Dealing with azoospermia?

[raelynn]

Congrats mobaby!!

 

[BrandyRelax]

WOW! Congrats MoBaby! I hope it's a sticky bean!

 

[MoBaby]

me too! im very nervous and scared to be excited just yet!!

 

[Stinas]

AHHHHHH YAYYYY MO!!!!!!!
Woohooo!!!!! Super excited!

 

[BettiS]

Congrats MoBaby, that's absolutely AWESOME!!!

 

[tigerlily1975]

Yay! That's wonderful news, MoBaby!

 

[silverbell]

Well here's my disappointing update: DH went for testicular biopsy Tuesday. We received the results yesterday, Sertoli Cell Only. This was the one thing I had prayed it wasn't. I feel horrible for DH. We bawled and squalled together last night, talked about options. Adoption, donor sperm, or be bitter old people. After supper DH abruptly stated he wants to use donor sperm. I'm worried this decision is rash and he hasn't fully thought about the possibility of feeling differently. He states there's nothing else. We're not going to tell anyone that we're using donor sperm, it will be easier that way. This is such a scary journey we are all on. Prayers for everyone.

I'm so sorry, wannabemom. I've been there (as have so many on this thread, unfortunately). Don't worry about any decisions made now - you'll both have time to think about it a bit more over the next few days and weeks and you're required to have counselling prior to using donor sperm anyway, so any issues are highlighted. I really think that when you get to the stage of actually using the donor sperm then you're ready - you really can't not be ready to have gotten that far, if that makes sense?

Hello ladies

Silverbell, how's your IVF cycle going? I'm soooo hopeful for you!
AFM, we've our appointment Monday evening with Mr Ramsay (as recommended by the lovely Deb!), so I'm trying to think up my list of questions and hope that he agrees that we're good to go next year.. eeeek!!

Ciao, lovelies!

C xx

It's OK so far, thanks. I'm on CD6 and been taking my daily Gonal F shots and tomorrow I start the additional shot to stop me ovulating. Scan on Saturday to look at growth and numbers, but last Saturday there appeared to be 8 or 9 follies in total, which is what was expected with my low AMH.

Deb recommended Mr Ramsay to us too and we met with him last July and again in September and in January this year he performed DH's microTESE. He's lovely and it's just a relief to talk to somebody who completely understands azoo.

Azo girls!!! Guess what finally is happening (well you can see my siggy)!!

Spoiler

https://i.imgur.com/qqjSyl.jpg

dont lose hope!! This has been a hard long journey and we have to make it to beta first before anything (then u/s) but I feel like this is a great sign!! This came up in like 30 seconds (less than a minute for sure) and I am only 9-10 dpo... OMG!! Please stick azo baby!! Beta is not until Nov 30th but I am going to try to get it done next monday instead

Massive congratulations! Sending sticky vibes

 

[Chickensoup85]

Congratulations MoBaby!

 

[tigerlily1975]

It's OK so far, thanks. I'm on CD6 and been taking my daily Gonal F shots and tomorrow I start the additional shot to stop me ovulating. Scan on Saturday to look at growth and numbers, but last Saturday there appeared to be 8 or 9 follies in total, which is what was expected with my low AMH.

Deb recommended Mr Ramsay to us too and we met with him last July and again in September and in January this year he performed DH's microTESE. He's lovely and it's just a relief to talk to somebody who completely understands azoo.

I thought you'd seen him as well. I agree with you completely, for once we didn't have to ask many questions as he covered everything in full before we got the chance! He wants to put DH on medication for three months, so we'll go from there.

Your cycle sounds like it's going great, how are you feeling? That's a fab number of follies. I was told that you're doing really well if you get to 8, so go follies!



C xx

 

[raelynn]

Silverbell - Your cycle sounds great! I had a count of 8 follicles before going into ER and ended up with 15 eggs (11 mature) so you should be great! Best of luck!

 

[silverbell]

I thought you'd seen him as well. I agree with you completely, for once we didn't have to ask many questions as he covered everything in full before we got the chance! He wants to put DH on medication for three months, so we'll go from there.

Your cycle sounds like it's going great, how are you feeling? That's a fab number of follies. I was told that you're doing really well if you get to 8, so go follies!



C xx

Silverbell - Your cycle sounds great! I had a count of 8 follicles before going into ER and ended up with 15 eggs (11 mature) so you should be great! Best of luck!

Oh, wow, thank you both. I had read beforehand that 15 was average, but perhaps this was incorrect. I must say I am pleased with 8. I had expected a very low number due to the AMH and my Consultant seemed very pleased too, so that's good. I just hope they have all grown come Saturday. Tiger - I'm doing OK but am incredibly thirsty, though I was warned about this side effects of the high dose of drug I'm injecting. It'll all be worth it if it works though.

That's good that there's a plan in place, tiger. Deb's husband went on tablets for a while too and we all know how that worked out Praying it does wonders for your DH.

 

[SunUp]

I just wanted to say how thankful I am for you ladies, through this rough diagnosis you all are continually supportive to each new person who comes in here. While many may not want to be in this group, I certainly have been blessed by it. To those of you that celebrate, Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[Stinas]

I agree with sunup!!!

Best ladies ever!

 

[cbergs]

Hey everyone,

So I haven't been in this forum for awhile because after we found zero sperm in my DH's biopsy I pretty much decided that donor sperm was going to be the way we go- so onto the donor sperm forum I went.

Although, especially lately, I definitely don't belong there either. It's not that I don't want to go that route, it's that we haven't even completely accepted our fate and can't make that leap. I'm not sure how long it's going to take to get there...and that scares me.

At Thanksgiving dinner, for some reason my DH's mom had old photos of my husband and his sister growing up. I almost DIED. I cannot bear to look at them, because more than anything in this life I want to raise a little boy that has at least some traits of that of my husband.

I am feeling particularly discouraged because as I have been searching for donors I am realizing that there aren't many matches at all to my husband's ancestry. He looks really Italian, but is also Portuguese and German. I am lucky to find at least one of the three.

I feel like I am dwelling in my sorrows, and can't shake it! I am SO sorry if I am making it worse for anyone else, but I figured that if anyone was going to make me feel better- it'd be you ladies. I would be grateful for any advice, or even a story about how you got through this whole thing. How did your husband's deal? How did you make that transition from "I can't have a baby" to "let's buy sperm and just make a damn baby already!"

Thanks, and lots of love.
~c

 

[raelynn]

cbergs - So sorry you are going through this! I wish I could say it gets easier but nothing about azoospermia is ever easy. I don't think any of us start out thinking that we may not be able to have a child biologically related to both of us.

It was a very tough decision for us to move to donor sperm, especially since we actually had a successful TESE. We basically hit rock bottom before we made the decision. We got pregnant with IVF and hubby's sperm but had a very early miscarriage which pretty much devastated us. After that, we started tossing around options since we didn't want to go through that again. Hubby ended up finding someone in the neighborhood that he walks the dogs with that went through the same thing. They have 2 children from donor sperm and after that, hubby was a lot more receptive to the idea. I think it helped both of us to find a real life scenario that proved we weren't the only ones that have gone through this and that perfectly wonderful families exist through the use of a donor. Our parents have also all been extremely supportive and the counseling session that was required for donor sperm helped a lot too. I think the main thing that got us moving forward was all the support and especially a real life instance of a family that has done this too.

I think you'll have to work through it together and try to find some form of support. It won't be easy and there are still times where I'm sad knowing the baby won't have hubby's genes but I know it will take after him and we like thinking about the positive (and sometimes annoying) things that our little one will pick up from its father. Good luck!

 

[rdleela]

Hi, ladies, I've been boring lately and haven't been logging on, just going through the motions over here, working hard and trying to not focus on all this stuff!

Congrats to MoBaby! And good luck Silverbell!

Cbergs and WannabemomRN, sorry to hear you're going through rough times, and hoping you pull through tougher than ever!

I found a Podcast called "Bitter Infertiles" that I thought everyone might like! Only listened to the first two episodes so far; not much talk on male factor infertility (yet) but it is SOOO nice to hear these ladies talking about not going to baby showers and hating facebook and stuff! It's like sitting around having coffee with my friends, but friends who ACTUALLY understand it all!

They shared something cool, an add-on that blocks baby pictures from your newsfeed! lol, I haven't tried it, but here is the link: https://unbaby.me/

Hope everyone else is doing well!

 

[BumpHopes]

Hi all, not posted in a while just wanted to see how everyone is getting on.

Sorry to those who are having a hard time. I know how hard it is.

Great to see so many people with successes and preg tickers.

Such a short post just wanted to wish everyone all the best and i will keep popping by

 

[MoBaby]

rdleela: I may have to sneak a listen to those podcasts!!!
HI bumphopes!
Cbergs: :HUGS: Sorry you are struggling so much. Azo stinks and I wish no one would ever have to go through this. If they can make women ovulate (even super ovulate) then why can't there be a magic pill or shot or anything that can make me have super sperm???? I don't get it! Maybe all us azo girls should start some huge research project or something and find a cure! That would be amazing. Hope you are able to get to the place where you need to be soon. It is hard this time of the year for sure. I think raelynn's advice was very good. I wish I had some more words of encouragement to give you.
Silverbell: must be getting close to ER now! when is that scheduled??? 8 or 9 sounds great!!

 

[BumpHopes]

I agree MoBaby! We could all club together!

 

[silverbell]

Hey everyone,

So I haven't been in this forum for awhile because after we found zero sperm in my DH's biopsy I pretty much decided that donor sperm was going to be the way we go- so onto the donor sperm forum I went.

Although, especially lately, I definitely don't belong there either. It's not that I don't want to go that route, it's that we haven't even completely accepted our fate and can't make that leap. I'm not sure how long it's going to take to get there...and that scares me.

At Thanksgiving dinner, for some reason my DH's mom had old photos of my husband and his sister growing up. I almost DIED. I cannot bear to look at them, because more than anything in this life I want to raise a little boy that has at least some traits of that of my husband.

I am feeling particularly discouraged because as I have been searching for donors I am realizing that there aren't many matches at all to my husband's ancestry. He looks really Italian, but is also Portuguese and German. I am lucky to find at least one of the three.

I feel like I am dwelling in my sorrows, and can't shake it! I am SO sorry if I am making it worse for anyone else, but I figured that if anyone was going to make me feel better- it'd be you ladies. I would be grateful for any advice, or even a story about how you got through this whole thing. How did your husband's deal? How did you make that transition from "I can't have a baby" to "let's buy sperm and just make a damn baby already!"

Thanks, and lots of love.
~c

cbergs, I'm sorry you're finding it so tough. I don't think there's an easy answer and every single couple is different. There was only a few weeks between us getting DH's zero sperm biopsy result and starting our first DIUI, but I know that's too quick for some people. For us we'd already accepted that the biopsy was likely to show zero sperm (we'd been given a 5% chance) and we'd waited over 4 months on the waiting list for it, so we had had quite some time to start accepting it and talking things through.

I don't think making the decision to use donor sperm is ever an easy one for anybody, no matter what the circumstances, for the very reasons you mention.

It still breaks my heart to be honest, but it really is our only option of experiencing pregnancy, birth and a newborn, which is what we'd always wanted and imagined. I - like all other women using donor sperm - have had to let go of the fact that any child will not have DH's genes. However, I firmly believe that he or she will pick up quite a bit of DH's personality and traits, which for me personally is far more important than whether they have the same skin tone or eye colour. But saying all that, because DH's azoospermia is a direct result of having a genetic disorder I must say we don't think too highly of genes these days.

It really is a period of mourning and grief you're going to have to work through until you feel ready to move on. What you're feeling is entirely normal and understandable - you're grieving for the biological child your DH can never give you and that's an incredibly horrific thing for anybody to deal with. Sending you millions of

rdleela: I may have to sneak a listen to those podcasts!!!
HI bumphopes!
Cbergs: :HUGS: Sorry you are struggling so much. Azo stinks and I wish no one would ever have to go through this. If they can make women ovulate (even super ovulate) then why can't there be a magic pill or shot or anything that can make me have super sperm???? I don't get it! Maybe all us azo girls should start some huge research project or something and find a cure! That would be amazing. Hope you are able to get to the place where you need to be soon. It is hard this time of the year for sure. I think raelynn's advice was very good. I wish I had some more words of encouragement to give you.
Silverbell: must be getting close to ER now! when is that scheduled??? 8 or 9 sounds great!!

MoBaby - they're actually working on trying to produce sperm from cells right now. There was a report mentioned on here last year I think. They've managed to create some very basic sperm cells from mouse cells if I remember correctly. But they're still a good while off doing it for men yet. Unfortunately not in my reproductive time period, but it does warm my heart to think they might be able to do this in the future for all those dealing with azoospermia and other sperm issues.

EDIT: Just found this and looks like a US scientist is hoping for this to happen sooner - I really hope he's successful: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19879113

I had my CD12 scan today and all going well. ER is 99% probably going to be this Friday (will find out for sure on Wednesday's scan) and it looks like I may have 10, all being well.

Hi all, not posted in a while just wanted to see how everyone is getting on.

Sorry to those who are having a hard time. I know how hard it is.

Great to see so many people with successes and preg tickers.

Such a short post just wanted to wish everyone all the best and i will keep popping by

BumpHopes - just wanted to say congrats on stopping smoking