Next...

After the less than stellar SA results, we talked to the doc about it today.  Bottom line: IVF w/ ICSI is the way to go.  So, what else is new?  DH is going to keep taking the HCG indefinitely.  At least until I get pregnant, dammit!  He's also gonna give the non-drinking thing a go and we'll test him again in 3 months.
I called the insurance company. We have $1,100 left of infertility coverage for 2011. The HCG and the SA tests will suck up the rest of that pretty quickly. Obviously, it will not be enough for IVF this year. Financially, we're in no big hurry to get answers or to aggressively seek treatment as we won't be able to do IVF again until January when our 5K limit starts over (after we pay 5K out of pocket!). Still, I've warned DH, I'm only going through that one more time.  But we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

In the meantime, I'm going to try not to think about it again.  It's the only way to pass the time.  It makes me sick to think how far away January seems (and how cold!).  But, as time does, it tends to fly by.  Fall, football season, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's and bam! it's January already.  So I'll just try to enjoy it.  That's all I can do!

Dusting off the Infertility Thoughts

The last 3 months have gone by quickly.  Don't the summers always go by quick?   I've been in a pretty good place mentally.  Beyond the 3-day-a-week reminder via HCG shots for my husband (who calls them 'testosterone' shots to everyone else), I've been able to 'forget' that we struggle with infertility.  There hasn't been anything we can DO about it and we're DOing everything we can.  No tests to take.  No treatments.  No stirrups.  No drugs (for me anyway).  No doctors or nurses.  No one asking how things are going in the baby-making department.  No bad news.  It's been heaven.
As much as we have been looking forward to the long awaited semen analysis results to see if the HCG treatment is making super-swimmers like it should, it is the start of more decision making and more discussions about our infertility.  It's been so easy to pretend that we are baby-less by choice, and it's been so easy to pretend that I don't feel a little pang of jealousy at every pregnant woman I see (and they are everywhere!).  I have compartamentalized the infertility part of my life in the way back of my brain and have effectively ignored it for 3 glorious months.  Until this week.

This week I dusted off the infertility-thinking part of my brain.  DH had his SA on Monday and the nurse called him back with the results on Tuesday.  Good news and Bad news.  Isn't that always the case?  The good news was that between March and August, his morphology (shape) went from 1% to 3% (they want at least 5% to do IUI).  Improvement is good and could have been largly attributed to not smoking.  The bad news was that his total count went from 41 million (they want > 40) to 1 million.  Yikes.  Also, the immaturity level went from 3% to 17%.  What the heck?  The nurse didn't think the HCG was doing to the swimmers what they wanted it to.  To me, this news was not what I expected.  My expectations were much higher.  We're not devastated, but highly disappointed.

The nurse suggested DH continue HCG for another month and repeat the SA in case it was a flukey test.  She also suggested DH quit drinking liquor (he likes his whiskey) to see if that improves his numbers too.  Her opinion was that IVF would be the next step considering these numbers.  In any event, we've scheduled a phone consult with the doctor for Aug. 29th to see what he thinks we should do.  De ja vu.

48-72 hours

So as anyone who has had to have (or their spouse has had) a seman analysis, there are certain rules that must be followed prior to the appointed time.  Rule #1.  Abstinence.  One such male must abstain from sex with others (and oneself) for 48-72 hours prior to the appointment.  It sounds very easy.  But, this 2-3 day window is very difficult.  You're supposed to have "fresh" sperm for the appointment, but not so fresh that you can have sex the previous day.  You're supposed to abstain for up to 3 days, but you don't want to abstain for much longer than that.  So what is one supposed to do?  Well, you have to plan for sex.  And even though their is a slim to none chance that I can get pregnant the good ol' fashioned way, I'd like to believe by some divine miracle I could.  And of course, today is the coveted day 14 of my cycle.  Most often the most fertile day of the month.  And the appointed seman analysis that we've been waiting 3 months for is on Monday at 11 am.  That's right -  in exact hours, this is less than 48 hours away.  And what have we done?  Nothing.  That is because in less than the magic 48 hours, my husband must pleasure himself into a tiny cup - all in the name of science (and future babies).  So, here I am on a Saturday night, on the eve of our 7th year wedding anniversary, griping about one of the ways this infertility thing has screwed me over (in not the fun way).  C'est la vie.