just had a shocking test result…

[Handsinthesoil]

we’ve been trying for nearly 3 years naturally…both me and my partner had tests early on from the NHS and as his sperm test results came back with a very high count we thought he was all good… they never asked for a second test because of this and it took ages for anyone to notice they had not actually mentioned morphology!! Fast forward 2 years and we’re about to start ivf and the clinic asks for another sperm test. We’ve just gotten the results and it turns out there’s very sub normal levels of morphology. 2years of waisted heart ache, 2 years of doubt and fear, 2 years of our relationship changing and being both on the edge… and we could have been referred for IVF so much sooner… so confused now, we’ll be having icsi and although we are now so ready to start anyway, it’s brought up new pain…. It seems we will always need IVF now for any subsequent children…

Make sure if your in a same sex relationship th at the professionals actually consider it could be male factor!!!! And not just assume it’s all to do with female side!!!!

[DianeArnold Partner Nurse Fertility Network UK]

Hi. Oh dear, a semen analysis should always be repeated two months later if any discrepancy is found. You should always ask for a copy ofteortoo, then you have it written down. All I can do is to wish you both well looking forward, and have thefamilyyu deserve. Diane

[Mrsjones1203]

It’s not always the case my husbands results came back as sub fertile and we were due to have icsi but on the day of egg collection his results were good so we had ivf and all my eggs fertilised. unfortunately our ivf attempts didn’t work in the end but i’m currently 12 weeks pregnant naturally. My clinic have called it a spontaneous pregnancy after 7 years of TTC and never a hint of a positive test. I’ve also known plenty of people have sub fertile results go on the have children so please don’t feel to disheartened. Wishing you lots of luck with your treatment 🍀

[MrsOrangejuice]

I may be misreading this but did the first tests say anything on morphology at all or could it be that they just said everything was good etc? My OH has had the tests done a few times over the years and often he was just told something vague like 'all good' or 'fine' and only when I pushed a bit did he get the detail. It's worth checking as depending on the reason the sperm results can change quite a lot between tests for better or worse and it could be the latest one is a one-off. Try not to dwell too much on delays and regrets in hindsight though, it took us years to get to treatment and then lockdown delayed us another 18mnths and although it is really frustrating and like time is against you, we've actually better outcomes as time's gone on. You're young and there is still time to get the protocol right for you both, which can take a few goes. We also had to ICSI unplanned as my OH's sample was assessed as poor on the day (previously perfect results) and then we did it the next two rounds voluntarily and got all eggs fertilised and to blast, so in our case it certainly didn't do any harm.

[Sweetaholic]

I'm so sorry to hear that. We were TTC for 3 years too. We went private in the end as the referral for IVF on the NHS was taking forever. Did they tell you what your husband's sperm morphology percentage was? When we had our initial tests with NHS, they found no issues with either of us and told my husband he had high quality sperm. However, when we went private, they said his sperm was great but that he had low morphology. His was at 3% but according to our consultant, most men only have a morphology of 4%, so he didn't think this was a big deal. He said that because they only ever test a small quantity of sperm, its not a reliable test so not to worry too much. However, he still suggested we do ICSI regardless too give us our best chance, and now I'm 21 weeks pregnant, so please don't lose hope xx