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Mum Brooke was so eager to expand her family that she inseminated herself with the sperm of a stranger she met on Facebook.
The Australia native knew from a young age that she wanted to have a big family, after being raised in a household of seven children.
Brooke's first three children were conceived naturally, but by the time she was ready to have her fourth, she was totally over dating - so went about having the baby herself.
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"I was so happy on my own. I just wanted to spend time with my kids, not go on dates or try to meet anyone," she told 7Life.
After some research, Brooke decided that artificial insemination was the way to go, so she set about finding a donor - on Facebook.
The mum joined Facebook group, Sperm Donation Australia, and started investigating, though she was a little hesitant to post at first.
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"I also wanted to read a lot of the information that other members had shared,” she explained.
"There was a lot I didn’t know about the artificial insemination method, so it was important to me that I understood it all before I found a donor."
Eventually, she plucked up the courage to post her own call-out to see who'd be willing to help her have her fourth child.
"A few donors private messaged me and offered to help, so we messaged back and forth to see if our values aligned," she recalled.
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“It was important to me that the conversation with the donor was easy because that made the whole process much smoother and less daunting."
And it wasn't long before she hit it off with a potential donor.
After meeting in person, Brooke decided it was a match.
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Since it's illegal to buy or sell sperm in Australia, the only money Brooke had to spend was $120 for an artificial insemination kit - which consists of a syringe, pregnancy tests, and a specimen cup.
On the big day, Brooke and her donor met at a hotel in the Gold Coast and got to work.
Explaining the process, she shared: "The donor went into the room and I left to go for a walk in the lobby until the semen had been put into the specimen jar.
"After that, the donor left the hotel and messaged me that it was all done.
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"I went straight back there and inserted it as soon as I could, because that’s very important with artificial insemination.
"Right before I inseminated, I remember looking at the syringe and thinking, ‘There’s no way this is going to work’."
But, in fact, it did! And Brooke fell pregnant with her fourth baby.
Nine months later, she welcomed her daughter Nora.
“It was such a beautiful day and, being my first planned baby, the whole experience was stress-free from the very first day,” she gushed about the birth.
“It was all such an exciting time. I have to say it has been the simplest and most drama-free experience."
Although it worked out for the mum-of-four, at-home artificial insemination does come with risks, such as STD's coming through semen, and going through as clinic is generally recommended as a safer option.
Topics: Parenting
Ali Condon