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@sapphire: my husband has a varicocele and we had our baby through IVF with ICSI.

I knew I had ovulation issues so I only waited 3 months before going to the OBGYN. They ordered an SA for my husband and his numbers came back abnormal for a few categories. I then asked when I should start looking for an RE and was told "now."

I got an appointment with my RE the next day by pure luck. I did not need a referral. We tried IUI twice in one cycle but I got a BFN. My RE recommended going right to IVF because my husband's washed numbers were not good at all for the IUIs. We conceived on our first IVF cycle.

Good luck! Feel free to ask questions. We all love to help.

ETA - we did not know DH had a varicocele until the RE sent him to see a urologist after his second SA also came back abnormal.

@sapphire: oh, you definitely have great chances to get pregnant! I needed Clomid to ovulate so that's wonderful that you ovulate naturally. Keep trying and you have a chance every cycle! My husband's numbers were bad but, if I ovulated regularly, we still had a chance to conceive naturally.

@sapphire: If you know he has a varicocele why don't you see if you can get an SA done now to see if there is a concern. I would think it is pretty reasonably priced even if it was out of pocket. I would think that most doctors would be willing to see you earlier if you have a "known" issue.

@HolisticMama: How'd you guess?

@sapphire: My DH has known about his varicocele since childhood (what the heck autocorrect?). We saw a urologist after 3 cycles TTC and 2 SAs confirmed that his motility was extremely low. The urologist recommended IVF w/ ICSI or surgery, and we decided to skip surgery because there was always the chance that it might not help and we'd still need IVF. When we saw the RE we learned that I also had ovarian reserve issues so we did a cycle of IVF, which didn't work. And then we got pregnant naturally. I had a m/c, but a few months later with some meds (no IUI/IVF) I got pregnant twice more and am finally in 2nd tri.

I think what helped was that he started taking a supplement daily and in the cycles I had a BFP we BDed a ton to keep motility up. Since he's a distance runner he also made a few tweaks to his routine to make sure things didn't overheat down there. It's worth having your husband go to a urologist and get an SA to find out what's going on instead of wondering! At least then you'll have a better idea of what your options are.

My DH had surgery to correct a varicocele. I wish we had skipped it and gone to see an RE before seeing an urologist because it did not fix his IF. He actually has a chromosome translocation that causes his IF. He could have avoided a lot of discomfort if we had done that. I don't think varicoceles automatically mean you'll need interventions to conceive. Getting a SA is a great place to start. Maybe if you get one through an urologist your insurance will cover it?

DH has 2 microscopic varicoceles. We were also told that IVF would be the better option for us because there's no guarantee of the varicocele repair working.
We also have a friend that (we've heard) has a very large and noticeable varicocele, so we went to got tested and everything was normal. So, it just depends. GL!