What Would You Do Differently?
Posted on May 20, 2008
Two days in a row I was asked a similar question. The first question was: why didn’t we opt for my husband to have surgery to try to improve his semen so that we could attempt to conceive naturally? And the second was, would you do it all over again – taking the same risks?
My husband has varicoceles which was the primary cause of our infertility. Although his sperm counts were not terrible, they were on the low-end, the quality of his sperm was not great. We opted not to pursue surgery to see if it would improve my husband’s condition enough for us to become pregnant without medical assistance. Our decision was based on a few factors, one was that the surgery was not guaranteed to make a different in his sperm results (and his urologist wasn’t too optimistic we’d be able to conceive naturally), the cost of the surgery was about $5,000 and it wasn’t covered by insurance, and we were already in our early 30′s. The combination of all of these factors lead us directly to IVF.
Although, I am very grateful for my twin daughters. I would have preferred a singleton pregnancy because I think it we would have avoided all of the complications that ensued with our twin pregnancy. Also, I would have liked the opportunity to be pregnant more than once (beggars cannot be choosers, and I know I’m blessed to have two beautiful children)! With the information I’ve gained, mainly from personal experience, but also from research, today I would be more conservative in fertility treatments. Instead of transferring 3 embryos, I would opt for only 2 (maybe even only 1). One of three twin pregnancies end prematurely – prematurity is not something you want to experience if you can avoid it.
A fairly new program at SIRM hopes to minimize multiples. It’s nice to see a clinic taking an active role trying to reduce the occurrence of twins and high-order multiples!
Creative Commons image courtesy of bulldog1.
» Filed Under Infertility, pregnancy
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Hi – I’ve found you through Mel’s NaComLeavMo and have enjoyed reading your entries.
Decisions about what tx to pursue in IF are hard to make. I suppose there’s always the question of how things would have been, if we’d chosen differently. It sounds like you are really aware of the wonderful side – your two beautiful daughters!- and the “maybe it would have been different” results of the choices you and dh made. It is inspiring to see how your experiences led you to help others through your writing. Andie