I Swear By Fertility Blend

Let me just preface this post by saying I still got a BFN this morning at 9dp3dt but I'm bitter and don't want to talk about it. Let's instead talk about Brandon's sperm.

When we first started TTC a couple years ago, trying the Clomid and timed intercourse (child's play compared to what we're doing now), Brandon got his first sperm analysis. We were shocked to find that his count was low. His count was 2 million total motile (post-wash). The doctor immediately recommended IVF because to be successful with an IUI we would need at least 10 million sperm post-wash. So Brandon made a few lifestyle changes: he cut out caffeine, started taking a daily vitamin (then switched to Fertility Blend), and even tried acupuncture for a month (though he hated it and quit). So we decided to go for an IUI and see what kind of results we would get. In May 2009 I was so happy that his count had gone up to 19 million total motile post-wash!! Of course the IUI's didn't work out, though we only tried it twice. I got frustrated by the fact that I would take the max dose of Clomid and only get one follicle. I asked for Follistim but was told they were afraid I would have multiples if I overstimmed (this was Madigan, not Womack). So we moved on to IVF #1, which resulted in 4 embryos at day 3: two grade-1 and two grade-2. As most of you know that resulted in a miscarriage and here we are in the 2WW for IVF #2.

This time I asked for our fertilization report when we showed up for our embryo transfer. The receptionist said she could mail it to me and I just received it today. Brandon's total motile count post-wash: 133 million. His motility post-wash was 95%. Now part of it could be the lack of caffeine (though Brandon will drink a caffeinated beverage about once a month), the fact he doesn't drink alcohol, or the fact that he's a fairly skinny guy. But he's never drank alcohol and he was skinny back when he had a shitty sperm count so really those can't be the reasons his sperm has miraculously increased by 660%. I honestly attribute it to the Fertility Blend, which Brandon has taken for the past 5 months leading up to IVF #2. He did take it before IVF #1 but not as long and I don't have the results of his sperm count for that cycle. For all I know they could be similar.

So we're going to get another sperm analysis done for Brandon, specifically to test for morphology to see if he has any issues there. None of the SA's we've had have tested for that. If all looks good then we may ditch IVF (and perhaps IUI's) for good. Obviously we would use all our frozen embryos till we get pregnant or run out, I'm just saying that perhaps we never needed IVF to begin with. Perhaps all we needed was a little Fertility Blend for Brandon, some Follistim for me, and a little nookie to get pregnant.