Pregnant Despite Low Sperm Count and Quality

I’m very happy to share that after 1 year of TTC and dealing with male infertility we are 5 weeks, 4 days pregnant.

I want to share our story in case it helps others in similar situations...

My husband and I started trying to conceive right away (after our wedding 10/1/16). We got a positive pregnancy test in April 2017, and were so very excited. We actually got 4 positive tests over the course of 4 days since I kept testing because I couldn’t believe it. Unfortunately, I miscarried 5 days later right at 5 weeks. We were devastated but it did give us hope that we were ABLE to get pregnant since we were nervous because my husband had an undescended testicle that wasn’t found and corrected until he was 10.

He has always wondered if that would affect his fertility. After the MC, he wanted to get a sperm analysis to see what he was working with and for what I thought would be “peace of mind” because I knew the results would come back fine, since we were able to get pregnant once.

So..he did the SA and to our shock, his numbers came back, well, not good (according to my OBGYN - who ordered the test) His count, motility, and morphology were all below normal in her eyes.

His numbers were:

Count: 6 mil/ml

Motility: 8%

Morphology: 3%

I’ll be totally honest and say that the OBGYN who explained the numbers did a HORRIBLE job doing so. I had to call day after day to even get the results, and once she did call back, over the phone, she told us his numbers were “six-zero-zero-zero-zero..etc” like what the hell - just tell us the whole number! I’ll also add that when we went in to talk about TTC and to get his test ordered, she asked me Qs about my cycles and said all those were the “right” answers but also started talking about IUI right away..before any testing for me or husband were ever done!! Wtf?!

Anyways..before she even read us his numbers, she said, “remember IUI I was taking about..I think that would be a good option for you. Okay........so I asked her WHAT the numbers were. And she said all the ZERO stuff...said “I’m sorry” then referred us to a Fertility clinic. We were shaken. We cried. We were heart broken.

Once we were able to think clearly again, I decided to call the office back the next day and get the numbers again and write them down this time so we can do our own research and choose what we wanted to do based on the info we had. So I did so and when I called back the lady said that doctor left the practice (we think she left to go work for that fertility clinic she tried pushing on us before we ever did any testing). Anyway, the dr that was filling in for her called me back and read the numbers like a normal person would and made me feel much better. She said, it’s not impossible, but it explains why it might be taking you guys a little longer.

This whole time I’m like, hello! We got a positive after just 5 months TTC so F these SA results and let’s just keep trying and be positive.

For the sake of my husbands health with his once undescended testicle, he found a Urologist. He took the SA results and the Urologist made us feel so much better. He said, “you’re fine”. He did a physical exam and said, “ this guy is still making sperm” (referring to his “bad” testicle).

Basically he said “you’re producing sperm and it only takes 1.” He did say he wanted to do an ultrasound to make sure there was not a Vericocele (which we had read up on even before that) which could also affect fertility and he did have one. They labeled it as “extensive”. So, the dr recommended he get the surgery and we did that on Nov 9, 2017 - just a couple of days ago....the thing with the surgery is that it’s very debatable if it really even works. But we are 29 and 31 and want multiple children so we went ahead and did all we could with the info we had to improve our chances.

I want to also add that his dr also prescribed my husband Clomid and he started taking a One A Day Vitamin, Zinc, and Vit C every day, he stopped smoking, cut back on drinking and coffee, too.

Lastly, the dr did recommend with the lower numbers that we have sex every 3 days during our fertile cycle to help the sperm build up. That way helped us conceive both times!

In the meantime, I also had my hormones checked and everything came back “normal” there.

So, after all of that, my husband had been recovering from his Vericocelectomy (which was not fun) and this past Saturday, I was 1 weeks late w my period and had sore breasts..was very nervous to take a test, but I did. I couldn’t even go look after I had taken it, so my husband did and this is what it said.

😳😳😍😍

We are SO happy but also, naturally, a little nervous. I called the dr today to schedule an appt and with my history of MC and TTC for 1 year, she asked me to come in tomorrow to talk to the dr and get my levels checked. They will prob do blood work and put me on Progesterone she said and I’m so happy they are being proactive already.

Please keep hope and stay positive, all in God’s timing. Baby dust to all!