Anyone TTC after vasectomy reversal op?

[spamanderson]

Hi! Newbie to the forums :) we have 2 children, 7 and 5 and hubby had a vasectomy almost 5 years ago.... Almost as soon as our youngest was born. He realised quickly after that it was a big mistake. We're speaking with our chosen surgeon in a week and booking the reversal, then it's all aboard the TTC train as soon as he's all healed up :) would love to have some buddies along the way :) it's going to be a fairly long journey I feel, our eldest took a year to conceive our youngest took 9 months with a early mc in between.
Sam x

[mrsstickll]

Hi,

I've been lurking waiting for a post like this! Hubbys VR booked for early December, it's also been 5 years since his vasectomy. Very impatient and nervous about the success of the operation x

[spamanderson]

Yay! So similar to us! Our chosen surgeon gets back from holiday at the end of this week so we're hoping to get booked in in December too. It will be 5 years in December since hubby had his done too!
I'm so impatient about it too, I just want it done so we can get on with it ha ha! I've come off my pill in the hopes of getting it out of my system quickly.... The moodswings from withdrawal are delightful ;)

[mrsstickll]

Our surgeon is also away at the moment doing charity work, we did meet with a different surgeon but he was so negative explaining all the reasons why it wouldn't work and not mentioning the possibility of it being successful, he also said we should wait 6 weeks until TTC?! I was quite dishartened but the surgeon we decided on was much more positive and advised 2 weeks rest from DTD.
I stopped taking the pill years ago as I felt it messed with my mood.
I just want the operation now so we can tell if it has been a success or not so I can get on with the other worries of TTC lol x

[spamanderson]

Ha ha the same here! I spoke to a new surgeon today who is very experienced, I felt like the other may have been bumping up their figures to look better (claiming 92-97% success rates) plus I went on their website again and read something about finance available, it linked to BMI healthcare and gave an out of date form, different interest rates etc so it gave me a bad feeling. This new surgeon us a tad more expensive but he's squeezed us in for an appointment in Sandringham tomorrow afternoon :D he said it's 3-4 week wait for surgery at the moment so we're looking approx this time next month which is what we were hoping! Did your surgeon give you an idea of success rates etc when you met him? This one sounds quite straight forward and has been doing it since the year hubby was born so he's got a fair bit of experience behind him after 38 years ha ha! He did say that the way hubby had his vasectomy done wasn't the best as reduces the chance if success as he used the machine that cauterises so he'll have to remove a couple of inches of tubing and hopefully there is 'enough slack' to bring the ends back together again.
Yeah everything I read says 2 weeks, certainly wouldn't be sooner than that anyway, I imagine it's young to be agony for a while. I'll be happy as long as we can start trying before Christmas and fingers crossed we both get nice quick BFPs with very sticky beans ha ha!
Do you have any birth children? Have you been considering this for a while? I've been thinking about this since the day he had his op! We went through the adoption process and 'failed' at the end due them feeling our children are too young to cope with an adopted child. And my being incredibly impatient, I can't possibly wait 4 years before starting the process again!

[mrsstickll]

Hope your appointment went well! Sorry not had time to reply properly will reply when kids in bed lol x

[spamanderson]

Hiya! That's ok! I know the feeling!
It went brilliantly thank you :) the Dr did advise us that due to it being almost 5 years, this is where the chances go down plus hubby had it done originally scalpel free and the tubes burnt rather than tied so it's another hurdle. But he had a feel about and was pleased he could find the damage on both tubes so hopefully it'll be an easy repair and hubby has plenty of tube in there to help them reattach etc! He also mentioned that as hubby has one testicle smaller than the other (sorry tmi! But he damaged it as child and has always been smaller) he said the chances are that one doesn't work anyway but we obviously did fine conceiving 3 times (2 births, 1 early mc) etc. once he'd had a feel around he was really optimistic and said he thinks we have a good chance of it being successful. He'll do a biopsy at the same time of both and will confirm if he's right about the smaller one etc. He did point out that the rates of miscarriage are a bit higher after reversal but this is most likely due to the sperm needing time to mature. I got a really good feeling from him, I tend to follow my gut instinct and I'm more than happy for him to do the op. Getting hubby the well an conception tablets tomorrow, already bought him baggy boxers, no more caffeinated drinks etc until I'm up the duff ha ha! We're all booked in for surgery on the 14th November!! My birthday is in December so we will hopefully start trying then :D soooo excited!
How have you been doing?

[Desertrunner]

Hi
My DH had one done privately by mr Harriss in Nottingham. Fantastic man and fantastic care.
I've had 3 chem pregnancies since but apparently it's common to take at least a year for sperm quality to rise.
If you have specific questions please ask away.

[Desertrunner]

Oh and my DH was over 10 years post vasectomy.

[mrsstickll]

Fantastic so pleased it went well, you definitely have to go with who you feel comfortable with, I couldn't trust the first one we met with definitely not. Hubby had his tied the surgeon made it sound relatively straight forward, we never talked about the increased risk of mc but I had read when doing research about waiting for sperm to return.
I've also made hubby cut down on the caffeine he's a big coffee fan.
I don't have any children but I'm 28 and the biological clock seems to have taken over my life, we have known for a few years we wanted this done but had other things to sort finances etc so I didn't feel in a rush but now it's so close I want it now. Ours is booked for 4th December and I get to stay overnight at the hospital which I like x

[mrsstickll]

I do have 2 step children aged 6, just realised I'd said I was putting kids to bed and then said I'd not got kids lol I wasn't putting random children in bed! X

[spamanderson]

Oh wow, you're the same age as me too! I'm 28, 29 in December! Ha ha, no I hadn't noticed that until you just said! Oh that's good that his was just tied! Wish hubby's was too! I know the feeling about the biological clock! I had my 1st at 21 and our 2nd at 23, it's 5 years since I had a baby and it feels like forever! Really hoping it happens for us 1 more time :)
Oh that's good, we looked at a place in Nottingham where you could pay £50 and get accommodation for the partner, but reading more online gave me that bad feeling so we decided to pay a bit more and go closer to home. Hubby is pleased he'll only be in for a day and more so that he gets to lie down on the sofa for like a week and do nothing! The surgeon told us that he'll need to not do anything for as long as possible to have the best chance of it working so he'll be making the most of that! I'm self employed too so the fact he can come home straight away is great and I have cakes due the day after so I can decorate them once we get back home :) are you counting down the days like me?? I have Cake a International in Birmingham on the 6th - 9th November, couple of orders in, the off to the hospital for the op, November is going to be a fun month for sure ha ha!

[spamanderson]

Hi Desert!
Thanks for joining :) how long ago did your hubby have his op done? Sorry about your losses. That's one thing I'm worrying about. I had an early loss before conceiving our 2nd child, I was only a few weeks along so I think that was probably classed as a chem too? So hard when you're trying but trying not to get your hopes up :( did you find anything beneficial after his op? Any supplements etc?

[Desertrunner]

Hi Spam
DH had his op a year past July.
He took arnica tablets for the bruising and used arnicare cooling gel to help with healing and bruising after the op. Also those cooling gel pads you put in the fridge were good. He recovered really well. Pretty much back to normal down there after about 4 or 5 days. DTD after a week (oops) - not at all painful.

[spamanderson]

Oh fab! I have been given strict instruction to leave him alone for 2 weeks, from hubby of course ha ha. Arnica tablets? Where can I get them from do you know? Do supermarkets have them do you think? Has he had any semen tests done to check numbers etc?
Sorry for all the questions!

[Desertrunner]

Arnica capsules are just tiny little tablets that you can get in boots, holland and Barrett I think, possibly supermarkets too. Great for reducing swelling. Can't remember dosage but basically take some prior to the surgery then after and they reduce bruising. I took them when I had my babies and swear they helped recovery.
Re: post op tests, we were supposed to go back to Nottingham for tests after 3 months, but had already had a positive preg test by then (the first chemical preg) and as we live a long way from Nottingham we haven't bothered since.

[Desertrunner]

I would like to know the sperm count having said that. But up here we would have to pay for it separately and just haven't done it. Might do it sometime soon tho if still no joy on the ttc front.

[mrsstickll]

What supplements is your hubby taking spam? Did yours take any desert? Just wondering if there is anything recommended to help the sperm return as normal? Xx

[Desertrunner]

Hi
I think there are supplements recommended including zinc....my DH isn't taking them any more but if you google there are loads of websites with suggestions.

[Desertrunner]

DH's best bit of advice he says is to rest completely afterwards for as many days as your DHs can manage. We stayed in a hotel in Nottingham after for 3 nights then went to a holiday cottage for another week and he did very little. The swelling went down quickly and he believes it was because he was able to rest and relax as much as possible. When he got up and walked about it swelled up a bit and was painful. Lying down with a cool gel pad on and a layer of arnicare cooling gel applied worked wonders for pain relief and swelling.

[spamanderson]

mrsstickll We popped to Sainsburys today and picked up some selenium tablets that contain vitamin a & e aswel. I wanted the wellman tabs but they didn't have them. I thought I'd grab those ones until I can get the others. I'm going to grab some multivitamins too once I've checked the daily allowances (so he doesn't go over if he uses the 2 tabs) I read that vitamin c, zinc & selenium were important for sperm production. We bought some arnica cream today too :)
Yeah desert our surgeon said they would like to test after 2 months. We won't go all that way again, so will see if our drs surgery will do it for a fee. I read something, granted it was a few years old, and it was approx £40 to get tested. I imagine that's a little higher now though! We'll go for the test after 2-3 months to check how it's going and that'll probably be it tbh. With the chem pregnancies, Could you get your hubby to start taking his supplements again? Maybe it could be that the sperm haven't matured enough? Although I would have thought they'd mature quicker than that. Hubby is hoping so as he seems to think I'll be pregnant within a few months.... ( ie this is what he hopes as he's probably the only man alive who doesn't appreciate the 'trying' part of having a baby! I on the other hand a Appreciate it as it's the only chance I get for a decent amount of nookie ;) )

[britishbakeoffblues]

My exh has his vasectomy reversed after 7 years and my son is now 3.8
Took 2.5 years to get pregnant.

[spamanderson]

That's fab british! You don't know if his was burnt or tied when he had the vasectomy do you? Any advice for after the procedure at all? Upping sperm count etc? Spam x

[Desertrunner]

Congrats British!
Lots of the success stories on our surgeons website have couples getting pregnant over a year after so I think it can take a while. To be honest we've had a turbulent year anyway with various other issues which may contribute to me not keeping a baby in there ( huge stress, house moves, family issues etc )
On the other hand I do know someone whose DH had a reversal and she was pregnant 6 wks later. So it can happen!!!

[mrsstickll]

Congratulations British love to hear success stories. Thanks for the advice desert, I used arnica gel when I had an operation and I do think it helped with bruising.
Bought some supplements today and he is now officially no longer a coffee drinker as from today. X

[mrsstickll]

Sorry to hear you've had a bad year desert fingers crossed for you x