- When Lindsey Jamesion, 40, from Townsville, Qld, received the heartbreaking news that her hubby, Dave, was infertile, she wasn’t ready to give up.
- Diagnosed with Azoospermia, it meant there was a high chance Dave would never father his own biological children.
- With the odds stacked up against them, Dave underwent a surgical procedure to extract the best viable sperm.
- Now Lindsey and Dave are parents to biological twin daughters.
Here Lindsey tells her story in her own words.
I can’t wait to be a mum,’ I said to my husband, Dave, then 36.
It was 2016 and after two years of married life with just the two of us, we were ready to grow our family.
‘I’ve always wanted to be a dad,’ Dave smiled.
While we hadn’t officially been trying to conceive, we hadn’t been using contraception.
‘Dave has Azoospermia.’
So I was a little bit worried that we hadn’t already fallen pregnant.
‘Let’s do a few tests,’ my gynaecologist said during a general check-up soon after.
Sending us both for testing, nothing could have prepared us for the news to come at our follow-up appointment a week on.
I had a low egg count, but there was more.
‘Dave has Azoospermia,’ the specialist said.
It meant that his semen didn’t carry any sperm and there was a high chance he’d never father his own biological children.
As Dave squeezed my hand tightly, our hearts shattered into a million pieces as we listened on.
She said a sperm donor would likely be our only option.
We came away with several brochures and a lot to consider.
Is this really happening? I thought.
‘I always thought I’d be a dad.’
Back at home, Dave crumbled into depression.
With limited support around men’s infertility, it was months of therapy before Dave felt ready to consider starting our family, whatever that might look like.
‘I always thought I’d be a dad,’ he said, devastated.
‘Genetic or not, they will still be our kids,’ I soothed.
Researching, I read that in some cases Azoospermia can be reversed with lifestyle changes.
‘I’m willing to give anything a try,’ Dave said, determined not to give up.
Tracking down a Chinese herbalist and a naturopath who specialised in infertility in May 2017, Dave did everything they suggested.
Back at the GP a year on, an updated sperm count revealed that Dave had five viable sperm.
‘It’s a glimmer of hope.’
Over the next three months that number rose to 12,000, then again to 72,000 three months later.
A normal semen analysis result would show a count of at least 40 million, but we had still made incredible progress.
‘It’s a glimmer of hope,’ I beamed, wrapping my arms around my hubby.
We’d still need to use a fertility treatment called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) – where a single sperm is injected into each egg.
Hoping to better our chances of conceiving, I focused on my health and lost 30 kilos in 10 months.
In October 2019, we felt ready to give our first round of IVF a try.
With my eggs and Dave’s sperm, we made three beautiful embryos, however sadly only one was viable.
In December we had our first transfer.
‘What do we do now?’
But heartbreakingly, it didn’t take.
The odds were stacking up against us.
‘What do we do now?’ we wondered.
Then Covid put a pause on our fertility journey as the clinic was closed.
We were heartbroken.
Azoospermia affects one in 100 men, so I knew we weren’t suffering alone.
Sifting through support groups on Facebook one evening, I read about reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist Dr Hossam Elzeiny.
Booking an appointment, we met with him in August 2022.
By now we’d spent six agonising years trying to start a family.
‘I would like to try help Dave father his own children,’ Dr Elzeiny, who works at City Fertility said encouragingly.
‘Let’s give this one last shot.’
As we learned about MicroTESE, a surgical procedure where sperm is directly retrieved from the testes, we were filled with renewed hope.
In general, the procedure has a success rate of up to around 60 per cent.
It would mean sperm could be selected for its quality.
‘Let’s give this one last shot,’ Dave decided.
Within the month we flew to Melbourne.
There Dave successfully underwent the intricate procedure under general anaesthetic.
The next day, I went in for an egg collection.
Incredibly it was a success and using Dave’s newly harvested sperm, we created five embryos with my eggs.
Three days later, two precious embryos were transferred into my womb.
The following week a pregnancy test confirmed our wildest dreams.
‘We’re pregnant!’ I happily sobbed.
‘Are you sure?’ Dave replied, in complete shock.
At our first ultrasound at six weeks, my heart leapt out of my chest when two beating hearts appeared on the screen.
‘It’s twins!’ the sonographer said excitedly.
At 20 weeks we learned we were having girls.
We decorated our giraffe-themed nursery and bought two of everything.
Then on July 7, 2023, when I was 36 weeks, Dave raced me to hospital as I’d gone into labour.
Our sweet Annabelle was born first, weighing 3.3 kilos, followed by Abigail at 3.4 kilos, two minutes later.
‘It’s twins!’
‘We’re parents,’ I smiled through tears as we shared our first moments with our beautiful girls.
Back at home, we made a great team bouncing between round-the-clock feeds and nappy changes.
Now 18 months old, our wonderful twins are inseparable.
Confident Annabelle was the first to walk while Abigail, who’s much more cautious, is never far behind her sister!
Our hands and hearts are full raising our precious girls.
If you’re struggling with male factor infertility, please don’t be afraid to do your research.
There’s a chance your dreams can come true.
