Infertility
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Intro for newbie tmi about husband's medical history

Hello all, I'm new here so here's a bit of background.  I'm 30 (almost 31) overweight and tapering off anti-depressants , DH is a 33 vegetarian slightly overweight, and our story is interesting.  
My DH when he was a child neither of his testicles descended. They thought it was only one not both and performed the surgery to pull it down on one side (he thinks he was between 5 and 8). Years went by, and he never said anything, and either his parents didn't take him to doctors or the doctors didn't notice, but his left testicle never descended. 
Flash forward to September of last year, he finally decides to go see a urologist, and is told that he will have to have it removed to make sure it isnt cancerous  (it wasn't). So he got a sperm test before having surgery (he did the hormone test and it was normal), his count was low as was his motility. After surgery he was put on Clomid, and told to retest in 6 months.  

So he retested, his motility has gone up but his count is only 600,000. We met with a urologist on Monday and he basically told us that IVF is our only chance. He said we could retest his hormone levels and we can see if they've changed but otherwise ivf is our best shot.  I am taking it with a small grain of salt since the place we were at was an ivf specialty place, so of course that's what they say, though I also know it is probably the route we're going. 

His parents don't know about all this yet, my parents do and they are throwing their whole support in, offering to put money aside to help (though they really don't have any). We really don't have the money, I'm not sure how much if any our insurance would cost, and we wouldn't be able to get loans to pay for it. Hopefully his parents can help once they know.

We're both still reeling from the shock, it's been a rough week.  I'm not giving up hope that there are other things we can do. We're making changes to our diets (I took him off soy almost completely back in september), we're exercising, and on vitamins (zinc, folic acid, maca root for him, folic acid and prenatal for me). 

I'm taking into account the 3 month cycle of sperm, and January was an incredibly stressful month (moving states, finding a place to live and, trying to find a new job for my husband). I've also ordered the Fertilaid for men to try, figuring at worst I'm over paying for a multivitamin. 

So yeah thats where we're at,  and I came here so I'd have a sort of support group to have to help me process and deal with this.

Re: Intro for newbie tmi about husband's medical history

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    Good luck with the the diet and lifestyle changes. With low count IVF is usually the best option. Although you always hear "it only takes 1" you really need close to 10 million sperm for IUI to really have a good chance at working.
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    Welcome!  You are very lucky that you know he is producing sperm at all!!!  and it is present in the ejaculate!  That alone is fantastic news. Really.  Several of us on the board will have (or have had) to do a special surgical sperm retrieval procedure first, and don't even know till then whether having any bio kids through ivf/icsi is an option... :/  So hear me when I say, please, consider yourselves lucky and blessed! ❤

    I know it's a tough pill to swallow, but IVF is going to be your best bet.  You can try all the other things if that's what you can afford or are comfortable with.  Just understand that the chances are drastically different with ivf/icsi. (((Hugs)))
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    Welcome! I'm sorry you find yourself here but there is a wealth of knowledge and support. 

    While my story is not exactly like yours- the DX is the same; low count. When we first started this process and DH's count was rising from only 900 to 35mil, I thought for sure we'd get pregnant through IUI. We tried 3 times with no luck. It was only after those attempts (and a few thousand $$$) was I able to hear what everyone was saying. The chances of getting pregnant through IUI with low count are very, very slim.  **TW** Ultimately, it took 1 round of IVF with ICSI to be successful. If I could go back and just start out with IVF to begin with, I would. We would have saved a lot of money, and more importantly, the heartache.

    I wish you guys the best of luck in your journey! 
    **TW**
    Me: 31, DH:33
    TTC since October 2015: MFI
    Summer 2016: 3 IUI's: BFN
    October 2016: Switched RE's and began IVF cycle 
    December 2016: Retrieved 13 eggs, 12 mature, 9 fertilized with ICSI. 5 day ET of 2 blasts with 4 frosites left. BFP!!!! EDD: 8/30/2017 
    August 25, 2017: It's a Girl!!
    April 12, 2019: FET, BFP!!! Baby BOY EDD: 12/29/2019
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