When to use donor sperm?

Jann · 03-20-2006, 03:37 PM

Hi,
Under what circumstances do people move on to donor sperm? DH has 0% morphology and low motility but I have been told that ICSI can compensate for this. We will probably try 3 fresh IVF cycles and maybe a FET if we can freeze an embryo. At what stage, would we move on to donnor sperm/IUI. It would obviously be more affordable than to keep doing IVF after I have exhausted our insurance (I'm unsure if Shared Risk would accept us in the case that the IVFs with DH's sperm doesn't work).

Thanks. Jann

Jen's Hope · 03-20-2006, 04:03 PM

Hi Jann,

I'm certainly no expert, but I can fill you in on my situation. We were going to undergo ICSI w/TESE at first. DH has had an irreversible V years ago. When we spoke to the RE, she advised us that we have a 1 in 10 chance of success with this, because they have no idea what condition DH's sperm is in. We then decided that we have a much higher success rate with donor/IUI, therefore that's what we are going to do. We both decided that we didn't want to spend all of that $ for IVF with a slim to none chance. IUI with donor is much more affordable for us & will give us the highest success rate (my fertility is just fine). Basically, I would ask your RE what your odds of success would be through ICSI, and from there you can make an informed decision.
Best of luck with whatever you decide to do!

Ivory · 03-20-2006, 04:13 PM

We used donor sperm on our first IVF. DH had cancer two years before and his count was very low. They told us ICSI would take care of that but they couldn't be sure the chemotherapy hadn't damaged his sperm. We didn't want what we thought was our only IVF attempt to result in zero embryos. So we picked a donor and fertilized half of my eggs with the donor sperm and half with DH's. Three days later we had embies from both. We decided to only put back 3 of DH's fertilized embies. One took and split and we became pregnant with twin girls.

If we had ended up with no embryos from DH's sperm then we would have had the "back-up" donor fertilized embryos. Turns out we didn't need them and we gave them up for adoption.

Best of luck with your decision.

Jann · 03-21-2006, 10:56 AM

Wow. You both have interesting stories!!! I really like the idea of using both donor sperm and DH's sperm in one IVF cycle if it came down to that.
Ivory, congrats to you!!
Jen's Hope, what is your status now?

Best of luck to both of you! Jann

Jen's Hope · 03-24-2006, 11:39 AM

Hi Jann,

Actually, our diagnosis just did a turn for the better. We can do IVF/ICSI with DH's sperm after all, which is good news. Still costly, but good news. I just received all of my diognostic test results, and they all came back great, so we can start as soon as next month. Of course, if our two chances fail, we will move on to DIUI...a little backwards, but finance wise all we can do.

Don't rule out DS though. It's a wonderful option & less expensive. Let us know what you decide! Best of luck to you!

maria2 · 04-02-2006, 03:24 PM

Hi there-
We went through ICSI after 3 yrs of IF - and had such a devastating experience we decided we couldn't do it again. It tore us apart. Dh had better sperm than what you describe, low counts but not tiny, good motility, and similar morphology. We were excellent ICSI candidates. So, with our ICSI, after two embies were implanted, and being told from the beta that we were pregnant, I bled off and on for 2 weeks and then had a miscarriage and then several weeks later it became clear I had a tubal pregnancy as well, so that had to be terminated. (I was the only one out of the 106 in that year or quarter or something that became pg w/ the clinic who had a tubal.) The RE said he thought I had ended up over (though not hyper) stimulated and couldn't say what the quality of the eggs were because of that, even though we had 3 frozen embies after our first cycle. The egg extraction proceedure left me shaking and very sick for several days. I could really go on and on. It was just awful for us. For many many others it isn't this hard, but for us it was. We waited 3 years after it wrestling about what, if anything, to do next before we finally decided to try diui. Now we wonder what took us so long. We have two of the most blessed children (who of course also drive us crazy) who are so clearly the children we are meant to have; they are the loves of our lives. I get chills writing this. I feel like we just have lucky stars to thank that my dh and I were able to finally come to terms with diui and try it out. That's our story.
-maria2
mom to David, 4, and Katie, 19 mo (today!)

mmi · 04-11-2006, 02:07 PM

We did two fresh and one frozen IVf cycle. This was after almost 2 years of IUI with clomid and injections. I wish we would have gone to donor after one IVF.(just so we wouldn't have said, what if?) Dh had counts of 15-20 million with 6 % morphology. our clinic insisted that we would get pregnant. It did not happen. We RELUCTANTLY went to donor. As a result, we have two beautiful daughters who are the love of our lives. Now that we are done trying to conceive, we rarely think of the donor stuff... we are just so blessed and complete to be a family. good luck.

bilabon · 04-16-2006, 05:25 AM

Hi Jann
My hubby and I have to use donor sperm also, due to the fact that he was left too long as a child with undesended testes, we were told that ICSI might help but there would only be a 5% chance of final success!!
So now we are about to start the whole counseling routine, before moving on to actually trying to conceive!
We could have tried the ICSI route, but it would have meant a very painful operation for my husband, and as I said with very slim chances of even retrieving any viable sperm we have decided this is this best route for us!
Coming from England at least we don't have the added worry of financial cost(the NHS), best luck to you in whatever route you decide is best for you!!
Best Wishes
Bilabon

03-20-2006, 03:37 PM	#1 (permalink)
Jann 1000-4999 post queen of hearts Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Washington D.C. Posts: 2,152	When to use donor sperm? Hi, Under what circumstances do people move on to donor sperm? DH has 0% morphology and low motility but I have been told that ICSI can compensate for this. We will probably try 3 fresh IVF cycles and maybe a FET if we can freeze an embryo. At what stage, would we move on to donnor sperm/IUI. It would obviously be more affordable than to keep doing IVF after I have exhausted our insurance (I'm unsure if Shared Risk would accept us in the case that the IVFs with DH's sperm doesn't work). Thanks. Jann

04-11-2006, 02:07 PM	#7 (permalink)
mmi 5000-9999 post king of hearts Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 6,471	We did two fresh and one frozen IVf cycle. This was after almost 2 years of IUI with clomid and injections. I wish we would have gone to donor after one IVF.(just so we wouldn't have said, what if?) Dh had counts of 15-20 million with 6 % morphology. our clinic insisted that we would get pregnant. It did not happen. We RELUCTANTLY went to donor. As a result, we have two beautiful daughters who are the love of our lives. Now that we are done trying to conceive, we rarely think of the donor stuff... we are just so blessed and complete to be a family. good luck. __________________ 3 years and 15 medicated cycles(clomid, injections, iui's, ivf's, fet, you name it) and 2 angels before finally getting princess 1 (1999) 2 injection cycles for princess 2(2002) Truly miracles! "Life isn't measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

04-16-2006, 05:25 AM	#8 (permalink)
bilabon Registered User Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: north-west england Posts: 12	When to go with sperm donation Hi Jann My hubby and I have to use donor sperm also, due to the fact that he was left too long as a child with undesended testes, we were told that ICSI might help but there would only be a 5% chance of final success!! So now we are about to start the whole counseling routine, before moving on to actually trying to conceive! We could have tried the ICSI route, but it would have meant a very painful operation for my husband, and as I said with very slim chances of even retrieving any viable sperm we have decided this is this best route for us! Coming from England at least we don't have the added worry of financial cost(the NHS), best luck to you in whatever route you decide is best for you!! Best Wishes Bilabon Last edited by bilabon; 04-17-2006 at 07:19 PM.

VISIT OUR SISTER SITES:
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar	eHarmony Advice Dating Advice	Project Wedding Wedding Songs	Weddingbee Wedding Blog

Currently Active Chat Room Users: 0 \| Scheduled Chat Room Events
	Users in Chat Rooms: No one's chatting right now!

03-20-2006, 04:03 PM	#2 (permalink)
Jen's Hope Registered User Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 299	Hi Jann, I'm certainly no expert, but I can fill you in on my situation. We were going to undergo ICSI w/TESE at first. DH has had an irreversible V years ago. When we spoke to the RE, she advised us that we have a 1 in 10 chance of success with this, because they have no idea what condition DH's sperm is in. We then decided that we have a much higher success rate with donor/IUI, therefore that's what we are going to do. We both decided that we didn't want to spend all of that $ for IVF with a slim to none chance. IUI with donor is much more affordable for us & will give us the highest success rate (my fertility is just fine). Basically, I would ask your RE what your odds of success would be through ICSI, and from there you can make an informed decision. Best of luck with whatever you decide to do!

03-20-2006, 04:13 PM	#3 (permalink)
Ivory 1000-4999 post queen of hearts Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 3,174	We used donor sperm on our first IVF. DH had cancer two years before and his count was very low. They told us ICSI would take care of that but they couldn't be sure the chemotherapy hadn't damaged his sperm. We didn't want what we thought was our only IVF attempt to result in zero embryos. So we picked a donor and fertilized half of my eggs with the donor sperm and half with DH's. Three days later we had embies from both. We decided to only put back 3 of DH's fertilized embies. One took and split and we became pregnant with twin girls. If we had ended up with no embryos from DH's sperm then we would have had the "back-up" donor fertilized embryos. Turns out we didn't need them and we gave them up for adoption. Best of luck with your decision.

03-21-2006, 10:56 AM	#4 (permalink)
Jann 1000-4999 post queen of hearts Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Washington D.C. Posts: 2,152	Wow. You both have interesting stories!!! I really like the idea of using both donor sperm and DH's sperm in one IVF cycle if it came down to that. Ivory, congrats to you!! Jen's Hope, what is your status now? Best of luck to both of you! Jann

03-24-2006, 11:39 AM	#5 (permalink)
Jen's Hope Registered User Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 299	Hi Jann, Actually, our diagnosis just did a turn for the better. We can do IVF/ICSI with DH's sperm after all, which is good news. Still costly, but good news. I just received all of my diognostic test results, and they all came back great, so we can start as soon as next month. Of course, if our two chances fail, we will move on to DIUI...a little backwards, but finance wise all we can do. Don't rule out DS though. It's a wonderful option & less expensive. Let us know what you decide! Best of luck to you!

04-02-2006, 03:24 PM	#6 (permalink)
maria2 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Oregon Posts: 477	Hi there- We went through ICSI after 3 yrs of IF - and had such a devastating experience we decided we couldn't do it again. It tore us apart. Dh had better sperm than what you describe, low counts but not tiny, good motility, and similar morphology. We were excellent ICSI candidates. So, with our ICSI, after two embies were implanted, and being told from the beta that we were pregnant, I bled off and on for 2 weeks and then had a miscarriage and then several weeks later it became clear I had a tubal pregnancy as well, so that had to be terminated. (I was the only one out of the 106 in that year or quarter or something that became pg w/ the clinic who had a tubal.) The RE said he thought I had ended up over (though not hyper) stimulated and couldn't say what the quality of the eggs were because of that, even though we had 3 frozen embies after our first cycle. The egg extraction proceedure left me shaking and very sick for several days. I could really go on and on. It was just awful for us. For many many others it isn't this hard, but for us it was. We waited 3 years after it wrestling about what, if anything, to do next before we finally decided to try diui. Now we wonder what took us so long. We have two of the most blessed children (who of course also drive us crazy) who are so clearly the children we are meant to have; they are the loves of our lives. I get chills writing this. I feel like we just have lucky stars to thank that my dh and I were able to finally come to terms with diui and try it out. That's our story. -maria2 mom to David, 4, and Katie, 19 mo (today!)