Male factor infertility - anyone TTC naturally?

[Opus17]

Morning everyone,

Just wondering if anyone was in the same boat and wanted to chat!
We got pregnant naturally after just 4 months before we ran into any problems but that resulted in a MMC. For the next two and half years, we just couldn't get pregnant. My husband had a test done early which said everything was fine, even if on the lower side (15 million). Then after another 18 months, and all tests coming back to me as "normal", dh was tested again and got results of 4 million and low motility. So we did our first round of icsi and had our DS.
He's 16 months now and we've been debating a sibling. DH went to get tested again and his count has skyrocketed to 57 million but his motility is still slow (22% total, only 9% fast). It still seems the odds are stacked against us despite the sudden higher count.

Still, we've decide to TTC naturally until next summer and if it doesn't happen, then we'll discuss whether we want to do another icsi or not.

Feel free to join in the chat if you're going through the same thing!

Hi! Just wondered how you're getting on? We've got really low numbers and awaiting results from a varicocele embolisation before deciding what to do next! X

Hi!
I'm sorry to hear you're also struggling with male factor.
I'm not sure how common my story is but we were completely surprised to find out we had conceived naturally in May. I'm now 24 weeks pregnant with a baby boy.

DH went back to do a second test in the January. The count was the same but the motility was even worse so the urologist said we need to go back to the clinic and start icsi again. We set it all up in the March but decided to wait until August to do the first round (mentally prepare, enjoy our summer holiday first) so we were very surprised when we got a positive test in May.
Male factor can be so unpredictable seeing as it can change so often. I don't have any experience with varicocele embolisation but I'm hoping you won't be waiting too long until you can proceed to the next steps. As I've said for us, his numbers changed quite dramatically, even if the motility didn't.
Obviously we went 2 and a half years with nothing, but this time it was "only" 8 months. I felt very hopeless very often in our journey but I can pass on with male factor, there quite a few things you can try first and then icsi too so there are lots of options to try / routes to go down. With our first icsi, DH only had about 4 million and we got our little boy out that cycle.

What are your OH's numbers like? X