Hi CanadianMaple, I don't know your full story, so please forgive me if I've misunderstood you, but I would urge you not to give up just yet:
As I understand it this is OH's 1st SA, he is producing seman but there aren't any swimmers in there? Exactly the same thing happened to us - they brought us back for a confirmation SA (standard practice when they find '0 sperm in the ejeculate'). The 2nd SA confirmed that there wasn't any sperm in the ejeculate - but here's the really important thing for you: that does not necessarily mean that he is not producing any sperm, it can simply mean that if there is sperm it isn't getting out.
The condition is called Azoospermia, and the road doesn't quite end here:
So for us that meant a range of hormone tests for DH: these are the easy ones and if it's a hormone imbalance it can normally be corrected with drugs (at least that is my understanding!! Please don't hold me to that, I'm not a doctor).
Hormones came back normal for us, so the next step was a range of genetic tests, these are slightly more scary as at this point the answer can come back that there is no production, but you can also find, like us that there is sperm production but that for some reason the swimmers aren't getting out - this can be for a variety of reasons. These one's are more complicated and take a while to come back, but even here, some people don't get any answers
For them, and for many who need the genetic tests, they also need to move to the next stage for final confirmation - and that is a testicular biopsy (Tese) to check for absolute certain.
Azoospermia affects about 1 - 2% of the population, but accounts for about 20% of those seeking assisted conception. Only in about 30% of cases does Azoospermia mean the TTC journey is over, and even then donor sperm may be an option depending on the couple. There is a thread on this forum called 'Dealing with Azoospermia' which I'd encourage you to take a look at.
This is really crappy news, and right now I know you are feeling about rock bottom - I've been there. It won't get better quickly, so don't feel bad about feeling bad, you're going to need time to deal with this. I can't tell you how this is going to go for you, you're going to have lots of tests and some more waiting, but I do want to tell you this, we had our first SA result earlier this year and I am currently undergoing my first IVF cycle (with DH's swimmers)... so please don't give up just yet!
Lots and lots of
please know that you're not alone; the women on the Dealing with Azoospermia thread are pretty amazing and I know they'll have answers to just about any question you can think of.
Good luck
