Hellobee Boards

@mrsnana: You get a referral from your doc to go to a different doc (at least in my area). It was still pretty easy though.

@Beetones: Is he afraid of the results? Perhaps looking into what can be done if the results are bad will help? I always think that knowledge is power and the unknown is scary.

@mrsnana: DH's GP wrote a request, he went to the lab to pick up the cup, he took it home, did his thing and took it back to the lab. Easy peasy.

@bluestriped bee: It's not stupid! You can talk about anything you like. It must feel kind of nice to have a game plan to look forward to when you are ready again? Rather than the same old same old?

@bluestriped bee: hang on to those medical records - hopefully your new dr will be willing to pick up where the last one left off

We are getting ready to start our 8th month TTC but it will be cycle 10 due to short cycles. I've recently had my first RE visit, an HSG, and some additional bloodwork. I will take a higher dose of Clomid than in the previous cycles I used it. I am hopeful! It's been tough at times even though I instinctively expected this to take a while. Best wishes that everyone graduates the club this cycle!!!

@mrsnana: We knew my DH has a varicocele, so he went to a urologist (all we needed was a referral from a PCP). They ordered 2 SAs and bloodwork to be done at a lab, and he'll go back to the urologist for followup. With the lab we chose, he got to do the collection at home and then drop it off at the lab since we live nearby.

I don't think I even considered that my husband would have to do multiple SAs. I know he's okay with whatever steps he has to take to get answers - but it's good to hear from others that he may need to prepare to do it more than once.

Thanks everyone - sounds like it will be easy enough. I'm just glad he's willing to do it (even though I'm fairly sure if anyone has a problem, it's me). He just started a new job and his insurance doesn't kick in until sometime in September, so we'll have to wait until then at least!

I have independent insurance (it's outrageously expensive to add me to his) which doesn't cover anything at all fertility-related (or pregnancy related except for emergencies) so in the meantime I'm focusing on all natural methods of getting healthier and saving as much as I can for any future treatments that may be needed (and the hopeful future l&d costs!)

@Leialou: At the first appointment, his urologist mentioned that surgery probably wasn't going to make enough of an improvement in fertility to be worthwhile so he wasn't going to recommend it. The 1st SA came back with decent count and pretty bad motility, although I'm wondering how much of that was due to abstaining too long, so I'm trying to get him to do the 2nd one properly. If the 2nd is similar I'd rather just do IUI.

@spaniellove: It isn't TMI. He wasn't feeling any pain at all. He was actually very surprised by the diagnosis. I wish my husband's urologist hadn't pushed the surgery now. Luckily it only cost us $300 out of pocket, but it did take a while for my husband to fully recover. I just don't think it was worth it. The urologist said before the sperm were just flopping around and not moving and now they move very slowly. That's the only improvement that has been made. We're going to wind up doing IUI now, and before it would have been straight to IVF. So I guess that's better.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I also started going to the gym during cycle 6. I think this helped relax me and made me feel better about myself, which probably helped.

@spaniellove: I'm sorry.

@spaniellove: I'm glad you're getting some answers and moving forward - think of it this way - this will probably help you get out of this club real quick Good luck and keep us posted!

@spaniellove: I'm glad you were able to get some answers. DH had low motility and morphology, but after doing some research, we found out that as long as the count is good, the other factors (morphology and motility) are not that important.

"Despite all of the parameters that are reported on a semen analysis, the only parameters that have been proven to correlate with the chances of naturally achieving a pregnancy are:
- Concentration of sperm (total sperm count provides a similar estimate) - This is by far the most important parameter
- Sperm morphology
Problems with sperm morphology (how the sperm look) do have an impact on the chances of conception with intercourse, but the effect is relatively small. In fact, in men with high concentrations, the morphology does NOT appear to have any bearing on the chances of natural conception.

Note that neither semen volume or motility have any impact on the chances of conception once concentration and morphology are taken into account. "

We conceived naturally after close to trying for a year. Hope this information helps!

@Rachel: @Grace: @Mrs. Lantern: @sweetooth: Thanks ladies. It's helping to talk it out with DH...before it was just speculation and now it's very real. Seeing how sad he is takes away the anger that I had before, and now I can focus on how we move forward. Like how the heck we're going to afford IVF when our insurance doesn't cover anything!

So I had my doctor's appointment today. She asked if I had any concerns, so I told her that we had been trying to get pregnant and it wasn't working. Her response was "what isn't working?" Ummm, the getting pregnant part. Then she gave my charts a cursory glance, and asked when we were having sex. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but I went away from there much less satisfied than I'd hoped. But, she ordered a ton of blood tests, which is what I was hoping for. I asked her what we would do if they came back normal and she said that she would refer us to the fertility clinic. Then I asked what we'd do if they were abnormal and she said that she would refer us to the fertility clinic. Sounds like we're going to the fertility clinic!

@jetsa: it makes total sense. No, it's not a race, but it's hard when you're trying and your good friends are able to achieve pregnancy and you're not there yet. (HUGS) to you! You're not alone in your feelings.

@jetsa: It's totally natural to feel like you wish it could be you too, as much as you want to be happy for your friend. And husbands often don't know how to make you feel better so they tend to say the most pragmatic thing! So "it's not a race" - which is true, although it doesn't help here! Sending hugs your way and welcome to the thread!

@jetsa: Isn't it weird how it's not a race and yet totally feels like one? Or maybe it's a fear of being left behind? I don't know what it is, but I've certainly been there. Hugs!

You know what else is hard to hear? When people who have kids tell you to "cherish this time! when you have kids you will miss these days where you could sleep in, take spontaneous trips, etc."

I know that people who don't experience infertility don't know what to say to someone who is in the thick of it - but I wish they knew, I DO cherish this time right now, but I would LOVE to be in their shoes. And when I am, I will cherish it SO much because it was such a long road to get there.