Determine The Gender Of Your Baby

In the past infertility was generally thought of as the fault of the woman, but today researchers are realizing that men and women are equally balanced when it comes to struggling with infertility. While your lady will need to go through some testing to discover precisely where the problem lies, you will need to have a male infertility test to find out what your role is in the situation. Actually this ‘test’ includes a number of tests and the makeup of your individual male infertility test will depend on the specific details of your infertility.

Your doctor will want to examine your full medical history – any STDs, any childhood diseases, any medication, any operations – be ready to lay it all out! This is not a good time to be shy; your doctor must know everything in order to make an accurate diagnosis. Recreational drugs, smoking, caffeine, alcohol – all of these can affect your fertility. The doctor will also need a record of your complete sexual history: when you reached puberty, your first sexual encounters, any STDs, the number of sexual partners, any high risk sexual behaviors – all of these are important. As embarrassing as that may sound, look at it like this – if you had a couple of STDs long ago and you don’t tell the doc about them now he (or she) will learn about them the hard way – through examinations and tests – so why not just be honest about it to begin with? You’ll save yourself the money and the embarrassment. The doctors are there to help, not to criticize.

You will also have to have a full physical examination just to rule out any obvious difficulties. Here the doctor will look for enlarged veins on the scrotum (also called variococeles) and will check for any testicular abnormalities. The physical exam could also help the doctor to diagnose any hormonal problems.

The most essential male infertility test is the semen test. You could need up to three tests to check that results are accurate. This involves ejaculating into a cup or container provided by the doctor. Be sure to check if you need to abstain beforehand as a reliable sperm count can only be obtained if you haven’t ejaculated for a couple of days prior to the test.

Various characteristics will be checked:

· How much? – Approximately a teaspoon of semen is enough for effective fertilization.

· Sperm motility – The sperm should be swimming vigorously. Backstroke, crawl, it makes no difference – are they strong?

· Quantity of sperm – Are there sufficient numbers of sperm cells in the semen? They don’t count them each one by one, but rather work out the number of spermies in a small area and then calculate the total amount of sperm. At a normal rate of about 40 million sperm for each ejaculation no one is counting exactly!

· Quality of sperm – Underdeveloped or malformed sperm may not be able to get through the hard layer of the egg, if they even get to the egg to begin with.

· pH levels – The semen is supposed to be a little bit acidic.

· Semen – The color and consistency of the semen will be checked. If the fluid is too thick, the sperm will run out of energy.

Additional testing (if necessary) may include:

· Blood testing – to determine general health and hormone levels.

· A testicle tissue test to verify that the sperm producing cells are healthy.

· Scans – will look for variococeles or blocked pipes.

· A sperm penetration assay to check that the spermies can penetrate an egg by testing them out on a hamster egg or a dead human egg. There is no possibility of creating a living embryo from these tests.

· Anti-sperm antibody tests to verify that the neither the woman’s cervical mucus nor the man’s own body manufacture antibodies to the man’s sperm.

· Genetic testing might also identify irregularities with sperm.

· A post-coital test. Strictly speaking this is a mutual test in that both the woman and the man are tested. This test is performed the day after sex, which should occur during ovulation. This is to determine how many sperm actually make it to the cervix and how healthy they are.

Don’t let arrogance get in the way of a male infertility test. You might save yourself and your partner a great deal of pain and discomfort!

Here is more information on Signs of Infertility. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Infertility.

Tags: Pregnancy //