Need advice on a semen analysis & also would luv any TTC stories in similar cases

[Nat777]

Well, I should start by saying that I am 42 & have been blessed with 2 beautiful, wonderful children, 1 boy 1 girl, the youngest is 7 (both from a previous marriage).

My current spouse and I (together 5 yrs) had been taking precautions to avoid pregnancy, & then boom! found out I was pregnant back in Mar of this yr. That unfortunately ended in miscarriage at 10 wks.

Since then we got the baby bug. I went in last month (July) & had some fibroids removed, so they won't interfere with the implantation process, & then my OB recommended that he get his sperm tested (as he is a bit older than I). So just this month we started ttc. Now we got the results back from the semen analysis and my OB (via phone) made it seem so dire & wanted to refer him to a urologist. Problem is my DH & I decided we would just try naturally on our own & not do any sort of IVF, fertility treatments etc. The only exception is I am/continued taking prenatals & he is on a multi-vitamin along with a fertility vitamin (he's been on fertility blend for men for about 2 1/2 months now, got a 6mo supply). Beyond that, I was lucky he went for sperm testing at all. Needless to say I turned down the appt & asked her concern. She stated that his sperm morphology was low & this would not only make it really hard to get pregnant but this greatly increased my odds of miscarriage again as well as possible health issues for the child if we were to conceive. Upon doing some research with mixed results & receiving the actual test results in the mail, it doesn't seem that dire to me or I could just be naïve. His results w/the exception of morphology all seemed pretty good to me. Ah the end result is I am totally confused and really bummed out, don't know what to think. I have listed the results below as they read on the report & would love some feedback &/or stories of your own or people you know in similar cases, good bad or ugly. By the way the sperm count was just under the normal value but he was only 2 days abstinent, now I am hearing it would have been better at 5-7 days. So perhaps he could of had a higher count!??..oiy..feedback PLEASE!

HIS RESULTS- concentration-17… the CONTROL/REFERENCE VALUE is 15 M/ml or greater
HIS consistency-1…. the CONTROL/REFERENCE VALUE is 1-2
HIS volume-2.7 ml… the CONTROL/REFERENCE VALUE is 1.5-5.5
HIS ph-8.4…the CONTROL/REFERENCE VALUE is 7.2-8.5
HIS total count-45.9 mil…the CONTROL/REFERENCE VALUE is 20-250mil
HIS motility-76%...the CONTROL/REFERENCE VALUE is 40% or greater
HIS forward progression-3…the CONTROL/REFERENCE VALUE is 2 or greater
HIS total motile sperm-35.1mil/ejac…the CONTROL/REFERENCE VALUE is 39mil/ejac or greater
HIS morphology 1% ...the CONTROL/REFERENCE VALUE is 4% or greater
HIS semen appearance & liquefaction were both normal

 

[penelopejones]

My DH had low morphology, motility, and concentration. We did IUI and got pregnant on the first round. We'd also been pregnant twice before - once with my daughter, and one a MC. I don't think his results are that bad either. Better than my hubby's. I guess the question would just be whether you feel urgently enough to pursue some kind of intervention, or if you are okay trying on your own some more. In my case, I knew we *could* get pregnant but I'm impatient and didn't want to wait a year to have another baby . . .

 

[Wish4another1]

My hubby had 0% morphology and 40% motility and we went for a urologist consult - the urologist said he wasn't concerned about the morphology is all other numbers are good. Told my husband to take a multivitamin - there wasn't anything to really treat him for!! My second RE agreed he said another name for men with poor morphology is FATHER...
I would say you have already gotten pregnant, you don't want to do assisted reproduction. - jut keep trying naturally - I have a feeling you will be pregnant sooner rather than later.... Good luck!!

 

[Nat777]

Ha haha...I love that quote. "another name for men with poor morphology is FATHER"... what great encouragement! Thank you so much. Did the urologist or your RE worry you at all with saying there was a higher risk of miscarriage etc. because of the morphology? From what I read when I google it, it goes back and forth so much from, not an influence at all, to bad sperm morphology = bad outcome, i.e. miscarriage, possible birth defect etc ..AHHH..so frustrating.

 

[Wish4another1]

the urologist did not say anything about miscarriage or any of those things your RE (in my opinion) tried to scare you with!!

I also am 42 - and we haven't had any luck - but since you have gotten pregnant I am thinking more than likely it was just poor egg quality... or a chromosome error...

I think you have every reason in the world to be hopeful!!!

 

[kazazza]

From what I've been told, by my doctor and the urologist she asked my husband to see, a solid count (above 20 m) can make up for any other low numbers. My doctor was also worried about my husband's morphology, but never said anything about an increased risk of mc...

By the way, my husband's numbers improved all around over a few months taking a multivitamin, royal jelly, and L-Carnitine (recommended in The Infertility Cure and Making Babies).

You could always keep an IUI as an option for the future (much easier than IVF). I would think that would be sufficient if sperm morphology is the only issue.

 

[penelopejones]

My RE also recommends COq10 for men for sperm quality. I researched the studies on L-carnitine and they looked pretty convincing too.

 

[Nat777]

Btw congrats on your current pregnancy Penelope! That is awesome. Wishing you the best for a healthy pregnancy & baby!!!..On your 1st & 2nd pregnancies were those both natural or assisted in anyway with IUI or other methods? I do have my man on that Fertility Blend for Men that has the components talked about, mentioned on this post. Have you heard much about that particular supplement and it's effectiveness?

 

[penelopejones]

Thanks! The other two pregnancies were natural. With my daughter, we tried for six months and I took all sorts of stuff (the B6, EPO, etc.). Then we tried for over a year to get pregnant again and started doing some testing. I got pregnant after an HSG but miscarried. Then we got the sperm analysis results which were pretty bad, so we decided to try IUI rather than waiting another year to get pregnant again. The doctor had the results from the sample we used for the IUI and asked if I even wanted to proceed. They were lower than their usual standard for IUI in all respects. But I figured we'd try it anyway (I mean, I was there in the robe ready to get the procedure done) and thankfully it worked!