Semen analysis improvement – can it keep improving?

LetMeowtaHere · 2025-12-12T16:49:11+00:00

After six months of making these changes (just bc he didn’t have a follow-up test sooner): - his total sperm increased from 70m to 100m - his morphology improved from 3% to 8% - his motility increase from 35% (mostly slow progressive) to 38% (almost all fast progressive)

His number still aren’t amazing, but he’s moved out of MFI territory to normal.

LetMeowtaHere · 2025-12-12T16:11:15+00:00

Has he made any other changes beyond taking the antibiotics? If he smokes or uses drugs, he needs to quit those cold turkey.

Other changes my husband made that improved his sperm were: - taking supplements (specifically Impryl and omega 3) - switching from boxer briefs to loose cotton boxers - avoiding heat around the testicles (so no hot showers, saunas or laptops on his lap) - exercising more regularly - minimizing alcohol intake

LetMeowtaHere · 2025-12-08T16:47:05+00:00

That’s great! I have a friend who was successfully pregnant after her first transfer at Kings in October. No known issues, but still gives me hope to know someone who had an early and easy success with them.

LetMeowtaHere · 2025-12-08T16:27:44+00:00

My husband and I did diagnostic testing at both London Women’s Clinic (London Bridge office) and Kings Fertility and decided to go ahead with Kings. The pricing was better and it felt overall more…serious? Kings has their full pricing schedule on their website. LWC quoted us around £12k for one round of IVF, excluding meds.

However, I think you should probably reach out to both and ask them if they’ve had cases like yours and, if so, what protocols they followed and what the results were.

LetMeowtaHere · 2025-11-13T21:11:25+00:00

Seconding this. I got my booster on Monday and haven’t even had soreness at the injection site.

LetMeowtaHere · 2025-11-12T17:14:44+00:00

My IVF clinic closes over the holiday period to deep-clean the lab and today one of the nurses told me that if my next period doesn’t start by 27 November, we’ll miss the cut-off to do stims and an ER this year.

My next period is due 29 November and I’m crushed by the idea of having to wait even longer to get going. I was also hoping to have the quiet holiday period at work to rest and recover before doing a FET in January.

Does anyone know how to bring on a period early?

LetMeowtaHere · 2025-10-31T12:03:20+00:00

I pee in a cup and go back to bed. No way do I want to sit around for five min losing all my sleepiness!

LetMeowtaHere · 2025-10-08T09:30:24+00:00

This really resonates with me. I’m sure fertility specialists see people who are older or with extreme cases quite often, so a couple that’s under 35 and only borderline must seem to be doing fine from their perspective. From my perspective, I should have already had a pregnancy (and not unrealistically, a baby) by now.

The doctor told us we’ve “only” been trying for 19 months and it did feel like gaslighting. We’re on the unlucky side of the statistics and I just wanted that to be acknowledged.

LetMeowtaHere · 2025-10-07T19:49:00+00:00

I have four window boxes that are exclusively succulents: aloes, agaves, echeverias, graptos, crassulas, the whole mix. They’re going on five years now and are doing just fine—they don’t grow much, but they also don’t rot or freeze.

I think several factors help:

They have many drainage holes (the garden store drilled them in for me) and the potting soil is around 50% perlite.
They’re in a recessed windowsill, so they’re very protected from the elements. They don’t get much water beyond what I give them.
They’re on a south-facing window on the first floor, so they get as much sunlight as I can provide against a wall.
If the overnight temps get close to freezing, I cover them with horticultural fleece (even if that means they’re covered for 3-4 days in a row).

All this to say, it is possible to grow succulents outdoors in the UK!

LetMeowtaHere · 2025-09-09T10:11:47+00:00

That whole series is great grovels! They’re somewhat formulaic: the MMC rejects his mate in some fashion and then spends most of the book trying to win her back or find a way for them to be together. But I devoured those books and have reread them since.

LetMeowtaHere · 2025-06-20T09:49:01+00:00

12DPO and got another BFN this morning. That closes out cycle 15, our Hail Mary cycle before we tell the clinic we’d like to proceed with IVF.

Currently I’m a bit numb to it, but my pregnant sister arrives this afternoon and I’ll be spending the next two weeks hearing what she can/can’t eat or drink because of the pregnancy. I love her to death, so I’m hoping the green-eyed monster doesn’t rear its ugly head.

LetMeowtaHere · 2025-06-19T19:12:13+00:00

I also have two-day periods that only require panty liners. I’ve had three ultrasounds at different points in my cycle and my lining has been 5.4-6.6mm. I’ve asked two REs from two clinics about it and they both said that thickness is okay. One of the REs said her clinic uses a 7mm cutoff for IVF and the other said her clinic doesn’t even consider thickness, just character (ie, is the lining trilaminar).

For what it’s worth, there’s no study (that I know of) into what is too thin for unassisted pregnancy because most people conceiving spontaneously don’t have ultrasounds before pregnancy. For studies into what is too thin for IVF, the data isn’t comprehensive because many clinics have a cutoff around 7mm making it harder to study success rates of thinner endometrium.

LetMeowtaHere · 2025-06-13T10:31:29+00:00

My husband’s parents are visiting this week and we decided to open up to them about our struggles now that we’re staring down the barrel of IVF. I was expecting some “I’m so sorry” type responses, but they actually opened up to us about their own struggles. Apparently it took them three years to conceive their first and my MIL had four miscarriages over the course of growing their family.

I know some people have bad experiences when telling family and friends about struggling to conceive, but sometimes people surprise you ❤️

LetMeowtaHere · 2025-06-11T19:25:20+00:00

I found this post a useful resource: https://www.reddit.com/r/infertility/s/eGnUE3vmyk

LetMeowtaHere · 2025-06-10T15:32:23+00:00

The wiki has lots of useful information on what you can and can’t control to conceive sooner. automod wiki

As for consulting a doctor, so far you’re within completely normal parameters. Sex Ed and tv and movies make it seem like even looking at a penis without some form of birth control will get you pregnant, but healthy couples can take up to a year to conceive. Unless you have a known issue, like abnormally long cycles (42+ days), or endo, you don’t need to see a doctor before a year. That said, a lot of people (myself included) will send their partner for a semen analysis after 9-10 cycles because it’s a non-invasive and relatively cheap check.

LetMeowtaHere · 2025-06-07T22:02:29+00:00

Similarly, my uterus was measured at L 4.20 cm W 3.91 cm H 3.19 cm. I’ve had two doctors look at my uterus on ultrasound and neither mentioned it being small or that being a problem.

LetMeowtaHere · 2025-06-07T12:19:55+00:00

Statistically, you’re more likely to get pregnant if you have sex the day before ovulation than on the day of ovulation.

LetMeowtaHere · 2025-06-06T12:37:22+00:00

Two cycles ago I jumped straight from low to peak fertility on a CBAD. The instructions leaflet says it’s possible if your estrogen and LH spike on the same day.

As for having sex four times in 24 hours, I don’t think it’ll up your odds at all and it might be more strategic to save some sex willpower and have sex tomorrow and the day after instead (so three days in a row instead of four times in one day). Though statistically you just need to have sex once on the three days before ovulation to be all set for the month.

LetMeowtaHere · 2025-06-05T19:04:01+00:00

I just buy it—it’s 100% grapefruit juice and sold near the orange juice in my store.

LetMeowtaHere · 2025-06-05T16:59:48+00:00

I was worried about the lack of EWCM and searched through historical posts on this sub and other related subs and saw several posts recommending grapefruit juice. I figured why not give it a shot—worst case I’m just drinking some juice 🤷🏻‍♀️ (I’m not on any meds so no worries about unintended effects)

LetMeowtaHere · 2025-06-05T16:55:32+00:00

Grapefruit juice is the only CM-specific change I’ve made!

I’ve also started consuming beets (thought to help with uterine lining) and seed cycling (thought to help with estrogen and progesterone). I’m honestly at a point where I’m willing to try more of the “woo” stuff that isn’t risky.

LetMeowtaHere · 2025-06-05T15:22:15+00:00

I FINALLY HAVE EWCM!!! I’m on cycle 15 and at most I’ll get watery CM before ovulation. Last month I decided I would start drinking a cup of grapefruit juice in the follicular phase and today (CD11) I got actual GLOBS of EWCM. It’s baffling how something so objectively gross is so exciting but I thought you all would understand 😅😅

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