Hi Dannie
My DH is 50 and has had 4 sperm tests in the last six months. It's been so bad we have had to go on IVF and have the sperm injected into the egg.

But what we didn't know when we started out is that sperm take 70 days to grow.

My DH took a lot of really hot baths last winter and his sperm results were much worse than Dale's when he had his first test in October. We immediately banned him from baths and 70 days later his results were much improved. Count back 70 days from the test and see if Dale was sick. Any fever, overheating or emotional upset? Maybe he went on a long bike ride or jumped in a sauna? Things like that can upset the taddies in some men and give really variable results.

You both really do have time on your side. Waiting until 17 April will give the taddies more time to recover and replenish if there was some weirdness. So see it as a benefit rather than a negative if you can. I know how hard it is to be patient - believe me coz I'm 39 and rapidly running out of time!

Did you also know that 15% normal morpohology is considered average. My DH got 13% in his most recent test after taking special care not to overheat the little fellas.

On the PHI side of things. It would be a good idea to maybe get yourself some basic obstetrics hospital cover for the eventual birth of your child, but I wouldn't bother with PHI that covers IVF. I just have basic hospital with obstetrics ($42.90 per month is steep enough). I definitely don't have IVF cover and I still got money back on my hospital cover from my PHI when I had IVF. In fact it would have cost me an extra $216 dollars per year for the extra cover and I would have only got an extra $85 bucks back per IVF treatment - but they don't tell you little things like that when you buy PHI.

Medicare has a safety net for out of hospital costs (and most infertility treatment can be done out of hospital). If you find yourself going down that path you and Dale's should register as a family on the medicare website. Keep all your reciepts you will be surprised how much is covered by medicare these days.

best wishes