[annaerine]

Hey everyone! I posted an intro in the general TTC section, but that was before I saw this area.

My name is Anna, I'm 24, and DH and I are TTC baby #2. We got pregnant with our first child when we were only 17. Our son is 7 years old now. He was completely unplanned and conceived the one and only time we ever had unprotected sex. We knew we'd have to wait a while before we could have another baby (and we definitely didn't want another one anytime soon), but we knew we wanted him to have siblings one day. So, we both graduated college 2 years ago and have good jobs, so we decided we'd start trying so the kids wouldn't be too far apart. We started TTC in May. Nothing's happened yet. It's discouraging because I thought it'd happen right away. I figured we conceived the first time with no effort at all, so it'd be easy to do it again. I guess what it so upsetting for me is that we didn't want it to happen the first time (although we love our son and wouldn't change it now, of course), and now that we're actually trying, nothing's happening. I know it hasn't been too long, so there's no need to panic, but the worries are still in the back of my mind.

[LindsayGriff]

sorry to hear you are having a rough time trying to conceive #2. I share your pain. My first was not planned and happened on the one night we werent being careful and tracking my cycles so when we started to try for #2 and it didnt happen I wondered what was going on. After 6 months of it not working, I got myself checked out and I was perfectly normal so we sent DH to get checked out and found out he has a varicocele and he has to have surgery. They say he probably has had it since he was a teenager and maybe it just got worse over the last 4 yrs. Now we have to wait up to a year to see if the surgery helps him or go to IVF. Now I hate how they are going to be at least 4 yrs apart. I didn't even really want them 3 yrs apart but any sooner really wasn't fiting into my schedule and now they are going to be even farther apart. Blessed to have at least one miracle child though.

[annaerine]

I'm praying there's nothing wrong and that it's just taking longer for some harmless reason. I don't really want my children to be 10 years apart. Well, if we have more, the youngest and oldest probably will be at least 10 years apart, but I wanted one sibling a little closer in age to the first. We were just too young and trying to finish school, so we couldn't have a second one any sooner. I figured it'd be really easily, it was just a matter of deciding when the right time was.

What's a varicocele? I've never heard of that before.

[LindsayGriff]

A varicocele is a dilated testicular vein. It causes increased blood flow to the testicle which causes increased warmth which kills the sperm. Testicles don't like to be warm that is why they hang away from the body. When felt, it feels like "a bag of worms" It is the most common reason for male infertility.

[annaerine]

Originally Posted by LindsayGriff

A varicocele is a dilated testicular vein. It causes increased blood flow to the testicle which causes increased warmth which kills the sperm. Testicles don't like to be warm that is why they hang away from the body. When felt, it feels like "a bag of worms" It is the most common reason for male infertility.

Haha, I know it's not meant to be funny, but that description of feeling like a "bag of worms" is so disgusting! I'm glad they figured out what was going on. Could be worse, I guess. DH doesn't have this problem, thankfully. I'm glad I know about it now.