Dealing with azoospermia?

[gem10]

Congratulations snd! Wow, such an exciting week for this thread! Did you use DS or DHs?

 

[bubumaci]

Gem, the FETs we had were when the fertilised eggs were frozen on day one. No idea if they would have made it to blast... They didn't when they were thawed! Only Feb last year, when 10 were frozen day 1 and 5 left to grow, had two day 6 blasts frozen (didn't do fresh transfer because of OHSS - retrieved 23 eggs from me).

 

[Stinas]

Gem - Its such a frustrating process!! Our first time around we were able to freeze one embryo….doc said in normal circumstances they wouldn't have froze it due to quality. We did a FET and it didn't work. We were devastated once again, and thinking back now, I wonder if it was even worth freezing….it was like a tease, not to mention thousands of dollars (no coverage here, all out of pocket). Our second fresh cycle we were able to freeze 3 embryos…..which we used during this successful FET.
Thankfully we had an amazing re! Our urologist did the TESE in '12, he found a couple sperm, then the embryologist at the fertility clinic we went to searched for sperm that was good enough for IVF. He found 3/4 vials. Apparently you only usually need one per cycle?
Our second fresh cycle we got success, which ended in MC. Our second FET was also a success, which is this pregnancy. So DH only had to go through the TESE once.
If you do not feel 100% with the way they are handling his TESE sperm….you need to go somewhere else! Our RE was great and they wanted to freeze as much as possible so we won't have to deal with another TESE! Thats the attitude you want from them.
DH's suggestion is not bad….use DS for now then try again with his. Never thought of that route. Taking a little break wouldn't hurt. It made me feel better! Sometimes infertility can take over your life a bit.

snd - I am over the moon for you!!! Huge congrats!!

 

[sharon99]

SND, Wow!!! Big congratulations to you!!!!

Deafgal, nice to hear from you. I'm sorry things are still hard for you- xoxo

Gem, I vote vacation AND drinking!! In all seriousness, it seems like you're really researching and thinking about a lot of options. You seem to have a lot of humor and joy to share, so I am SURE you will be a great mom, no matter how you become one.

Olive, holding up OK??

Thanks everyone for your well-wishes. It still doesn't exactly seem real! I was reading along with some of the donor sperm discussions... The hardest part for us was *actually* deciding to do it, and choosing the donor- once we made that decision it's slowly become easier to accept (with some starts and stops). When we first talked about it, I couldn't say the words "donor sperm" without bursting into tears! The therapist we were required to go to (and I'm glad we did) said the clients she works with are all very apprehensive at the beginning, but once they become parents the decision just becomes less important. I'm sure we'll still have some issues, however, and I know DS is not for everyone. Has anyone seen the show Quints by Surprise? I was talking to a friend and she mentioned it- apparently it's a "Kate Plus 8" type show, but the kids (born to a married couple- husband had low sperm count) are all donor-conceived. I haven't watched it, but saw a few clips and I like the idea of a show about donor-conceived kids that's not all about DS, but about having kids and raising a family.

 

[Olive333]

Snd - congrats!!!

Sharon - I'm holding up ok, I keep thinking it will be negative and will end up childless. I still have 8 days left to test, so I just have to keep busy. I like the sew quilts, but I can't do it since I only do baby quilts for family members. I don't feel like doing them.

 

[Rainbow123]

I am so so sorry Gem. I hope you're ok. XXXXXXX

 

[Rainbow123]

Sharon - what fantastic news! Keep us posted! XXXXX

 

[Stinas]

Sharon - Great news!!! I have seen that show! Never knew it was DS! They all look like the parents! Crazy. I do believe that when adopting or using DS/DE, the child ends up molding/looking like you anyways. My godparents adopted and the girl is a spitting image of my godfather!

 

[babadespls]

Hi there!
I have a similar story
Undecended and hernia surgery at a young age

0 on sperm count!

Just did biopsy abs TESE last week!! Results were good and we are now gearing up for IVF

How high was his FSH- my hubs was 16( slightly high)

Did your hubby have hernia repair? If so- there could be a resulting blockage!!

Go for the biopsy and surgery! It wasn't fun/ but the chance of us having our own baby makes it worth it! He was out a few days from work- but otherwise fine!

Let me know if you have any questions!

Hi MBABY,

My Husband has never had a hernia or anything like that and all the tests rule out a blockage, I wish it was a blockage though. His FSH was 20.

He has had 3 surgeries in the last 3 months due to having reconstructive surgery from an accident, so when he heard that he has to have surgery down there he was like hence us trying all these vitamins, and hoping for a better SA result, but he will do it if he has to!

IVF is so expensive that we have to save up and we pretty much will have 1 try as here in South Africa, our medical aids exclude all fertility treatments, no exceptions

I wish you all the luck for IVF and keep updating as I am very interested in finding out the procedures etc...

 

[Mikihob]

GEM - DH hits his three months of injections in March. If the results of his SA on March comes back zero again, we are going to start actively looking for donor sperm. We want to at try a DIUI while we wait for the second 3 months of his injections. He has such a low chance of it working, that we are willing to give donor a shot and see if we can be successful. If so, we will freeze all DH's sperm if he starts making some. I have such a high miscarriage risk that even if the DIUI works, I might miscarry. Apparently PCOS increases your risk, Clomid increases your risk, Plus my mom had six miscarriages before me. I am kinda scared when I do get a BFP.

SHARON - I LOVE the show Quints by Surprise. I have tried to figure out how they conceived (assumed IVF) and why but didn't know that they used DS. How amazing! I agree with Stinas the babies look like the parents. I assumed they just did IVF and put too many eggs in. But with DS sometimes your success rates are lower and I have heard of plenty of doctors putting in upwards of 4 eggs to increase the chances. Those babies are so beautiful. I wonder if their eldest daughter is also from donor.

It's good to see a show about Quints that focuses on the babies and them being a family. I have watched so many times and they have never mentioned donor sperm. It's great! It gives me hope!

 

[Olive333]

Miki - I was reading their blog and all of the children are DS conceived. They are from different donors since the second time around their donor was not longer available. She had 4 follicles the first time around and got pregnant withe one. The second time around she had 5 follicles and actually conceived 6, but one was an empty sac.

 

[arzoo]

Congrats SND. Thrilled for you.

And thank you for your words of encouragement, we are all just at different stages of our journey.

I am going back to see my FS on Friday, yes I have 2 dates on Valentine's day, one to see my doctor who has performed the lapro and Hysteroscopy and the other the FS . He had missed to give me the prescription last time, so going to get that and if all is well then I move on to the next stage in our journey. I start taking the nasal spray. I have been very low recently, for the last few days slowly starting to pull myself back together and starting to feel positive.

Gem thank you for going into the details about who looks for sperms etc. This is very valuable information and will help us have a informed conversation with the urologist when we see him in March.
Gem, it is a good idea to take a break and see what how you feel about the next steps. It is our aniversay in 2 weeks and we are thinking of going for a weekend away as a treat before we start on the next chapter.

Wish you all lovely ladies success in your journey.

I am very interested in seeing this show now, Quints by Surprise, is it a US program?

 

[Stinas]

Arzoo - Yes it is, but I'm sure you can watch episodes online. It was on a channel called TLC if I'm not mistaken.

 

[MBABY2014]

Well I will keep you posted and please do the same!

My hubs FSH was a 16 ( FYI)

I understand your hesitation/ if you are not in a 'rush' give the vitamins a chance for a few months and see what happens

I currently on day 7 of meds and saw some nice size follies today!!

 

[MBABY2014]

Hello my Azo wife's!

Just wanted to check in say hi! Give you my update..in case anyone was wondering!!

I'm on day 7 of meds...
150 meno/150 gonal f/225 garilerex ( just added lady night)

Had an US/BW this am- 4-6 follies on each side and 5 measurable at 10-12

Feeling ok emotionally- getting nervous and ER and thawing of DH sperm....


How is everyone??

 

[deafgal01]

Doing ok, taking it one day at a time to be honest.

How are u doing? It is emotional going thru all that mbaby.

 

[bubumaci]

Hi All!
So some news from me ...
They already told me before I went in for the ER, that the TESE material was useless and they were thawing two straws we have from the one amazing SA he had two years ago *sniff* ... so I already had silent tears rolling down my face before I went in, as I felt so sorry for DH having to go through it all
ER went well - 15 eggies were retrieved ...
Afterwards we spoke with our doctor, he said that the TESE sperm were a) very few and what was there was all very bad looking. The only good thing about having had the TESE done i.m.o. is that his clinic is also sending in a sample for histological analysis and perhaps we will get some answers as to why we have to go through this?

Today I received the fertilisation results - 14 of my 15 eggs were mature and 9 fertilised. So now we are back in the waiting game to see how the little ones develop ... Transfer is on Saturday.

 

[sharon99]

Bubumaci, I'm sorry about the TESE material. Thank goodness you had some straws frozen. From what I hear, 9 fertilized is a great number though, right?!? Good luck on Saturday!

Good luck Mbaby & Arzoo!

Olive, I'm sorry you're feeling so down. The TWW messes with my mind SO much- it just makes everything seem terrible. It's like wearing a Horcrux (*Harry Potter reference*). I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for you! I've been trying to get back into crafting too- I really enjoyed counted cross-stitch as a kid but find it a liiit-tle mind numbing now! I also like sewing, but never really got into quilting- maybe I should give it a try.

 

[Olive333]

Sharon - I have 6 days to go for me to test. I had some cramps yesterday 7 DPO wich is unusual for me. I just don't know anymore. I wish Monday was here already, but at the same time, I don't want it to get here and be disapointed with a negative!! How are you feeling? When do you go to your OB?

 

[rdleela]

Bubumaci, best of luck with those 9 fertilized eggie's!

Snd, congrats!!

Good luck in the next week, Olive!

To everyone else, hope you're all hanging in there!