I’m Starting IVF — Wish Me Luck
Hello, Bumpies! Thank you so much for reading this and joining in on my infertility journey. Let’s catch you up, shall we?
First of all, I’m Melanie. I’ve been married to Brad for just over a year and while our first year was challenging at times, we faced those challenges together. The largest challenge came six months after we started trying for a baby.
I discontinued my Mirena IUD in October 2011, a month after we were married. We began actively trying for a child in January, under the advice of my doctor. I started taking prenatal vitamins and we began trying to conceive with high hopes. Six months came and went with nothing. My cycles are a little irregular, so we thought we were just having difficulty getting the timing just right. In July, we still had no positive results, so my doctor ordered blood work for me and semen analysis for Brad.
My bloodwork came back a little low and the preliminary thought was that I might not be ovulating. Our hearts sank. They sank even lower when we got Brad’s results — zero sperm. His final diagnosis: CBAVD (Congenital Bilateral Absence of the Vas Deferens). In layman’s terms, my husband has no exit ramp for sperm. They’re trapped.
Months of diagnosis and multiple doctors led us to this: In-vitro fertilization (IVF) with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). It’s our only option to have biological children. Brad’s condition means that his sperm don’t get a chance to mature fully, so they can’t swim. The ICSI part means that the doctors will physically place one of Brad’s sperm in one of my eggs to to make our babies. Don’t get me wrong — we’re not trying for twins. The doctor will only implant one embryo on the first go-round and we’ll freeze the rest in case we need or want them later.
Right now, we’re coordinating services with Brad’s urologist and my IVF doctor to extract Brad’s sperm and prepare me for IVF (extracting eggs, fertilizing eggs, implanting embryos). We’re also working towards getting approved for adoption. Brad and I had talked about adoption even before learning of our infertility issues. We feel that, as a result of our diagnoses, we need to start the process now. It’s usually a four- to six-month process of parent-training, home studies and background checks before we can be approved to adopt.
I know this is a very quick intro. Please keep checking back to because I’ll post more on our diagnoses and what they mean for us, as well as challenges we’re facing with doctors and insurances. If you’ve got any specific questions, please leave them in the comments. I’d love to answer them for you!
Have you gone through fertility treatments or adoption? What were your biggest struggles and how did you get through them?
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I hope everything goes smoothly and successfully for you guys! Thanks for sharing your story. I struggled with recurrent miscarriage during my fertility journey. One of my best friends did IVF twice and has two kids from them (a third surprisingly showed up the old fashioned way years later). My other closest friend after doing IVF a few times ended up adopting a newborn baby boy. The three of us had very different journeys but the same end results — motherhood. We’re rooting for you.
BEST OF LUCK.
My husband was diagnosted with testicular cancer right before our wedding and the tumor blocked his sperm from being released as well. We went through IVF with ICSI and are happily expecting twins in Feb after being told we had less than a 20% chance of IVF even working!
It’s a little wierd at first giving yourself the shots but when you think of what could be you’ll be stabbing away with happy thoughts.
Be there for each other as you’ve been to this point. Be positive throughout the process and don’t stress about anything.
Thank you so much! I love hearing other stories, especially those that ended happily. My husband and I certainly appreciate the good vibes, too.
My husband has the exact same diagnosis. While it was a long journey it is all so worth it when I hug my beautiful daughter every morning! Hang in there, at times it won’t seem like you will want to continue but lean on each other and pull each other up. Don’t be afraid to advocate for you, and take time to relax and center yourself every day. Also read some books by Alice Domar, I like her holistic view on infertility, she focuses on the women not the process. You be sure to keep us updated!
Thank you, Marija and Kathleen! It’s so good to hear stories that inspire hope! It’s also so good to hear from someone else who faced the same diagnoses. My husband has sometimes felt alone in this journey and has been supported by the stories we hear about male infertility factors. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Melanie, I wish you and your husband the best of luck! My husband and I are currently smack dab in the middle of our journey. We discovered my husband has low sperm count and low motility so we are also doing IVF with ICSI. I am in the middle of my shots, currently on the stims and looking forward to my first ultrasound Thursday to see how we are progressing! It has been an emotional journey and at times just sheer frustration over having to go through this whole process, but I know all of this will be worth it. A very wise woman told me I am building my nest, just getting it ready and doing everything we can to get that nest built. Best of luck in your journey and I thank you for writing this, I don’t often come across male infertility posts so I appreciate it!
Mel, good luck!!! I’m going through ivf right now. My husband and I have been married a year and trying for six months. I was told I have low ovarian egg reserve, which basically means my eggs are depleted and I’m not ovulating regularly. My first dr. Said egg donor was my only option, but I’m a stubborn woman and a hopeless dreamer. I got a second opinion and here I am going thru ivf. I’m on my last three nights of Stimson and getting closer to the day when they fertilize my eggs with my husbands sperm. This has been such a challenging experienced and it’s taken a huge strain on my marriage. I empathize for you and your husband and all the other woman going thru what we are going thru. Good luck to you both and I hope to be sharing good news with you soon.
I am so happy I’ve come across your blog! My husband had a similar diagnosis. His urologist was able to reverse the blockage so now his sperm count is very low. Since it’s been 6 months and could take up to a year for a full sperm count we have decided to do ivf. I am at the very beginning and will be starting my injections in a few weeks! I wish you all the best. I know what your going through and it’s been a long tough journey and it’s especially hard when every single one of your friends is pregnant and everywhere you look there’s a cute momma to be with her bump! It will be us soon and it will all be worth it in the end!
So happy to find your blog. My husband has very low sperm count with low motility. We’ve been married 5 years and have been trying for 2 before looking into out options. I was so surprised to find out IVF was our only option. Alas his count was too low for IUI. I had my embryo transfer Wednesday and am in the 2 week wait to find out if we were successful. Trying not to stress but am a bit nervous. We transferred 2 embryos. Twins would be nice but I’ll take what we can get. Good luck to everyone.