[ShannonMVT]

The short version: Everything run on me is normal. Dh's SA was great except his strict morphology was low. This may be why it is taking so long. Dr said it was up to us if we wanted to keep trying on our own for awhile OR we could see an RE and possibly proceed to IUI. It's probably warranted to also get Dh checked out with a physical exam and repeat the SA in hopes that the morphology would improve. I haven't talked to Dh about it but I'm hoping that we will schedule a visit with an RE and just go TALK about what our options are.

The long version:

My lab results (CD 4): All normal

LH 5.8 (norm 1.9-12.5)
FSH 6.7 (norm 2.5-10.2)
Testosterone 40 (norm 14-76)
TSH 1.614 (norm 0.35-5.5)
calculated DHEA-Sulfate 54 (norm 65-380) -she said this was normal b/c it was a calculated value

Dh's SA

Volume 2.5 (norm >2) normal even though he thought everything didn't come out. Hah
Sperm concentration 214 (norm >20) Whoo hoo! Also says proven fertile range is 60-120
Overal motility 87% (norm >50%) Proven fertility 60-80%
Progressive motility on a 0-4 scale = 3
Kruger (strict) morphology 11% (greater or = 14 is fertile, 5-14% sub-fertile, <4% infertile)

It all looks great except that darn morphology. My dr did say that it was good to repeat the SA after 2 months in hopes that the morphology would be better. Also I mentioned that even though he did ejaculate 3 days before the SA, the time before *that* was a couple weeks. She agreed with me that it was possible that there may have still been some "old" sperm and maybe that was why the morphology was low? But she thinks the morphology problem could be why it is taking us so long to get pregnant.
She said we could proceed to IUI and that it could speed things up. It's just a matter of do we want to take that step or not. At this point, I don't think Dh is. She said she could go ahead and give me Femara if I want, but that if I am going to see an RE, I should probably just wait and see what the RE has to say.
Also she said Dh should go to a general practitioner or urologist and get a physical exam, basically get his scrotum checked out. She didn't say, but I guess for variocele.
She said the IUI should run about $3000 for everything. That seems awfully high to me but maybe that is the norm? So I may start working more and saving up money for if we want to do that because our insurance doesn't cover anything that is infertility related.
Right now I have yet to talk to Dh (he left his cell phone at home) but what I'm hoping is that he will be willing to just go talk to an RE. That way we can talk about what our options are. Then if the RE wants to run more tests to rule things out (HSG, follie check, another SA) we can go ahead and get started on that. She recommened an RE to me also.
I asked her about accupuncture and she said she had not had enough feedback to say if it really helped with fertility, but that it was kind of my call as to whether I wanted to spend the money and go do that. I'm undecided on that I guess.
She was very nice and said she understood it was difficult when both spouses were not on the same page. She was a little surprised that my Dh wasn't there at the appointment with me. She has 2 girls and is pregnant with a boy right now. They had two miscarriages in between the kids they have and she said it took a year and a half for them to get pregnant before (not sure if that includes the m/c into the timeframe) and they are both doctors who know how to do everything right!

Does anyone else have experience with crappy morphology? I would think that the good count and motility might help make up for it a little but I've read that if your morphology is bad it can indicate that even the sperm that look "normal" may have something wrong with them that keeps them from penetrating the egg. But I'm not sure if that is only the case when the morphology is very low (4 or less) or if that's also true when the morphology is in the mid range of crappyness like Dh's is (11).

[jeanbean]

I don't know what to tell you about the morphology. I have no experience and/or knowledge when it comes to that. Let us know what you guys decide to do. The IUI does sound a bit high from what I've heard the other girls talk about.......but I don't have any experience with that yet either.

Good luck! KUP!

I think you should see an RE for sure. They are the experts at all that morphology stuff, and you may find out that hie morphology really isn't bad enough to be inhibiting pregnancy. RE's just know more about these things then OBs. But you said you are already going to see an RE so I think that is good! And YAY for everything else being normal!

I also think it is interesting that you hadn't DTD for a couple weeks prior to the analysis. A friend of my moms had a vasectomy reversal, and his doctor told him to release his sperm at least once a day, because they do get weird the longer they stay in there. His had three heads--can you say EWWWW!

[ShannonMVT]

I also think it is interesting that you hadn't DTD for a couple weeks prior to the analysis. A friend of my moms had a vasectomy reversal, and his doctor told him to release his sperm at least once a day, because they do get weird the longer they stay in there. His had three heads--can you say EWWWW![/b]

Yick.

What happened is we didn't DTD for a couple weeks, then Dh ejaculated 3 days prior to SA (I had AF), and then the SA. So theoretically that time 3 days before the SA would have gotten all the old sperm out, but WHO KNOWS, maybe it didn't, ya know?

Our problem is that after DTD so much around O time we end up not doing it a lot when it's not O time. Having AF for 7-8 days doesn't help either. But we're going to try to be better about that, especially when it comes time for another SA.

You are right about that! It is easy to get BDed out when TTC is involved.

[MamaAnna]

His morphology really doesn't sound that bad. It could definitely be a lot worse. I'd talk to the RE about it because usually they can give you simple tips to improve the swimmers.

[mom 2 haley & tyler]

I would definitely just talk to the RE and see what they have to say. G/L to you.