|
|
| Caleb Lewis Cook 3 days old |
In 2001 we decided we wanted more children so we called our local urologist
and scheduled an appt. to have his reversal. We were all new to this so we didn't think to even do any research so we
just "trusted" our urologist which was the worst thing we ever did. By 2002 we still haven't conceived so we called
the doctor that performed the surgery and he ordered a Sperm Analysis and it came back 0 so we, of course, was devastated.
Come to find out Henry was his 3rd reversal that he's ever did. So I got to the point where I accepted that I
wasn't going to have any more children and I stopped being depressed every time my AF would arrive. By Christmas 2002,
Henry tells me he knows how I want to have another baby so he decided he wanted to do some research and try to find the best
doctor to do his second surgery because he was not giving up.
It took us about 3 weeks to do research because we wanted
to perfect doctor this time and we wanted one that actually does only that in his profession. Every website we clicked
on turned out to be Dr. Grey's in Tampa Florida. So we decided to call and get some information. He does only
that in his profession and over 500 a year so we just knew he was the one. Also we kept praying and praying for the
lord to lead us to the right doctor and we asked God to use the doctors hands to perform the surgery so we knew it would work.
We went to his site every day and even though I had faith in God I still had so much doubt because the first surgery
didn't work what makes Dr. Grey think he would make it work as well. Dr. Grey has emailed me so many time helping me through
my doubt. So Feb 4th (2003) finally came around, we flew down to Tampa Florida. Henry's (DH) surgery was
the very next day. We went in at 1. His surgery was at 2 and the minute we walked in we had the most awesome experience.
They treated us like they've known us for years. Dr. Grey sat us both down and explained exactly what he was going to
do then he asked me if I would like to watch it on the monitor I said yes definitely (that way I knew what was going on)
Well,
they took my husband back and prepped him. They gave him a valium to help him relax plus went ahead and did what
they had to do "down there" and then he came out about 5 minutes. Meanwhile they had a little room filled with snacks/ fridge
filled with drinks etc. and Dr. Grey literally begged me to get something while I wait. So I got some chex mix
and a mountain dew, while I was sitting there waiting he comes back and takes his hand and digs into my chex mix bag.
He acted like he wasn't even a doctor. Just like a person like you and me. So onto the surgery he goes.
Come to find out when he had his first surgery, the doctor who did his previous surgery did a VASECTOMY instead. You
could see where he burnt the ends and everything. So Dr. Grey had to take some extra tubes out of his abdominal to have
"clean tubes" since the previous doctor messed it up so bad. This caused my husbands abdominal to be really sore and
bruised for 2 weeks. But at the end of his surgery, Dr. Grey came out and told me that on one side of his testicle he
had whole sperm along with lots of fragments (meaning heads and tails) and on the other side he had none which he said didn't
mean anything because they can still get someone pregnant with one testicle with sperm. He told us it would take 6 months
to a year but if we haven't conceived within 2 years, the next surgery would be on him!
We had to wait 21 days. We
did however "cheat" on Valentines Day which was day 12 but we felt so guilty we decided to wait till 21 days after that.
We conceived with our little boy who is now 10 month old at 7 1/2 weeks after surgery. We started my husband on a multivitamin
(he took One Source for men) and we went to our local Walmart and bought a microscope and decided to check the semen ourselves.
He did have live sperm and once he started taking his vitamin's we seen a HUGE difference in his sperm. They multiplied
within 2 weeks. Like I said, We conceived at 7 1/2 WEEKS after surgery. We have a beautiful 10 month old baby
boy. We had an awesome experience with Dr. Grey. But I have heard that he isn't like that with all his patients.
We just went in there with no doubt and we didn't let anything bother us because we just knew this surgery would work.
I
know this is really long and I hope I didn't confuse you. Oh before I forget, My husbands vasectomy was 6 years
old when we had his reversal... If you have any questions whatsoever I am here ..
Jess UPDATE: VR miracle #2, Lacey Jean was born 8/4/05.
| Caleb with his BIG brothers |
|
|
|
|
| Caleb(7 months) & his BIG brothers Corey(9) Brandon(7) |
********************************************
hairsmyjob- My DH & I were married in June of 1991. He had his VAS in 1987. We had VR#1 in 1992. We used
a local Urologist, thinking it was a common surgery that ANYONE could do! We had NO post-op care
at all!!! We were just told to "try" it out when DH felt up to it. No supportive underwear either! About
1 year later we had a SA that showed ZERO sperm. I was devastated!!! We just didn't really talk
about kids after that. We focused on other things. My DH had 2 sons & they eventually came to live with us. Then
in 2001, my 34th birthday was creeping up, and I had this "need" to have a baby of my own. We looked into
ALL possibilites & decided that we would look into having VR#2! I searched on the internet & found several Dr.'s
but just kept going back to Dr. Gatewood. I wanted a baby that was biologically OURS! I contacted Dr.
Gatewood's office for a packet of info. We read through it & agreed that Dr. Gatewood was the right Doctor for us! We
knew that if we were going for VR#2, it had to be done RIGHT THIS TIME!!!! We made all of the arrangements
& flew to Florida in April of 2002. The surgery went very well. We loved Dr. Gatewood & all of the staff!
Our trip was PERFECT! DH had very little pain afterwards. Dr. Gatewood uses drains that he inserts
during surgery which help a lot with the pain, bruising & swelling. NO ICE PACKS either! DH took
an additional week off of work to recover. We waited the 4 weeks to BD too! Dr. Gatewood is very strict about that! It
was during that time (the recovery) that I found this board. I mostly lurked then. I can't remember when I first
posted but it was about 5 months post-op. I was starting to think that we had another failed VR.(I was expecting MIRACLES
right off the bat!) The gals on the board made me feel good & gave me the encouragement that I needed.
Soon I was posting my BFP. We conceived 7 months post op. I was sooo excited! I was in shock! The 9 months
went by very fast! I had our little miracle baby, Allie Nicole on her due date by C-section, on Oct. 3, 2003.
She weighed 8 lbs. 10 oz. She was 19.5 in. long. She was perfect! I still have a hard time believing
that she is really ours! Dr. Gatewood made all of our dreams come true. She is now almost 2.5 years old
& I don't know where the time has gone.
I became the CL here in July of 2004 hoping that I could give others
the support & encouragement that I was given. I have recently stepped down after almost 2 years as the CL here because
of personal/family issues. But if there is anything that I can help you with or if you have any questions PLEASE
let me know...
Hairsmyjob@aol.com
~Caroline
5.5 wks old
1 yr. old 2 yrs. old
-------------------------------
stefbe-
Here is our VR story:
My husband had his vasectomy in the summer of 1998...shortly after the
birth of our daughter (our third child in three years). After the vas, he had a horrible time. He was in severe pain
for several days, and continued to have lingering discomfort right up until the reversal. A few years later Dh and
I began to have second thoughts about having another one. Since he had such a horrible time with the vas, a reversal was the
farthest thing from either of our minds. We considered foster care and adoption, but neither seemed to be the right choice
for us at the time. One day I happened upon the VR board here at ParentsPlace, and learned about the whole VR process. After
months of researching and discussing with Dh, we finally decided it would be the right choice for us. In September of
2002, we flew to Bradenton, Florida to see Dr. John Gatewood.
In January of 2003, we conceived for the first time since
the VR. Unfortunately our much anticipated pregnancy ended in miscarriage after only six weeks. We lost one more baby in May,
eight weeks into the pregnancy. With that loss went all of our hopes of having more children. We felt that maybe
we just weren't meant to have any more, and moved forward with that thought in mind However, in September of 2003, the
hand of God touched our family once again. This time the baby survived, and on June 17, 2004 I gave birth to a beautiful,
healthy baby girl. Our journey has been a long and difficult one, but it has led us to the place we are today. When
all is said and done, all of our agony, disappointment, and grief can't even begin to measure up to the love
we have for our precious baby. It is all worth it in the end.
-Becky
| (stefbe) |
|
| Olivia's Big Brother's & Sister 12/03 |
| (stefbe) |
|
|
| Little Olivia Grace |
| (stefbe) |
|
| ~Olivia Grace~ |
*******************************************
jjurney
Okay!
Update on the Jurney's. Jaxon (our first VR baby) just turned 2 in December. He is such a joy to us! They all are really.
Jaxon is our little line backer! He is constantly hurting himself with all the jumping, climbing, "flying" etc. he is trying
to do. Did I mention I have a huge patch of grey hair now! He talks up a storm and is trying his hand at potty training. On
his terms of course! He loves to "help" do anything around the house! I hope he keeps that up! Jeni (our second VR baby) is
now about to turn 6 months on the 11th. She has just perfected the art of rolling over from her tummy to her back and from
her back to her tummy. She loves to scream "ba, ba, ba, ba" at the top of her lungs. Today I heard her trying out "da, da,
da, da." She is keeping me busy at night though. Waking up to comfort nurse and snuggle 2-4 times! Then she is up at 6 AM
for good. I am a little sleepy to say the least. But I wouldn't trade it for the world.
I
check in here from time to time to see how everyone is doing. I just don't get much time to do any posting with home schooling
and taking care of the little ones. But I do think about you all and pray for you.
Here
are our statistics for those of you who are new. VR doctor was Dr. Stanton in Conway, Arkansas. Reversed a 6 yr. old vas.
Had the VR in Feb. of 2001. SA done in December of 01 showed 250 swimmers. That's it, not millions, not thousands, hundreds.
Found out we were pregnant in April of 2002. It took us 13 months post VR. Jaxon was born Dec. 17, 2002. Found out we were
pregnant again in Nov of 2003! Jeni was born Aug. 11, 2004. I can feel my fertility coming back again. DH says he is through,
I don't feel I am so I am just waiting to see if DH and the Lord can get things worked out. I will keep you posted though.
I hope that this will encourage other ladies to hang in there and be patient
as they wait on the Lord's timing. It is so hard to do when you want something so badly.
Better
run and get the little ones up from their nap.
Jodi Jurney
| -jjurney- |
|
|
| The Jurney Family-Nov. 2004 |
******************************************************
~The Family 2005~
amymshearer-
My husband and I married
in 1994 and one year later had our first daughter. When she was 8 months old, we found out we were expecting again! Our next
daughter was born in January. When our second daughter was 8 months old, we found out another little one was on the way. Wow!
June of the next year, our third daughter was born. By this time we felt done. I was exhausted and we had more children then
any of our friends. Brian went in for the vasectomy when Ava (our third) was 3 weeks old. I was home when he had the procedure
but felt like calling the doctor and telling him not too. It seemed so final. However with three children under the age of
3 to take care of, I was overwhelmed and put wanting more children out of my mind.
Three years later, in 2001, I was feeling like
I wanted another child. I didn't tell my husband but just prayed. My husband came to me and asked if I wanted to think about
expanding our family. Wow! I immediately started researching vas reversals and found out an excellent doctor was in our area,
Dr. Fuchs. He wasn't too expensive and he performed microsurgery. We scheduled a consult and I also scheduled a date for the
surgery. A few months later my husband had the vas reversal. It had been almost 3 years to the day since we had the vas.
We found out things were working again when I got pregnant
3 months after the surgery. Unfortunately that pregnancy ended in a miscarriage at 8 weeks. We were devastated but thankful
to find out the surgery was successful. Five months later I was pregnant again. This time the baby lived for 11 weeks when
I miscarried. It was a horrible blow. We wept, we prayed and decided to see a Reproductive Endo. He put me on baby aspirin
and told us to try again. Three months later I was pregnant again. This time I really had peace about it and that things would
be alright. Praise God they were. Our fourth daughter Ellie was born on June 14, 2003.
When she was a year
old, we felt ready to try again. It took about 6 months to get pregnant, the longest 6 months of my life! On July 17, 2005,
our first son Graedon was born. We now have 5 beautiful kids, two of which are our vas reversal miracles. We would like to
have more kids as the Lord allows.
~Amy~
Little Ellie- 14 weeks Little Graedon-13 weeks Amy w/Graedon 3 weeks old
********************************************
Bob, Lee & baby Noah, born 8/29/03
leemom2noah-
We decided to have the first reversal because we wanted biological children together. We successfully got pregnant
in Dec 2002. The pregnancy and delivery were complicated, so DH decided to have a second Vasectomy, and that one biological
child together was great. Our son was later diagnosed with a rare syndrome where he could greatly benefit from the modeling
of a younger sibling, so we have decided to attempted a second reversal.
-Lee
********************************************
lovessewin
Hi Everyone! I've been reading the boards since
1997-8. Lately, I just pop in and read from time-to-time but don't usually post. I use to post back then under Bhunt301 for a screenname.
We
live in Michigan. My DH had his VR done by Dr. Gatewood in 12/98. The vas was 6 years old. We had two daughters and were
young & overwhelmed when we got the vas. We were so happy 6 years later to be able to reverse it.
For
the record, : - ), we now tell ANYONE talking about getting a vas to wait three years before taking that step! LOL
Back to our VR, we had an awesome count 3 months post-op but VERY low motility. We
had 128 mil per ML but only 10% motility. We were so excited when we conceived the 4th month. We had a son and couldn't be
happier. When our son was 12 months old, we conceived again and had another boy.
We
feel so blessed and hope that everyone on this board gets to be just as blessed!
Actually one of the big reasons I don't post is that I feel so guilty that we've had two VR babies when so many moms
want that so much! I don't want to make anyone feel bad! I worry about that!
Carla
***************************************************
aug19
We regretted the Vas from the night we came home. I kept thinking how could we take away such a gift that God had given
to us. I immediately found this board and frequented it for 4 years. It took 4 years to convince my husband to go through
with the VR. We talked to a few doctors and he liked Dr. L the best due to location and his faith. The weekend after my husband
graduated from MBA school instead of celebrating he surprised me with a trip to New Braunfels to get the procedure done. It
almost didn't happen because I made a giant mistake in our checking account and bounced 30 checks the week prior! Yes...30!
I told you it was a huge mistake. But we went through with it. His recovery was easier than the original surgery. We waited
10 days to BD (I think...maybe only 7). I got pneumonia on my oldest daughter's birthday 7/25 and somewhere in the recovery
(lots of Robitussin) I got PG with our little Meredith Grace. She is now 14 months old and we can't wait to get working on
#4.
Michelle
***************************************************
| -1atlantababy- |
|
|
| Braden- Showing how BIG he is! |
|
1atlantababy- Tina & Greg. Our story is......
Greg had a
vasectomy 12 years prior to his
reversal. Six months after the reversal (at the
age of 47), his SA showed 4 million sperm
per ml., 45% motility, 6% morphology. We
started
looking into IVF and donor sperm.
Then, 2 months later, we got pregnant on our
own! Now we have
a healthy, active, spirited
little boy. I am a nurse practitioner at an
infertility clinic in Atlanta.
If any of the ladies
have any questions I might be able to help with
they can email me @ work tvincent@ivf.com
Tina
**************************************************************
4grace |
We had our first child in '82,(ds) in '86 we had our dd and
when she was 2 months old my husband expressed his desire to have a vasectomy as to not have any more children........(he
really only wanted ONE, and he's an only child too) I didn't want him to get the vasectomy, but I guess I didn't fight it
like I could/should have either.
Well........fast forward.........10 yrs. later the Lord saves
us both through great marital tribulation........restores our marriages miraculously and saves us. What a merciful, gracious
God we serve!
Not long after, we somehow, through friends who had a Christian
publication discover that vasectomies could be reversed.........WHAT??????? We never knew that. Well, it was then that my
husband tells me that the Lord had been convicting him and he was questioning whether what we had done was right by God. We
prayed and sought out a doc. that we felt the Lord was leading us to use. That happened to be Dr. Streeter in Indiana. He
did not do microsurgery, etc.. but then again, we knew nothing about any of that.........we didn't even have a computer.
In
Dec. of '96 we got the reversal done. This would be my hubby's first plane flight (big step for him) and a weekend away to
Indiana...just the two of us.
Well...little did we know, the journey had just begun!! I will
make a long story even longer
We TTC, ptc, and NOTHING!!!! Had an SA done at a little over
6 months and the doc. told us that in his opinion the count and motility would not result in a pregnancy for us. Let the crying
begin. (count was 14mill. motility 5%)
Turns out I would cry for the next 25 months. In that time I would talk my husband
into seeing an R.E. get 3 IUI's (that did not result in a pregnancy)
Just for the record, my husband did not have peace
about doing those things but kept telling me that the Lord wanted us to wait. He would tell me that every time he would read
the Bible that is what the LORD was impressing on him. Hannah's story (1st Samuel) comforted me many a night as I cried myself
to sleep!
Most doctors told us that if we hadn't conceived in 24 months,
we probably wouldn't. After 22 months I came across an article talking about antihistamines affecting motility, hubby was
taking many of them. (had another SA a month later and count was 18 ml. and motility over 60%) Between my asking him to stop
using them for a while, and our insurance not covering the R.E. (we would wait to change insurance) and the Lord working all
the details out.........................on month 24 I did the most crying as AF showed up on Christmas day, thinking that
was our deadline....2yrs. since reversal.
It was also that very day that the Lord brought me to a place of totally, truly
trusting Him for this no matter what.........since I had said when we got the reversal,"It doesn't matter if we conceive,
I just want to do this because the Lord wants us to." Hmmmmmm......was I ready to mean that and trust Him no matter what??????
Yes,
Lord! Peace came........finally!!!
The next month, #25.............++.............WOW.............Are
you kidding?????
Remember I said I cried for 25 months........I did, but on month 25 they were tears of JOY!!!!
Hannah
Grace was born in Sept. 1999
We would conceive again when she was 4 months, but I would only know I was pregnant for a
couple days and we would m/c.
Conceived David and he was born Aug. of 2001
we've conceived three times since him, only
very early m/c’s and m/c at 9wks. (had to have a d&e) June 2003.
Here I am at 44 still praying that the Lord would open our womb
once more!!! Will HE? I don't know, but I do have the privilege to beseech Him for it! Hubby is 48.
our two oldest children
are 22 and 17. (they adore their younger siblings!)
The Lord restored our marriage and our fertility, what more
could we ask for!?
I'm sure this was way more than you wanted to know, sorry it was so long! I do love to tell the story,
to God's awesome glory!!!
(Eph 3:20-21) Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus
throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Grace
|
| The Knox Children Sept 2003 |
|
|
| CHIP the four legged baby |
| The Knox Family |
|
|
| Bill, Grace, Chantal, Hannah & David |
|
