Chapter 2: We Want a Baby

When Danny arrived at Johns on Saturday, he let himself in as usual. Then as he closed the front door behind him, he could hear a couple of voices coming from the kitchen.

Intrigued he went through to find John and a young couple about thirty plus sitting round the table. John introduced them, ‘This is Danny that I’ve been telling you about,’ he said to the couple. ‘This is Chris and Lucy,’ he said to Danny, ‘Chris is a distant cousin somewhere down the line.’

They all shook hands and Danny sat down as John made him a coffee. ‘We’ve been hearing about some of the miracles you have worked,’ they told him. Danny grinned, looked over at John and said, ‘I have a great fan club.’

‘We need a miracle ourselves,’ Chris said. ‘We met up with John last week, not having seen him since our wedding eight years ago. He asked us when we were going to start a family.’ ‘I burst into tears at that,’ Lucy said, ‘So we had to explain.’ John took over at that point. ‘They have been trying for a family for two years without success,’ he told him.

‘I had told them about you, so they wanted to meet you. I said I was sure it wasn’t in your line, but to come round for coffee this morning and speak to you.’ ‘We’re only here until Monday,’ Chis interrupted, ‘We live near London, but if there was anything you could do, we’d be only to happy to come back as often as necessary.’

‘It’s not something I’ve dealt with before,’ Danny said, ‘It’s only fair to tell you that. I presume you have seen your doctor about it?’ ‘Yes,’ Lucy joined in. ‘He wasn’t really interested, he just said we were still young enough for it to happen.’

‘When we pushed it he sent us both for tests. I’m ovulating ok and Chis is producing sperm ok although his count is low. We asked about artificial insemination and he said there was a waiting list of several years.’

‘Would that be insemination by husband or by donor?’ Danny asked. ‘Preferably by husband,’ Chris said, ‘But if by donor was the only way we’d go for that.’ ‘I don’t know the legality of me doing either of those,’ Danny said, ‘Especially if it came to a donor.’ ‘That wouldn’t bother us if you were willing,’ Chris said. Danny looked at Lucy, who nodded agreement.

‘There are a few things you need to think about first,’ Danny said. ‘The process would be very intimate for both of you so I would need to get you completely relaxed with me first. Especially as I believe that any sort of stress can affect conception. Secondly, what if inseminating Chris’s sperm in bulk doesn’t do the trick and a donor is required. It would be a donor that Lucy might possibly catch a brief sight of, but you would never know a name or address. Neither would he know any of your details.

Thirdly, in the event of a donor, I would only be able to match him based on my visual knowledge of his appearance and my assumption that he was healthy based again on a simple examination and my knowledge of his history. I have no facilities for blood or any other tests.’

‘Fourthly, it is still possible that I could inseminate you with sperm that is at its maximum possible strength, and you still didn’t get pregnant. The whole thing would be a gamble.’

‘Cost wise, I am happy to help, but I would need some basic equipment such as masks, hypodermics, disposable gloves and sanitising liquids. I’ve never bought them before, so I have no idea of actual cost. Those you would need to pay for. Plus, if it did come down to donors, they would need to be paid a fee. It would be people I know personally so I don’t expect them to be expensive, but it all adds up.’

‘Think about it, talk it over and if you do want to start this weekend, then if John is willing, I’ll interview Lucy today and Chris tomorrow, then if you still want to continue after that, we’ll work out a programme.’

‘Do you have any other questions?’ ‘How would you choose a donor?’ Chris asked. ‘I would pick someone who’s child I think would be likely to look similar to you in build and temperament,’ Danny said. ‘But at the same time as injecting their sperm. I would inject yours too, so you would never know for sure whose sperm had done the job.’

Chris looked over at Lucy who nodded. ‘We understand everything you’ve said,’ Chris told him, ‘We would like you to try.’ Danny looked at Lucy. ‘Yes please,’ she said nodding and giving him a smile.

‘I’ll take Chris out and show him around, then we’ll have a pub lunch,’ John said. ‘You text as usual when we can return. Just give me ten minutes to get ready.’ He left the room. ‘What makes you think you know what to do,’ Chris asked out of curiosity more than anything.

‘One of my career options is medicine,’ Danny told him, ‘So I have learned quite a bit about it. The re production organs are quite basic in their function and I’ve had cause to examine male and female in the course of dealing with the problems I have dealt with so far. To do it artificially instead of just plain sex, is in theory quite a simple basic plumbing job.’

That seemed to satisfy him. At that point John returned saying he was ready to leave. Chris gave Lucy a hug and a kiss, ‘See you later love,’ he said, then John took him away.

Danny got up and made Lucy and himself another coffee. ‘We’ll chat over this coffee then go into the lounge.’ he said. ‘When we go into the lounge, I’ll get you to lie on the settee then I’ll massage you, starting with your back, from head to foot and back again.’

‘Whilst I do that, I’ll ask you all about you and those around you. As you get more relaxed, I’ll ask you about your sex life and the present difficulties. Just let me outline what Artificial Insemination would actually involve. On the day you would be here and lying naked. I would wash your body from your waist to your knees with disinfectant. I would insert a small tube inside your vagina into the opening to your womb.’

‘On the other side of a screen, Chris or a donor would be lying also naked. He would be washed in the same way. He would be erotically fired for the best result. His sperm would be captured, then immediately injected down the tube. The tube would be removed then you would lie there for an hour at least to help the sperm reach your egg. After that it is in natures hands.’

‘You may have to repeat that on several occasions, at least three before we consider a donor.’

‘Now for any of that to stand the slightest chance of working, you will need to be completely relaxed, not only with being naked and me seeing you, but on having me examining you. It won’t work for instance if you just force yourself to suffer it for an hour. You have to be properly relaxed. That is the first thing we will be trying to achieve.’

‘If you don’t fight it or have any problems I don’t yet know about, I am confident that working together, we can achieve that today.’ By now they had both finished their coffees. Danny said, ‘Are you ready to begin?’ ‘Yes, please,’ Lucy replied.

Danny led the way through to the lounge. Indicating the settee, he asked Lucy to take her shoes off and lie down. Once she was settled, he sat on the edge by her knees facing her. ‘In a moment I’ll ask you to turn over,’ he told her. ‘Then I will put my hands on your head and massaged down your back to your feet, then back up again. As we proceed, I will ask you to do a number of things to try to relax you further.’

‘There is no timescale for anything I ask, you do what is requested only when you feel completely happy to do so, do you understand that?’ ‘Yes, thank you.’ Lucy replied.

‘Very well, turn over and we’ll start.’ Danny instructed. Once Lucy was settled, he rested his hands on the back of her head and started massaging. ‘How long have you known Chris?’ he asked.

‘Ten years,’ came the reply, ‘We met at work.’ As Danny moved down her back he asked, ‘How long after you met did you go out together.’ ‘Three days,’ came the reply, ‘We went out for a meal.’ As he massaged her waist, Danny asked, ‘How long after that did Chris propose?’ ‘Four weeks,’ Lucy answered as Danny massaged her cheeks. ‘How long did it take you to answer,’ he asked.