But but but..

So it’s been 2 weeks now since we were told about Hubby’s VERY low sperm count, the tears are gone and we’re dealing with it.

In typical fashion, I have been researching everyday!

I’ve joined an IVF forum. Unless you have experienced IVF or are going to, you have no idea what it feels like. There is so much information it’s overwhelming.
Most couples who are suffering from low sperm count are complaining of their partners only having 1Million per ml, the worst I have seen is 100 thousand per ml and she has been on IVF for 10 years with several miscarriages, but all these women also have something wrong with productive system too...seeing as I'm fine, I should be a good store house for my baby!

Let’s just remember that my hubby has 19thousand. 0.1%. It’s hard not to focus on that. I’ve had a lot of friends say to me to trust God for the miracle, and I will get my miracle baby... I have no doubt that I will get a baby one way or another, but at the same time I am not going to sit around for 10yrs to hope that a natural miracle will occur. The fact of IVF working is a miracle in itself, so that is the miracle I will be hoping on, and hope God delivers on that.

You can’t be naive about IVF, you literally can’t afford to.

Let me break it down for you.

You have a 25% chance each IVF cycle that you will get pregnant, they say it usually happens at the third cycle or after if you are lucky.

This is how most people’s stories read:

Egg collection: $2500 Fresh embryo implanted. 1st cycle BFN (big fat negative)
Frozen embryo $1200 BFN 2nd cycle BFN
Frozen embryo $1200 BFP (big fat positive) chemical pregnancy miscarriage at 4 weeks.
Egg Collection: $2500 Fresh embryo BFN....

You get the picture.

So we do the first round of IVF, we can afford that. We can probably afford the next two frozen embryo transfers....but where do we draw the line. A lot of couples have personal loans for their IVF procedures, spending upwards of $25,000.

Hubby has been getting a little snappy with me, saying that I need to stop talking about it. Last night I sat him down and said that we NEED to talk about this, we need to work out a course of action. He finally got it, he finally understood, we had a great chat about our options and what we want to do.

Hubby to begin with was completely against adoption, but last night suggested that maybe we look at that option. Researched it today and it is such a tricky thing to do. SO many hoops to go through, with the end cost being about $20,000.

So then it brings me back to IVF again as the preferred choice.

I’ve got a pros and cons list going.

Pros - Baby is our own
- I get to carry my child and birth it.

Cons
- a month of invasive needles
- Crazy drugs that make your hormones go wack
- Weight gain of up to 15kg (AWESOMEEEEEEEEEEE, NOT :/)
- Un-able to exercise whilst on you cycle
- Constant blood tests
- Constant semen analysis
- Constant hospital visits
- Costs $$$

And yet the pros still outweigh the cons.

TO ALL THE MOTHERS OUT THERE THAT CONCIEVE NATURALLY....YOU ARE BLESSED!!!! I don’t think some women fully appreciate how lucky they are to be able to get pregnant just by looking at their partner.


BUT.... there is always a but...

We went and visited our naturopath last week. She wants hubby and I to go on a meal plan she is setting up for us. Low carb, high protein lifestyle change. Not allowed to call it a diet! Lol
She is SO lovely to us and really wants the best for us which is re-assuring. She recommends that hubby get Intravenous Vitamin injections. They are jam packed with vitamin B, vitamin C and Glutathione. You get hooked up to a drip for an hour once a week for 8 weeks. Each visit is $300, so $2400 for the whole treatment plan. Apparently this is meant to have a radical improvement on sperm count.

Oh I should tell you a couple of things:
1) our naturopath says that low sperm count is because of life style and can be completely reversed...not sure if I completely agree with her, because why wouldn’t everyone do this then?
2) Hubby has very poor liver function at the moment, liver creates cholesterol, which creates hormones, which creates sperm. Bad liver means bad sperm (apparently)
3) The biggest problem that hubby and I have with this vitamin injections is that WE WANT PROOF! Show me the proof that his sperm count can go from 19thousand to 15 million.......You have to have 3ml of sperm when trying to conceive, each ml has to contain at least 15million sperm, a grand total of 45million. I am very sceptical that these injections can get the count up that high. Even if it got it up to 500thousand per ml, its just not enough, not worth the money. IVF is invasive, but I think better odds.

So this where we are at. Getting on a new life style to become healthier so that our sperm and eggs are the healthiest they can possibly be and deciding on what step to do next...hubby really doesn’t want me to do IVF... seem to be a dog chasing my tail at the moment...