Dealing with azoospermia?

[Mikihob]

MoBaby I did use donor sperm. We probably would have been pregnant last year if the meds I was on actually worked. I just don't respond well to Clomid at all. Apparently Femara works quite well.
I hope your FET is successful but if not I would suggest donor route. It still brings you a bundle of joy.

 

[rdleela]

Congrats Mikihob!!! Amazing, amazing, amazing, so happy for you!

Sunup, any news for us?

My recent IVF in July failed miserably, we didn't even get one embryo.

My RE has recommended donor eggs to us, and we've made the decision to go for frozen donor eggs, using hubby's sperm, as his samples are very good for ICSI.

So I'm doing a "mock" cycle right now with Lupron/Estrace to make sure I can produce an adequate lining, and I'm expecting we can purchase our eggs late September and do our transfer in mid-November! This has renewed my hope and optimism for a sibling for my ONE year old! Her birthday was last weekend, can't believe I have a little toddler!

Hope everyone is well!

 

[SunUp]

Rd- yes, we have a - praying this is a sticky bean. Beta is tomorrow.

 

[deafgal01]

yay sunup!

 

[bubumaci]

liking the positive developments in this thread

 

[rdleela]

Yay sun up, that's awesome!! So good to see BFP's here!

 

[sharon99]

Just popped in to say hello- it's been a while! I'm so sorry to hear your news, MoBaby. And very happy to hear the GOOD news, Miki & SunUp! Huge congratulations!! Hi to everyone else! xoxo

 

[BritTTC2.2013]

Hi ladies!! DH & I have been ttc for almost 3 yrs now w 2 failed IVF's and 1 failed iui. Neither ivf ended with any embryos to even transfer now looking at using donor sperm. Was wondering if anyone has gone down this route and if so, what banks did you use and why? How did you choose a donor? How many vials did you purchase?

 

[deafgal01]

Hi Sharon!

To answer your question, Brit - I have used donor sperm but it wasn't through the bank and my 2 tries at IUI failed too. The choice depends from individual to individual (or even couple to couple). In our situation, we tried to pick someone that was kind of like us - white, brown hair (my spouse has brown hair), I can't remember what other qualities we agreed to look for. In the end, we settled on asking one person we know in real life to be the donor rather than the bank. I know some people are ok with paying to look at pictures and choosing based on that, and others prefer only details and not seeing pictures.

 

[Mikihob]

Hi ladies!! DH & I have been ttc for almost 3 yrs now w 2 failed IVF's and 1 failed iui. Neither ivf ended with any embryos to even transfer now looking at using donor sperm. Was wondering if anyone has gone down this route and if so, what banks did you use and why? How did you choose a donor? How many vials did you purchase?

Hi Brit. I am currently pregnant after my 5th IUI with donor sperm. We tried for 3 years and 5 months. Moving onto donor was a hard decision. DH was against it at first but after a dozen semen analysis' came back with zero he knew it was our only hope. We went through Fairfax Cryobank. I love them. They are super nice and easy to work with. Plus, they get my vial up here to Alaska in two days!! Its amazing. We did the photo matching. You upload DH's photo and the site matches it to their donors. We did that and reviewed the family history and also the background. We were lucky our donor had a child picture that we could see. It was a great experience.

We purchased the large "kit", can't remember the name. It was $234 and it allowed you to see all the new donors before they were put on the site and it also gave you a Buy 5 get 1 Free. It's costy, but it's definitely worth it. As a bonus, if you have 4 failed attempts you get a free vial. I got my free one after my 4 failed IUI's.

I definitely am a fan of Fairfax. Are you two going to start looking for a donor or are you just in talks?

 

[BritTTC2.2013]

Thank you for your help ladies!!

Miki- we are planning on doing donor in January, hopefully. I found fairfax online and love the photo match option. I called my dr and they actually use fairfax and California bank so I was happy to see fairfax was on the list. I'm going to schedule a consult soon w the dr to get more info. I saw the large kit you described and we decided we would buy that option to search for a donor. Its important that we find one as close as possible to my DH physical features bc we don't intend on telling friends and family about this. We paid for 2 IVF's out of pocket and they failed miserably with no xfer for either. Family was very involved and excited but w a conservative religious family, I know they would feel awkward about our decision for donor and would probably rather we adopt or use embryo adoption. We considered embryo adoption but I really would like my genes in the baby if possible since I have no known issues. Plus the expense and time of any adoption is far greater than DS and we've already spent thousands on failed cycles. It is def a big decision but we're both on the same page w the idea of donor so we're confident in our decision. Now to choose a donor...oh geez lol! It seems overwhelming. How long did it take for you to find your donor? & CONGRATS ON YOUR PREGNANCY!!!!! WOOHOO!!

 

[SunUp]

That's fantastic, Brit! So excited for you and I hope your journey to motherhood from here is quick!!

AFM, we so far have a sticky bean! Still scared but we have had three Sonos, each with good heart beat!! Hopefully, our next azoo miracle will be here in April!

 

[Mikihob]

Sorry for such a late reply Brit. My user CP didn't show responses on this thread. How odd.

It didn't take us too long to find the donor. We did the photo match and came back with 4 matches. Two we dismissed right away since the background was so different. 1 was ok but the last one matched DH's background AND his medical and family history was SO similar. We unfortunately didn't get to see his pic. However, we saw his childhood photo and we were stunned at how similar to DH it was. Obviously different characteristics and everything but was quite similar. We chose him because everything matched so well we wouldn't feel obligated to tell.

It's hard to share something like that if family won't understand or would look at the child differently. How's the search coming??

 

[lisap2008]

My DH has azoospermia after taking clomid , first 2 donor sperm cycles failed , maybe the 3rd try is the charm.

 

[Rainbow123]

How wonderful to read about those BFPs! Congratulations Mikihob and SunUp!
Just thought I'd pop on as I realised it's been a looooong time since I last logged on! We now have a beautiful 10 month old little boy and I can't imagine life without him! He is such a blessing and I am so glad our journey to becoming parents went the route it did!
To those ladies considering using a donor due to azoospermia - it can be such a scary path full of so many unknowns but I genuinely could not be happier! My DH has been trying to remind me to come on here (for some time - oops!) to tell you what a happy ending we have found. He is the most amazing dad, he has been since before our little boy was born. I won't lie - he took a little while when I first got pregnant for him to get excited, but as our baby started kicking his daddy in the night, all apprehensions washed away. He actually cried (in a good way!) when our little one was born and has been the most attentive and involved daddy I could ever hope our baby to have.
We are hoping to start trying for a little brother or sister in May, and we'll have 6 shots at getting a sibling from the same donor so *fingers crossed* as it is soooo expensive to buy sperm (plus our donor doesn't have any vials left - doh!)!
Sending huge hugs to those of you TTC and big kisses to everyone else!
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

[deafgal01]

That's great to hear an update from you Rainbow!

Lisa- keep trying but more importantly take care of your man and you. It is so hard of a journey to take and every one's journey is different.

I've been trying since November 1st officially. First try was too late, I missed the peak. Second try (after Thanksgiving) was too early in the cycle, so missed the peak. I'm hoping third time after Christmas as long I follow the opk and inseminate before it peaks will be the charm.

 

[SunUp]

That's SO awesome, rainbow - and EXACTLY how we feel with our DS! We had a rough path, but we are so thankful because now we have such an amazing DS... And DD on the way

 

[Rainbow123]

Good luck with your next go Deafgal. Fingers tightly crossed for you!

Awww that's lovely to hear SunUp - a little sister for your little boy!

XXX

 

[bubumaci]

Oooooh - everything crossed for you Deafgal!

Such lovely updates Ladies

 

[MoBaby]

I Hey ladies! I recently cycled with a new re after my old re clinic was a disaster with their care and communication and multiple failed transfers trying for number 2. Our plan was to do a full cycle, freeze all and do genetic testing since I've had so many losses to determine if genetically something is wrong. Also dh was to have a tese. Well the stim part seemed to go well. We got to retrieval and they do a fresh tese there. Dh left a fresh sample over night and one the day of just before retrieval. He had 140,000 with 30% motility the night before and 40,000 with good motility day of but re still insisted on the tese. Well they only got 3 non-motile sperm from the right testicle but since the fresh sample was fine to use they didn't do more.
They retrieved 21 eggs from me which was great! The next day we got a bad call saying only 4 eggs were mature. They were able to mature 8 more in the dish. But only 6 fertilized. On day 3 we had 4 going strong still but they told me to be ready to transfer just in case but things looked okay still for a freeze all. Well then on the morning of day 5 I got the call to come in for transfer because we had 3 still growing but only 1 blast and 2 morulas. I talked to the embryologist and we decided it would be best to go ahead and transfer all 3 because she didn't think they would make it to day 6 to be biopsied and frozen. I went in basically crying. My re agreed with the transfer of all 3. He told me to stop worrying that we have embryos and it's 50/50. He basically said we don't know what's going to happen even though the plan changed.
At time of transfer I had one beautiful hatching blasts- perfect looking actually that was ready to freeze now; one very early blast (basically a compacting morula) and a morula that wasn't looking so hot. This was dec 14th. I basically had written off this cycle and was glad I paid for 2 cycle program there. I went ahead and ordered meds since they are no charge until end of year on my insurance. I was planning on what we would change, when I could see the re and discuss, etc. but to my surprise I got my bfp at 4dp 5dt!! And today is 7dpt and I've continued to have progression. My official beta is 12 dpt so dec 26 but so far things are looking good. So please say some prayers this continues to my take home baby!! I've attached 6dpt and 7dpt here.
So ladies I just want to say: even in the worst situations, even when things do not go right please don't give up because things happen the way they should for a reason. I still in shock and can't believe it. I can't wait for my beta on Saturday and praying for a sticky bean. Don't give up! Miracles do happen.