Help for Low Sperm Count, Low Motility, Varicocele, Varicocele Surgery Success Rates,

Update: I am just 2 days shy of 40 weeks pregnant!  I'm so happy to be able to come back and say that we got pregnant naturally. When I first found out about DH's sperm issues back in 9/09, I was devastated and found that there was very little information on the internet. I started this blog back then to document our journey. I was hoping it would end with a natural BFP and it did. Good Luck and Baby Dust to you all, and I hope that my advice below can help some people out. 


Hello,

Today I am 7 weeks pregnant.  I am very nervous because it's still so early, and I've had some bleeding, mostly spotting, but some heavy bleeding. That was very scary. But we saw the fetal pole and the heartbeat, and the fetus measured perfectly a few days ago.

Anyway, I wanted to do a round up here.

I started this site in September 2009. The reason that I started it was because I found very little information about sperm issues on the internet. It seems that few people know much about it. I also found very few success stories of spontaneous pregnancy, it seemed that everyone jumped to IVF with ICSI for MFI.

Let's start from the beginning.

The Facts:

December 2008:

My husband and I began actively trying to conceive. I was 34 years old at the time and I assumed that I'd get pregnant immediately.

July 2009:

After no luck, I went to the doctor who checked me out. I was fine at that time, low FSH and good Estradiol levels and great Thyroid function.

September 2009:

My husband got checked and his counts were horrible. His sperm count was under 1 million (.8 million) and the motility was 12%.

I started him immediately on vitamins. He went into a urologist who diagnosed him with a varicocele. At that point, his sperm count was 16 million with 5% motility. I don't think that the vitamins did anything, the first test was probably a fluke.

We got him on a vitamin regimen and decided to get a second opinion from a Reproductive Endocrinologist before we did anything. She seemed to think that we could get pregnant easily with sperm wash and IUI.

January - April 2010:

When we did our sperm washes with her, she stated that his sperm count was up to 49 million with motility at 65% and that we should definitely not do a varicocele fix. So we canceled our surgery appointment.

We did a few IUI's with her, some natural, some clomid cycle and some natural clomid cycles. Nothing worked, and she stated that obviously something was wrong with me since his sperm count was so perfect. She said the only possible way that I would get pregnant was IVF. This was no longer a sperm issue, but an egg issue.

May 2010

We decided to get another opinion from a renowned Bay Area Reproductive Endocrinologist.   He diagnosed me with PCOS and put me on metformin. Other than that he said it was a sperm issue, not an egg issue and that the only route for us was IVF with ICSI. He said to absolutely not get a varicocele surgery, that it would only make things worse, and it might prevent us from ever getting pregnant.

June 2010

We went back to the urologist for another opinion. He did a semenanalysis and his sperm count was 13 million with 17% motility. No big change there, though the motile sperm count did increase by 400%

As we talked to the doctor he said that he didn't know what was best. He knew that the chances of getting pregnant with IVF were 35% and the chances of conceiving after a varicocele surgery were also 35%. He said that we also knew that there was a sperm issue, we had a known variable there. It was a good conversation, not pushy and no agenda. Unlike the RE's who really told us that IVF was the only option. IVF was $22,000-$28,000 and varicocele surgery was $5,400.

July 2010:

My husband went under the knife and got the varicocele microsurgery.

We decided that we'd give the surgery the rest of the year to work, but then we'd go back and reconsider IVF.

December 2010:

Still no positive pregnancy test. My FSH has gone up to 8.6 and my estriadol has decreased. I'm getting nervous and we decide to check and see how his sperm is doing. My husband continues his vitamin regimen.

We get a semenalysis and the results come back 30 million sperm count and 14% motility. Though the count has improved the motility has not. My husband's urologist suggested that he not carry his cell phone in his pants pocket. He stopped completely.

January 2011:

We start the IVF process at yet another fertility clinic. This one we liked, Pacific Fertility Center. In preparation for IVF, my husband gave up alcohol 100%. He was meticulous about not keeping his phone in his pocket and he was very good about taking his vitamins. We just wanted IVF to finally work. We had it planned for March.

February 2011:

I start my infertility support group. We begin the process of IVF, sign up for our injection class, my meds are ordered and we figure out our finances, loans, etc for IVF.

We wait for my period to come as we are going to do one last IUI in February as we get them free from our insurance.

My period never comes. I get pregnant naturally!