Anyone here have a DH with a morphology problem?

Tweeks23

I have a very good friend who has been TTC for over a year now and just went to a specialist to check things out. Turns out her DH has a 1% morphology but his count and motility were fine. Not sure what their next step is but the Dr. said IVF would probably be their best bet. She of course is very upset so I don't want to ask a lot of questions. Was anyone that is pg here have this problem? Was IVF the only thing that worked for you? TIA

BBColt78

Hello!

Thosethreewords is correct. You'll get a focused response on the PAIF board.

That said, our infertility was morphology. We also had low count, but manageable. We too were told that IVF was our best bet with such a low morphology 0%. After having unprotected sex for 10 years and trying for more than two, we had nothing left to give after that diagnosis. Because we had insurance, we went straight to IVF.

It's not impossible for them to get pregnant on their own. The thing with IVF is they will pick out the "more normal" sperm and use those for the egg. Doing IVF would also allow for PGD (genetic testing) ahead to make sure the embryo used is genetically sound. From my experience, a normal course of action may be IUI with injectables. Because of the 0% morphology, our insurance approved us to skip injectables and go straight to IVF. 

I have a three year old IVF daughter and am pregnant with #2 now from a frozen transfer.

edit: for clarity

ThereBeDragons

Getting a diagnosis and a recommendation to skip to IVF is hard. Really hard. It basically means the end of the dream that you could do it yourself if you just kept trying.

Could they do something other than IVF? Maybe. Without the specific numbers though- it's really a subjective thing and you should trust your doctor to make an informed recommendation. If you don't- a second opinion is always an option. But that's not your call to make or suggest. Being an informed friend is nice, but your friend is getting so much hard to process information from her doctor right now that she really doesn't need a google expert also giving her advice. Which sounds harsh but really isn't meant to be. The best way to be her friend right now is to be supportive of whatever she chooses- because even if its not what you would choose- it is still a hard choice that she has to make with her and her husband. Be there, be willing to talk about it if she wants, be willing to pretend it isn't happening if that's what she wants, and don't try to be another opinion to juggle.

That said...

We spent 14 months TTC on our own before we sought a diagnosis and another 10 months trying on our own while we tried to wrap our minds around our diagnosis and the prospect of doing IVF. DH has 1% morph but also has low counts and low motility- basically out of every ejaculation we were getting around 1,000 live, vaguely healthy sperm instead of 10 million. That's not high enough for an IUI. It's not even high enough for traditional fertilization with IVF- we had to do ICSI for all of our IVFs.

In the end, IVF worked for us. But it's been a long long road filled with a lot of terrible moments. It turned out, in the end, that MFI wasn't our only major hurdle- and we didn't have a clue until after we had already spent a year and a half doing IVF. That's just one of the many ways this sort of thing can play out. Turns out you have no idea if you have a faulty cervix and cannot carry to term without help until after you get pregnant and make it far enough along for your body to fail.

Luckily I have amazing friends and family and they've been supportive the entire way. That's all I needed though- someone to catch me when things went wrong and to help me put myself back together when it felt like nothing could ever be the same. I didn't particularly need their advice or even their understanding of the medical situation- just someone to hold me when I needed to cry and to be there rooting for me when I didn't have enough oomph left to cheer myself on.

Tweeks23

Thanks for the information ladies!

SweetTea420

We dealt with low morphology (it ranged from 2-4%) and got pregnant on our first round of Clomid. My RE doesn't think low morphology on its own is that big of a deal because it only takes one good sperm to fertilize an egg.

Shellbaby84

We were diagnosed with low morphology, as well as a low count and told IVF was our best option. We took a year off to save for IVF, and our dr. decided to do one more round of testing before we started since it had been a year. The new testing showed much better numbers so we started clomid/ovidrel instead. It worked for us after two months. During that year off my DH worked hard on losing weight, eating better, and taking male fertility supplements. So morphology numbers CAN change. 

Verstej2

We tried for 5 years before seeking assistance. My husband was tested and told 1% morphology and low count. We ended up pregnant before our next appointment. Unfortunately I miscarried but since then we have had three (including this one) successful pregnancies after only 2 to 3 months of trying each time. I really think that over the course of a man's life those numbers can fluctuate quite a bit. Maybe you need some help to get pregnant the first time but I have a number of friends who have gone on to get pregnant without further fertility treatments for subsequent children. Please don't lose faith because there are soooo many positive outcomes and IVF makes miracles happen! I wish you all the best and definitely check out the PAIF board, I hear they are awesome over there and I am sure they can give you plenty of support and advice!

Tweeks23

SweetTea420 said:

We dealt with low morphology (it ranged from 2-4%) and got pregnant on our first round of Clomid. My RE doesn't think low morphology on its own is that big of a deal because it only takes one good sperm to fertilize an egg.

Did they put you on Clomid so that there would me more eggs to fertilize? She is O on her own. 

Palan

DH had low motility (NASCAR drivers not astronauts) with low morphology, I had wanky tubes, we had 4, known, natural pregnancies, that ended very early. The only pregnancies that have gone past 6 weeks were my IVFs.

SweetTea420

Tweeks23 said:

SweetTea420 said:

We dealt with low morphology (it ranged from 2-4%) and got pregnant on our first round of Clomid. My RE doesn't think low morphology on its own is that big of a deal because it only takes one good sperm to fertilize an egg.

Did they put you on Clomid so that there would me more eggs to fertilize? She is O on her own. 

I also ovulate on my own. My RE told me that not only can Clomid cause multiple eggs to be released, but also a better/stronger ovulation.

ExpectingBlessing2009

After trying to conceive for almost 4 years we got pregnant naturally. We saw 4 doctors that gave us no hope. My husband has low sperm count, morphology is abnormal, velocity was off on the 2 semen analysis that were done. On top of that I have PCOS. So anything is possible. I am 34 weeks pregnant.