacy platform ❤️

Hi! Depends on where you live, but I live in the US and this is what I ended up doing.

My Endo recommended a service called Legacy for storage. She told me most of her patients have gone with them and although none to date have withdrawn their samples yet, everyone has had positive experiences with the deposit.

They’re an at home service, meaning they send you a kit in the mail. The kit included a cup for the sample, some mixing (think powdered cheese for microwavable Mac n cheese) to stabilize the sample and very strict instructions to make sure to have the sample dropped off or picked up by a mail carrier same day of producing the sample.

I did two deposits about a week apart from each other. They analyzed both samples for viability, STDs and even how a small portion of the sample handled being frozen and then thawed.

I even had the ability to use my true name in their system and the only place I needed to use my legal name was on the sample cup itself.

They’re going to store my sperm for 5 years. And the entire process cost my wife and I $1200 for collection, analysis and storage. We pay monthly payments of $100 with no interest.

Honestly very smooth process and I have no complaints.

Let me know if you have follow up questions :)

That is… Exactly what that was. Wow, thank you for putting words to the feelings I was having. Still working on identifying and understanding my emotions, haha.

Thank you for your insight! It really helped me ❤️

Thank you! That was driving me nuts.

Congrats hun! I’m actually right there with you. Started my journey on 2/9 so seeing your experience helps put mine in perspective.

The mental changes are spot on for me! Although the first week I had a couple episodes of vulnerable insecurity. This week I’m a lot more calm and able to enjoy life better. Almost like my baseline happiness has been increased.

Hope to continue to see your posts :)

-Your almost biHRTday twin Olivia

I found an amazing queer salon near me. They are fabulous and exactly what I needed! Came to them when I wanted to try my first femme cut and they walked me through it all. So next time I’m going in I’m having them wax my eyebrows for me. They know I want something feminine and to fit my face but I trust them to know when to use their professional discretion and when to ask for my input ❤️

Maybe look for a queer or trans allied salon you can go to? They can be expensive, but worth it if you find the right one.

Congrats girlie! I’m very proud of you and happy to hear you have such a supportive wife!

I came out to my wife (and myself) on the same day back in October and she has been such a great support for me. Including celebrating my first biHRTday with thoughtful gifts last week.

If you’re looking for a little advice, my best tip is to stay brutally honest. Both of you need to be honest with each other and make space for each other. Even when it’s tough. There have been many times where my wife was struggling with aspects of the grief of losing me as a husband and it was difficult to hear that and know i was hurting her. Just like she gave me space for my breakdowns over rewriting my life and the guilt and shame I felt for how this affects her, my 19mo son, and everyone else in life.

Without those spaces to share and explore ALL emotions and feelings this brings up, we wouldn’t have made it as a couple. Now we’re closer than ever and although the grief can still get us, we also see all the new things we are gaining.

If you have any questions or want to reach out for any other reason, my DMs are open :) I’m sure I’ve come across many of the same bumps in the road as you have/will.

Take it a day at a time and remind each other you are committed and love each other. There will be many more conversations ahead of you, but you got this babe!

And again, congrats on finding yourself and sharing it with someone that you love! ❤️❤️

Thank you ❤️ I am too!

Lol, I can definitely see how that could catch someone off guard. Yes I love pickles but it’s more of a “remedy” for some of the side effects I may experience at first.

Specifically, the medication Spironolactone is used as a testosterone blocker. It’s a medication that is prescribed for a bunch of different things (cystic acne, high blood pressure, hormonal imbalances in woman) but it’s a class of drug called a potassium sparing diuretic. So it flushes the body of fluid but unlike other diuretics, it doesn’t flush out potassium in the process. So this makes electrolytes go out of whack and your body’s response is to crave salt in order to balance out the potassium and electrolytes (at least that is how I understand it?)

So the pickles are for my salt cravings basically. ❤️

Guess that was a bit of a long response, but hopefully you found it interesting. Thanks for the question and your support!

This has been my experience my whole life 😭

Thank you! It went great and I’m so happy for taking this step. First time I really did anything for myself like this. It’s empowering ❤️

Thank you! It went great and I’ll be on anticistamines soon!

I’m definitely feeling the excitement afterwards :) feeling a lot better now and thank you for the kind words

Thank you :) that means a lot

Just updated my post, but it went great! I felt seen and heard in a medical setting for the first time in a loong time.

Plus my wife surprised me with my own blahaj and love note about how proud she was of me.

So I’m crying happy tears today. ❤️

You’re right, that was my US privilege showing. My bad.

I am located in the US. In the state of Indiana - but I hear you. It really depends on location and my coverage whether I could get it covered.

I’m going to keep looking for a relatively close bank around me because a mail in kit does make me nervous. At bare minimum, I would definitely make sure not to start taking E until I knew for certain there were no issues from transport.

I definitely agree with not necessarily wanting to do a mail in kit, but it may be my only option if I don’t want to drive 2 hours one way to a lab. With an extremely car sick 18mo, my options are very limited. :/

Thank you for giving me some insight on your prep stuff!

Thank you! This seems to be the most straight forward company and pricing. Might go with them myself. Thanks again!

Ooo. That’s a really good point and I didn’t even think of that. I can totally see that being an issue.

I thought I could just go to a fertility doc and they’d take care of it all for me, but it looks like I need to find my own bank and I’m just a little lost as to what all I need to do to get the ball rolling.

Ooo good thinking :D plus there are a lot of cacti cuties out there 🌵