Secondary Infertility: Feel fobbed off by GP

[Broody4another]

My dp and I ttc for 4 years and eventually underwent ICSI last year and we have a db now a year old. We were down for the standard IVF but on the day of the egg collection the lab told us that dp's semen had a high level of abnormal sperm and we would be very unlikely to get any fertliised eggs from IVF. So we agreed and I got pregnant.

Now our minds are turning to the idea that it would be lovely to have another baby if we could. So we went to the GP yesterday to say that we were thinking of ttc a second but had no idea where we stood as re the infertility and we had a ? about dp's semen. She said that the semen was probably just a duff sample and everything was fine, that he didn't want to test it again as that would medicalise things. That our previous infertility was probably just down to anxiety and the fact that I've had a full-term pregnancy and normal labour mean that the previous 4 years of ttc are irrelevant.

Apparently many couples have a great problem getting pregnant first time, but second time it happens without even trying!

I'm sure everyone has heard anecdotal tales of people going through IVF then falling pregnant naturally, but is this common? And is it true that after one baby, you start all over again in fertility terms, discounting any previous infertility (if no cause was found)? And also is it normal for one sample of semen to be bad, but there not to be a problem?

(If nobody knows I'll post on one of the infertility boards, just feel a bit uncomfortable with moaning about wanting a second when so many people are trying for one.)

Hi I am ttc my first so don't have any first hand experience of this but it looks like there's some hope

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/253374.stm

Good Luck

i know of several people who have fallen pregnant naturally after having IVF first...or falling pregnant when they have given up hope

Have you been trying to conceive at all, or where you waiting for the docs opinion?

often, when you have had one baby , your body knows what to do so you get pregnant more easily....but then secondary infertility is also quite common!

i think that it is hard to say . what happened to one may not happen to another.

did you get pregnant the first cycle of IVF?

Broody4another,
I don't know how old you are or how long you are prepared to try, but personally I would be feeling very patronised and angry about that attitude by your GP.
I can only see that getting your dp's sperm sample tested again would either put your minds at rest or it will prevent you going through another 4 years of waiting because it will let you know you have an issue.
Personally I would insist on getting yourselves (esp your dh) checked out again, as 4 years ttc is clearly beyond the realms of normal.

It could be that it was a bad sample because it was left too long by the lab assistants and they had all died - that did happen to a friend of mine, but then they were sent for a retest which proved that his sperm was fine.
However, it could also be that the tests they do on sperm before IVF are more thorough - I think they check for antibodies on them, which is not done at the regular motility/count analysis that is initially done. So maybe the IVF tests didn't pick up a problem with the motility or count but with these antibodies. Do you know what the problem was? There was a thread about this on MN a couple of weeks ago.

If you don't want to insist now, then you could wait for 6 months and in that time ttc really hard, then go back immediately to your GP and insist then that s/he takes you seriously.

Thanks everyone for your replies. Yes rubles I did feel patronised. She seemed to think I was after NHS IVF (which I wasn't) and kept saying I wasn't entitled to it as I already have a child. Ok fair enough, but we really just wanted some advice and some sort of idea as to what our options are, i.e do we have to go through assisted conception again and how can we boost our chances. Now dp is like, 'Well my sperm's ok after all'.

Yes lulumama got pregnant first cycle. That's why we're so clueless about all the infertity issues. She said give t a year of 'love-making' without paying any attenion to times of the month, as she feels I have time (I'm in my late 20s). So I guess that's what we'll do. I've had 3 periods since stopping breastfeeding sohere's to 9 more, I guess...

Thanks for the link cityangel,
I'll check it out soon.

Oh and re dps sperm, when we got the news about the high level of abnormalities, dp offered to do another sample but they said, no point.