Tuesday, January 12, 2010

First appointment

Everything went really well today at my first appointment. I will start bcp on day 3 of my next cycle, should be Jan 21, and I start Lup.ron on Feb 10. My next appt and first u/s is Feb 19. Expected retrieval Feb 28 and transfer date March 3.

I'm feeling a bit nervous. I know, I know, I said that last post. It's still true. I am nervous.

Also our RE, Dr. Know-it-all, suggested we have "back-up" donor sperm just in case DH's sample doesn't yield any good swimmers. I was like, "Really! You don't think he will have 20 good sperm?!" He said, "Well his last SA was AWFUL. It is just my recommendation." Worry and sadness set in at that point and I wondered what the heck we should do. DH has been on Fertility Blend for 3 months, (4 1/1 by the time we need those guys) so I am hoping that has helped. He needs to do another SA ASAP so we can get a better picture of what is going on right now. I hate worrying about extra stuff. I told Dr. KIT we are planning on doing dIUI if this doesn't work. He was like, "well then why not have the back-up now so if he doesn't have any sperm we can use it. You know there are better success rates with IVF vs. IUI" Really?!?! Thanks I didn't know that. I just left a bit more frazzled than I should be. I guess we will have to wait and see what these next SA results say. DH is at better job and much less stressed then he was in Jan '09, so that can't hurt either. What would you do ladies?? Would you have a back-up?

9 comments:

  1. Glad the appointment went well - minus the added stress of the potential back up donor sample. How bad was your DH's last SA? I don't know much about how many sperm they need for IVF< but I would think as long as there were a few thousand you would be ok..?!? No idea really, though. Good luck!

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  2. Depends on what his numbers were. My hubby's last count prior to IVF/ICSI was 200K. Our doc didn't even suggest donor, though he did suggest it at my WTF appt because he said we would have a better chance of success with a donor in future cycles...my response? If I was going to use a donor I would do IUI and wouldn't need IVF anyway. The only reason we are doing IVF is to use my husband's sperm...so no, we will not use a donor sample in the future.

    If his last count had been in the double or single digits...yes, I would have considered it more seriously. But they always suggest it like it's some 'simple' decision or 'easy' solution to make the IVF more successful, when in reality it is a BIG decision to think through.

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  3. What a tough decision! Whatever you guys decide, I'll be praying that they get the #'s they need from your DH!

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  4. I wish my RE had brought up donor sperm earlier in the process. Mr. Jem's count was 200K and then 600K and then, a week before ER, zero. Yes, zero. We flew into a panic, had to order sperm quickly, no time to process the whole thing.

    Mr. Jem decided to opt for a biobsy to harvest more sperm, so in the end we didn't need the donor sperm.

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  5. Oh man, that's a tough one!! If I were you I would wait to see what the next SA results are before I would spend too much time stressing about one direction or the other. IVF is so tough!!! Hope you're able to hang in there and I will be keeping my fingers crossed that the SA results are much better and allow you and your DH to move forward without too much worry!!

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  6. I don't understand. If it is going to be several weeks, can't your DH give them additional samples that they can freeze and have on hand? Is their lab incapable of doing that? Why use donor sperm, I mean hell if you were going to do that, you would have just done a dIUI. I think that the idea to have some additional sperm is a good one, but I would skip the donor sperm, unless your husband's samples are truly poor in the next couple of weeks. Also you should find out if your RE office has the lab capabilities of freezing oocytes. It doesn't hurt to ask.

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  7. I would probably see what his next SA looks like- just like the others, unless he had like 15 sperm, I think with IVF they'd be able to work with a smaller number? We are not really on the fringe of IVF yet, so I could be wrong, though. I will be praying you come to a peaceful decision!!

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  8. Glad to hear that the appointment went OK although the whole donor back up sounds like a bit of a nightmare. I personally wouldn't go down that route because, for me, the whole point of doing IVF is so that we can use the husband's sperm.

    Hope you reach a decision that you are happy/comfortable with.

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  9. I just wanted to say hi, I read your post and can understand your trepedation. I am not sure what I would do, I hope you make a decision you are at peace with

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