Lesbian couple reveals how they met their private sperm donor on a baby-making APP

A lesbian couple from Indiana has detailed how they used a baby-making app to find a free sperm donor, with whom they conceived two children for just over $100 each.

Kayla Ellis, 27, and her wife Miranda have a six-month-old son named Owen — and now they are expecting baby number two after a second round of artificial insemination.

While finding a sperm donor can be quite expensive, Kayla and Miranda managed to connect with a man who donated his sample for free, and now Kayla shared their journey with conception, pregnancy, and motherhood on her popular TikTok page with over 106,000 followers

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Family-of-four: Kayla Ellis, 27, and her wife Miranda have a six-month-old son named Owen — and now they are expecting baby number two

Joy: Kayla has explained on TikTok how they managed to find a free sperm donor to conceive both of their children

One on the way: Her wife Miranda is now 20 weeks along with a daughter they've named Harper

#greenscreen How we got pregnant as a same sex couple #fypシ #momsoftiktok #babiesoftiktok #lgbtq #gaymoms #momsoftiktok #cutebaby #pregnancy

Kayla's TikTok page started over the summer like any other, but soon she was getting a lot of questions about how she and her wife got pregnant.

Since then, her page has become a destination for those looking for more information about artificial insemination and starting a family with same-sex parents.

When the couple decided that they wanted to start a family, they looked into the most obvious method: buying sperm from a sperm bank.

They quickly learned, however, how expensive that can be: One vial of sperm costs about $1,000, plus hundreds more for moving the sperm, insemination, and other related costs.

And, of course, no one is guaranteed to get pregnant on the first try. 

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Candid: Kayla, who carried Owen, has shared details of the process on TikTok

Technology! They found that using sperm banks was too expensive, with a single sample costing about $1,000, so they found their donor using an app called Just a Baby

How-to: Kayla has shared details of the process, including the tools they used for insemination

'We couldn't get our hopes up because we knew we couldn't afford that every single month, several times a month. It was devastating,' Kayla told Insider. 

They began researching other methods for private sperm donation, including Facebook groups for potential donors and recipients.

Ultimately, they used an app called Just a Baby, which connects people with sperm and egg donors, surrogates, and coparents.  

Like Tinder, the free app has users swipe on potential matches, but in this case, those who click discuss procreating, not dating.

The process was fairly easy for Kayla and Miranda. The couple had a checklist that their donor had to meet: he must agree to artificial insemination, not sex; he must submit to an STD test and a background check; and he must sign a notarized contract.

They spent about a month talking to people before finding the one, a man who happened to be married but wanted to help. 

Their donor wanted 'to help other people create a family and he feels like part of his life's work is to help other people, especially people in the LGBT community, who don't have that option'

'He wasn't doing it to get anything sexually out of it,' Kayla said, admitting that some 'weirdos' expected sex out of the bargain

Family: The couple went back to the man to conceive their second, who will be a biological half-sibling of the first

Exciting: Miranda is now 20 weeks pregnant with their second child

'He wasn't doing it to get anything sexually out of it,' Kayla said, admitting that some 'weirdos' expected sex out of the bargain. 

'It was just him telling us that he was very passionate about this. He really wants to help other people create a family and he feels like part of his life's work is to help other people, especially people in the LGBT community, who don't have that option.'

They spoke over FaceTime call and met in person before finally getting down to business, with the man giving them his sperm sample and letting Kayla and Miranda use an Airbnb he owned as a place to inseminate. 

While the man's sperm was free, the couple purchased specimen cups, ovulation tests, syringes, and special lube, and also had $50 in notarizing fees. Ultimately, the entire process cost just $136. 

Now, six months after welcoming their son Owen in July, the couple is expecting another baby using the same donor — but this time, it's Miranda who is carrying the little one.

She is currently 20 weeks with their first daughter, whom they have already named Harper.

How artificial insemination works 

There are several ways to artificially inseminate a woman in order to conceive a child without sexual intercourse.

Typically, women will track their ovulation to find out their 12- to 24-hour 'fertility window,' during which they are mostly likely to successfully conceive. It is usually around 10-15 days into their monthly cycle. 

A man will deposit his sample in a cup, usually after abstaining from sex for several days to increase sperm count.

In a medical setting, the semen is then brought to a lab, where technicians remove chemicals from it to increase a woman's chance of getting pregnant. If the sperm is not going to be used immediately, it is frozen and stored. 

The most common method for insemination in a medical setting is IUI, or intrauterine insemination, in which a doctor places sperm directly into the uterus with a catheter that goes up the vagina and through the cervix. 

Though these medical methods increase the chance of conception, pregnancy can also be achieved through less high-tech or invasive methods at home.

At home, a woman can lie down with her hips raised and insert a syringe filled with semen into her vagina, bringing it close to her cervix. 

After emptying the syringe, a woman can increase her chances of success by maintaining her position for at least 15 minutes.

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