Mel and Shelly had been trying to have a baby for over a year when they finally went to see their doctor. After undergoing some basic testing, it was discovered that Mel was, in fact, sterile. They spent some more time performing some other tests before they were able to determine that Mel's sterility was not caused by a simple blockage, but that his testicles were failing to produce any sperm.
Needless to say, the couple was extremely upset at this discovery. The doctors had told them that the only way they would be able to have a child, aside from adoption, would be for Shelly to be inseminated with another man's sperm. At first both Mel and Shelly rejected this idea, not wanting someone else to be the father of their baby. When the doctor they were speaking with pointed out to them that at least Shelly would be the baby's biological mother, unlike if they chose to adopt, it gave them another factor to consider.
For the next several weeks they weighed their options. Neither of them was thrilled with either a sperm donor or adoption, but they were slowly coming to terms with the fact that it was the only way they were going to be able to become parents. Eventually Mel decided that he would rather have a child with Shelly's genes than without, and he told her that he was in favour of insemination. Shelly was reluctant, but eventually agreed.
They made another appointment to see their doctor and find out what they needed to do next. He told them about a new clinic that had only been open for a year or so, but that was having impressive results with a cost lower than the other local fertility clinics. Mel and Shelly agreed to give them a try, and the doctor passed the referral on to his receptionist.
The very next day they received a phone call from the clinic, informing them that they had an appointment at the beginning of the following week. They spent the next few days talking more about their situation, confirming each other's comfort levels before proceeding with the appointment.
On the following Monday they were ushered into the office in what appeared to be an average-sized clinic. In the office were two chairs, a stool, a sink and counter and an examination table. Nervous, they sat in the chairs and waited as the receptionist left, closing the door behind her. A few minutes later the door opened and in walked a short, middle eastern man.
"Hello," he said, extending his hand. "I'm Dr. Hassan." They shook hands and then the doctor took a seat on the stool. After asking some basic questions he began to tell them about what they do. "We realize that every parent wants their child to look a bit like them, so we make a strong effort to find a donor that looks as much like the father as possible. Once we have narrowed it down, we give you a few potential donors to look at and choose from."
"That part sounds good," Mel said. "Could you explain the actual insemination procedure to us?"
"You see," Dr. Hassan said, "that's where we differ from most fertility clinics and, quite frankly, why we're able to keep your costs down as well." Both Mel and Shelly were looking a bit confused at this point. "We don't do the insemination as a medical procedure. It is our contention that pregnancy is most likely to occur when the woman is in a relaxed, if not pleasurable, state. Basically, what this means is that we have the donor deposit the sperm himself."
"I'm not sure I follow you," Shelly said.
"The donor that you choose would insert himself into you and deposit the sperm directly at the cervical opening," the doctor said.
"Excuse me?" Mel said, getting agitated. "Are you saying that my wife has to have sex with the donor?"
"In a manner of speaking. In addition to the woman being in as relaxed a state as possible, we also like the sperm to be as fresh as possible. The best way to accomplish both of those things is for the man to ejaculate inside the woman."
"Are you serious?" Shelly asked, looking only slightly calmer than her husband.
"I'm very serious," he replied. "Our success rate is almost ten percent higher than the other clinics that perform intra-uterine insemination."
"That's ridiculous!" she replied. "I'm not going to have sex with some strange man just so I can get pregnant!"
"I understand, but you need to know that our system works. The men are all disease free and have rather large penises in order to get the sperm right at the opening of the cervix."
"And that's supposed to make me feel better?"
"It might help a bit," Dr. Hassan said. "Obviously you don't need to make a decision right now. Go home and talk about it and we can always set something up some other time."
Mel and Shelly left shortly thereafter, walking to the car in total shock. Neither said a word until they were halfway home.
"Can you believe that guy?" Shelly said. "He thinks I'm going to have sex with some guy just so I can get pregnant?"
"Maybe it's not such a crazy idea," Mel said.
"What?"
"Look, we both want a baby really bad. If we do the sperm donor thing you're going to have another guy's sperm inside you anyway, so you might as well enjoy it."
"You're kidding, right? Why would I enjoy having sex with another man?"
"Come on," he replied. "We both fantasize about sex with other people. It's normal. This gives you a chance to have some fun and hopefully we get a baby out of it as well."
Shelly didn't respond well, tearing into Mel for expecting her to do something so morally wrong in order to have a baby. They barely spoke for the rest of the day, and things were only slightly better the day after that. A few days later, however, they started to talk about it a bit more. It took them a couple of days, but they finally agreed that the money that they would save and the higher success rate would be worth it. They called the clinic and set another appointment with Dr. Hassan.
"I'm so glad you decided to return," the doctor said as he sat down with them in the same exam room as last time. "I took the liberty of selecting a few donor profiles for you to look through. As I mentioned last time, they are all totally disease free and they all have penises at least eight inches in length, not to mention the fact that they are very fertile."
"So once we pick someone," Mel said, "how does it work?"
"We start by contacting the donor and confirming his participation. We will show him a picture of Shelly so that he knows what she looks like before he agrees. With a woman as stunning as you, Shelly, that won't be a problem."
