Low sperm count, how often to dtd?

[fairgame84]

I've read way too much stuff online and now I'm confused.

DH has low count (9.5 million), normal morphology and motility.
Im desperate to conceive naturally as I really don't want ivf.
I've read to dtd every other day during fertile window. I've also read that you should dtd every day to blast sperm at the egg. Then fertility clinic say dtd 5 days before ovulation then 3 consecutive days from ovulation.

So what would you do?
Due to ovulate on 21st according to glow.

Hi there,

I have been using Glow for years and I can't rely on it anymore. For the past months it has messed up my ovulation day. I would recommend doing LH tests prior to ovulation. You need to know when your LH peaks because after that ovulation happens within 12-24 hrs. It is important to BD
every other day before ovulation and on the day of ovulation and the day after, but not too long after it. You want the sperm to be readily available when the ovary releases the egg which lives around 12 to max 24 hrs.
To make sure you ovulated you should check your progesterone level 7 DPO.
Good luck!

My bloods are all normal so I am ovulating. This is my first time with glow. I know when I'm ovulating due to pains and cm, I don't do opks anymore as they are a waste of money.
So you wouldn't recommend the 5 day abstinence that they clinic suggested?

OPKs are more accurate than glow. They aren't a waste of money when you can get them from Amazon for a few pence each. With low count I would DTD every other day from cycle day 9. Most pregnancies occurs from the 2 days leading up to ovulation. Not after ovulation which is why it's important to narrow down when ovulation actually might occur

I meant they are a waste when I know when I'm ovulating. I can tell from my symptoms that why I stopped using them.
I can't use the cheap line ones, I was using clearblue digitals which are expensive.

Have sex as and when you both feel like it. Two or three times a week throughout the month is fine.

Symptoms of ovulation like cervical mucus are not always reliable indicators of it actually occuring. Blood tests and ultrasounds would be far more accurate.

I used OPKs for several years and also in conjunction with a lot of IVF and also had ultrasound follicle tracking....I could ovulate anywhere from cycle day 12 to day 17 and whilst I thought I knew the signs I usually was wrong...

I used clearblue digitals for years too but agree they are expensive - you can use the cheap test strips in conjunction with an app like Premom - take a photo of the strip and it tells you if it's low / high / peak exactly the same as the digitals

It's just so stressful.
It's stressing my husband out, especially the apps and the opks, he hates them because it makes him feel like a robot.
I feel like a ticking time bomb because im 37 so time is running out. Were saving like mad so I can have ivf before I'm 38. I hate this.
I don't want ivf, he wants one go. I just want it to happen naturally so I don't have to do it.

I can understand we were on the TTC for around 7 years until I lost both tubes to ectopics and so in the end IVF was our only option. I actually felt relieved though that it took the pressure off timing DTD with ovulation and worrying had we done it enough at the right time (although IVF comes with its own set of worries)

you could give it 6 months of trying naturally but not scheduled and more spontaneous but then make it clear to him that after that time then yes it does need to be a bit more planned

You don't have to tell him about the OPKs and Apps.....

I feel stupid now knowing that you've had 7 years of this!

It's been 13 months. We've seen nhs fertility clinic who said we need ivf but we have to self fund so now we're saving like mad. The thought of it sends my stomach in knots with stress.

The other issue is that I work shifts so we can't always dtd on the days that the opks say we need to then I get massive guilt that it's a missed opportunity, thats another reason we ditched them. Last month we dtd on cd13 but couldn't on ovulation day because I was knackered from a 13 hour shift and both of us agreed we don't want to force ourselves to dtd.
I think we just stick to alternate days from day 9 and keep our fingers crossed.

I only got the glow app because I've been having really bad pre menstrual symptoms so I wanted to log them for gynae clinic in case there's something they've missed.

@fairgame84

Don't feel silly! If you work shifts i would prioritise days you have EWCM and then the days leading up to ovulation and ovulation day itself x

I know the feeling. This is my fourth year of TTC and two failed rounds of IVF. In between rounds we tried naturally with no luck. I can't tell you to relax because I know you can't. What you can do is BD a little more the days before ovulation and the ovulation day itself. If you don't feel like taking tests, then don't. As horryfing and it may seem at the beginning, IVF isn't that bad. As bonetiredwithtwins mentioned, I too felt relieved because I didn't need to plan sex anymore.
Don't be too hard on yourself! 🍀

Thankyou both.
I never thought of it from the perspective of taking away the stress of timing. I just see injections and money and days off work and probable disappointment because success rates are crap
I'm doing it because DH needs to know we've tried everything and I totally get where he's coming from. He just wants to be a dad.