Vasectomy Reversal -v- IVF

Hello everyone

Well it has been a very long time since I have been on here and to be honest I am really excited to be back! I didnt think I would ever get the opportunity to be talking babies again!

7 years on, one beautiful daughter and an amazing man this time...and I'm back with avengeance!

My partner too was once in the same situation and thinking, after some health issues with a child in his previous marriage :( that he'd never have children again hence getting the Vasectomy about 5 years ago.

Times have changed and we are now wanting a baby of our own, but I'm wanting some opinions on Vasectomy Reversal versus IVF. We are seeing the Doctor on Tuesday but I'd like to hear from anyone with any experience or knowledge in this field.

Given my partner is 39, I'm 28 (with a rather irregular cycle) what do you guys think would be best?

Thanks and once again it's great to be back!

Believe it or not, my dad met a lovely lady, and wanted a baby about 25 yes after his vasectomy. So they had a reversal. It didn't work for them, so they moved on to having semen selected via a needle inserted ( sorry I have no idea of the real names appropriate for the proceedure). They now have a lovely little boy 4 years old :)

We went through ICSI for reasons other than a vasectomy, and I can tell you that it's not a decision to be taken lightly. It's not only expensive, but extremely unpleasant, and of course also has no guarantees of success (though we have been lucky on our first cycle.)
I suspect that a vasectomy reversal would be cheaper, less painful, and you only have to do it once before you know for sure whether or not it's going to work (which it does roughly 80% of the time). If it doesn't work, there's always IVF/ICSI with TESA/TESE (testicular sperm aspiration/extraction) to fall back on. But as far as I know, unless you (the woman) have fertlility issues as well, you have a much higher chance of a successful reversal resulting in a natural pregnancy, than in one IVF cycle resulting in pregnancy.

i agree with Pholi
IVF isn't a path you want to go on if you can avoid it

i'd suggest getting your hormone levels checked to see if you're ovulating as you may need to try something like clomid to get you to ovulate properly - there is a lot that can be done before IVF if the vasectomy reversal works....

Very exciting about trying for another baby, congrats! My partner had a vasectomy 13 years ago and when we decided to have kids of our own (he has 3 older kids from his previous marriage) we were toying with the idea of a reversal. We went and saw a urologist and he advised us to go down the IVF path as quite often reversals don't work if it's been more than 3 or 5 years since it's been done (can't recall which). Since it's been over 10 at that stage, he told us not to waste time and money on the reversal. At the time I stupidly wouldn't accept the fact that we couldn't have kids naturally so I pushed for the reversal. 6 months after it was done there was no sperm present. So in the end we ended up doing IVF and retreiving the sperm via a needle and we've been successful with 3 pg. GL hun and get more info before you make a decision. From memory, the reversal cost around $4000.

My DH has 3 children and i have none. He had a reversal done 12 years after the vasectomy. It didnt work for us and DH thinks it was a waste of time and money. But i feel if we hadnt at least tried to reverse it we would always wonder "what if". I think if you can accept that it may not work but feel its worth a shot then go for it. I now try to look at the positives that when we are done with making our family we wont ever have to use protection again! We have had a stim cycle with ICSI which was a BFN and a FET which resulted in ectopic.

Thanks to everyone for their experiences/input - it's all greatly appreciated.

We went to the Doctor who sent my gorgeous partner for another blood test to see if his body has produced sperm antibodies. We are due to get those results back next week and hopefully the results of the genetic testing. Then we'll have a better idea if IVF is the way for us.

In the meantime we do feel like we are bashing our head against a brickwall with the Dr and services in Kalgoorlie. So we took it upon ourselves to book the IVF consultation in Perth for when we are down there next. I spoke with Hollywood Fertility and was amazed at how much the lovely lady bent over backwards to assist us. So much so I cried when I got off the phone. I explained our whole situation to her and she was understanding and happy for us to cancel if we end up going down the reversal path...and if not we are booked in to get as much stuff done as possible on the 22nd March so we dont have to continually travel to and from Kal for appointments (or as few as possible anyway!)

So I'm keeping positive and now trying to get in better physical shape and healthier to prepare myself as best i can :)

I went to Hollywood Fertility, too, and had nothing but the best of expertise and care from them. I can't imagine how much harder it is to get through all of the investigations, etc, when you're as remote as Kal. Good luck!

Thanks. Very excited and hopeful :) if it gets to this stage that is....we are still awaiting test results!