Post coital exam question

[Rachelk1224]

Hi everyone! I'm very new to posting about TTC, so bear with me! I'm 29 and my husband is 35. We have been TTC since January. I began seeing an RE earlier this month after having no success in getting pregnant as of yet. Turns out I have low progesterone. My husband's sperm report was great.

I'm going through my diagnostic cycle with this doctor to see how/when/if I ovulate, my levels, etc. As far as taking OPKs go, I've used the digital Clear Blue one and it has identified my peak fertility in the past. I know I ovulate towards Days 15-17 in my cycle.

My blood levels have all been promising so far, especially my FSH. I'm waiting for the LH surge to be detected in the blood work.

Yesterday was Day 12 of my cycle and I went in for a post coital exam. They looked under the microscope and saw no sperm present in my CM. They mentioned that they will repeat the test on CD14, which is tomorrow. I'm worried about this, even though we know my husband's sperm count and motility are good. Could there have been no sperm present because my CM was not the correct consistency yet???

I'm going back tomorrow. They mentioned that if this next post coital exam also comes back negative, they will suggest starting trigger shots and IUI. Just wondering if anyone else has been through this before!

 

[Ask4joy]

I don't know anything about post coital exams...never heard of it! Have you tried a sperm/fertility friendly lubricant like pre-seed?

If you ovulate on CD17, CD12 might be early for ewcm?

Have you been tracking your bbt to confirm O with thermal shift?

 

[Rachelk1224]

Thanks for the reply. I have not yet tracked my BBT but I'm thinking that's a good place to start. We have the Preseed but haven't used it yet. I wasn't sure if it would provide a valid result for a post coital exam. As far as I know, they use the post coital exam to see if there are live sperm in the CM when you are close to ovulation. It's not a great predictor of pregnancy odds, but more used to see if any further treatment is needed like IUI. I think it's a standard procedure at the RE I'm seeing. If the sperm are alive in the CM and swimming in the right direction, then they determine that the CM is not a hostile environment. I think you are right that on CD12, I shouldn't be seeing EWCM anyway because I do usually ovulate a few days later. I will see what happens tomorrow. I am feeling some pains that I usually get around the time before I think I ovulate.

 

[Ask4joy]

Thanks for the info! I don't always get a lot of ewcm so I worry about that piece of it too. Good luck!!!

 

[Rachelk1224]

So we went in for my second post coital exam yesterday and the results were again no sperm in my CM. My CM was of good quality. I had an ultrasound with the most mature follicle at 23 mm. Since my husband's SA report was great, they recommended IUI as the course of treatment. I had the HCG trigger shot last night and am going in for the IUI tomorrow morning. I'm nervous, but hopeful. I know that IUI can take several cycles to work if at all, so I don't have high expectations for the first round. But at least we have a plan of action and we can go from there.