Infertility case sharing – Male infertility

30-year-old nurse, 33-year-old police

“If my husband can go through the psychological problems and get his semen tested, we would be having our own children earlier!” Currently a mother of a daughter and a son, the images of “birth-giving” are still fresh in memories. She admitted that her husband’s hesitancy for semen examination was a costly mistake.

Back then she was only 26 and was married to her 29-year-old boyfriend, enjoying the honeymoon. However, since her husband was the only son in his family, though he has 3 elder sisters, her in-laws were hoping that she could give birth as soon as possible. Since she loves children herself, this young couple had already tried their best but no good news was heard. Therefore, she was pressured by her in-laws during family gathering by suggesting child bearing and secret recipes for getting pregnant.

Eventually, she approached a gynecologist after a year for consultation. However, tests were done one after one and no problems were found. She was perfectly fine, but this was even more troubling for her. “I’ve repeated done the tests in hope of getting pregnant, such as fallopian tube examination, ovulation test, advanced test, test for Chlamydia infection, you name it. Doctor said I’ve done whenever it could be. And all tests came back normal.”

She admitted that though some fertility tests were tedious, some requires blood tests and ultrasound scan on specific days in the menstrual cycle, and her shift work was making hard for time arrangement, she gridded her teeth and bear with it anyway.

Since all tests came back normal for her, both her doctor and she suggested her husband for semen test for fertility problems, which requires only one day, to examine the volume, morphology, motility, sperm count, speed, etc. However, her husband refused and insisted that he is strong and exercised regularly, so that his sperms must be normal.

At the age of 33, seeing how upset her wife was, her husband finally got tested. Results showed that he had severe asthenospermia, which only 20% of the sperms are normal, so natural fertilization is impossible. Therefore doctor suggested artificial insemination by combining the selected strong sperms with the ovum. At last she got pregnant on the first cycle and gave birth to a boy and a girl. The couple was overwhelmed by the arrival of these two little lives.

Her husband felt guilty for his wife’s struggle for the past 3 years, as she wouldn’t have to suffer if he had had his tests done earlier due to the so-called “face”. Therefore, he now suggests all his friends to get their fertility tests before marriage so that they don’t have to go through his nightmare again.

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Readers should consult their physician before considering treatment, and should not interpret their condition solely based on the information above.