Conceiving after Vasectomy

Hi there,

I am 34 years going on 35. My partner has had one child with another person, then a vasectomy about 2 years ago. When we first got together I wasn't so sure about kids...never have been. Now, I want to do some investigation before I close the book on having kids forever (on my 35th bday).

He is ok with me wanting to have another child, not thrilled, but willing to talk about it however, he does not want to "undo" his vasectomy.

I have been researching online about IVF...wondering, is that the only way? The threads on this aren't the most clear and I guess what I'm really wanting to hear about is if any of you ladies out there are going through this..what the first steps are etc...do you think there is any chance in hell of conceiving "naturally" after a vasectomy?

Unfortunately, I don't think I'm willing to go through the surgical aspect of it, it just seems like a complete chore and would really be tough on our relationship. I'm willing to be "happy enough" as we are....possibly look at adoption...I don't know. I'm really just trying to find a bit of feminine support in this.

I'm giving myself till my birthday to keep this in my life or leave it behind forever. Not knowing or wondering is starting to drive me nuts.

Thanks so much ladies.

Your partner could first start by having a sperm test to confirm if he has any viable sperm left in his semen. It will be unlikely 2years after having a vasectomy so I would say the chances of conceiving naturally without a reversal would be nothing short of a miracle. For him to get you pregnant they would need to aspirate some out of his testicles. There are some ladies on here who's of husbands have had this so they may be able to tell you more about it from experience.

There would be a small chance you could have IUI if your against IVF but I think that would either not be an option or not a good option as you would use up the sperm aspirated and then basically only have the one chance without doing it all again for both you and your partner. IVF would be the better option in the fact you may have several eggs that are able to be fertilised depending on how you respond and even some sperm left over to be kept for further cycles if needed. I would say without a reversal this is what they would recommend.

Thank you for the quick reply.

I realize that it would be a near miracle. I guess now that the option has been taken away......it's harder to deal with. I've been reading a lot on IVF, I'm not sure we have the $$ or time to do it.

Thanks for being so frank about the "miracle".....I really just needed to hear some black and whites on this.

<3

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Your partner could first start by having a sperm test to confirm if he has any viable sperm left in his semen. It will be unlikely 2years after having a vasectomy so I would say the chances of conceiving naturally without a reversal would be nothing short of a miracle. For him to get you pregnant they would need to aspirate some out of his testicles. There are some ladies on here who's of husbands have had this so they may be able to tell you more about it from experience.

There would be a small chance you could have IUI if your against IVF but I think that would either not be an option or not a good option as you would use up the sperm aspirated and then basically only have the one chance without doing it all again for both you and your partner. IVF would be the better option in the fact you may have several eggs that are able to be fertilised depending on how you respond and even some sperm left over to be kept for further cycles if needed. I would say without a reversal this is what they would recommend.

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humbleroots it wasn't my intention to be blunt. I noticed your in canada so I am not sure about the price of IVF there. In Australia there is quite a difference in prices so some places are much more affordable then others. I was looking at paying close to $10,000 but would get around half of that back but another clinic was around the $4000 which was much more afforable (then some small rebate so you wouldn't be out of pocket that much)

Blunt is good. I'm a no punches pulled kinda gal.

I'm hoping this level of devastation is just a passing issue. We really don't have the funds to do it here. I heard something like $2000 but, then upon further investigation the rates skyrocketed.

s

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humbleroots it wasn't my intention to be blunt. I noticed your in canada so I am not sure about the price of IVF there. In Australia there is quite a difference in prices so some places are much more affordable then others. I was looking at paying close to $10,000 but would get around half of that back but another clinic was around the $4000 which was much more afforable (then some small rebate so you wouldn't be out of pocket that much)

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I'm pretty sure your best option would be visiting a fertility specialist and discussing what tests need to be done first up on your partner. IUI might be an option for you. This should be cheaper and involve less assistance than IVF.

Perhaps entering into some couples counselling too that their program might offer. Especially if your partner does not seem to be really 100% about this.

I'm not sure about your part of the world, but whilst IVF is a chore, there is a very slim chance of adopting and it is an incredibly long process (over 5 years) and the expense is worlds greater from IVF. Adoption sounds equally, if not more stressful on a relationship.

I had also set limits on when I thought I should have started and finished my family, but I am older than 35 now and could happily welcome more children into my life. Even though when I was younger I thought there was no way I'd want that at 36/37. My sister just had her first child at 40. She had out the thought of children out of her mind years earlier as she had no partner and didn't want to go it alone.

From memory whilst doing research, you have around a 1% chance of falling pregnant naturally.

If your partner isn't willing to have the reversal, IVF is most likely your only option, which, as the others have said, can be quite expensive.

Good luck :)

Hi humbleroots, I only now saw this thread but thought I'd reply in case you're still thinking about this:

My husband and I were in a very similar situation to yours, only in my case, my husbands vasectomy was much earlier (about 9 years) and he was willing to get it reversed.

We consulted a fertility specialist who suggested I get some tests done to check that I had no fertility issues (ie, no sense him getting a reversal if it turned out that I had something wrong). My tests were all fine, but the specialist thought that it was unlikely that a reversal would be successful given the length of time since my husbands vasectomy. So, we opted for Ivf. We did 3 cycles in total and were lucky to get two, amazing children from them. I will say that they had to use ICSI procedures as iui is apparently not possible when sperm have to be aspirated from the testes. Also, my husband said that the sperm aspiration was way more painful during and afterwards, when compared with his vasectomy.

We have since wanted to try for another child and were reluctant to return to Ivf because of the prohibitive financial costs, not to mention the emotional and physical tolls. So we consulted a vasectomy reversal micro surgeon who informed us that, had DH not had the testicular biopsies with Ivf, his chances of a reversal resulting in pregnancy would have been greater than 90%, even after 10 years. The damage done from the biopsises reduces that to around 30% now. We still went ahead with the reversal surgery, and are currently trying, so I can't yet comment on its success. I wish we had known that the Ivf sperm retrieval would cause so much damage, and, something worth passing on to your partner, my husband said that he felt certainly no worse recovering from the reversal than he did with the Ivf sperm retrieval.

Hope this helps x