update

We did an egg retrieval last week. I was delighted that I produced the same number of eggs as in June, six. However, it turned out that one was immature, so we had 5 good ones of which four fertilized. So one less embryo than the 5 that we froze in the June retrieval. Right now they are growing in the petri dish, please send them good thoughts for good growth and development.

Meanwhile, my husband's sperm got even worse -- from 23% motile in June to only 15% this time. He also produced a lot less. Not surprising given the dismal results of the hair analysis reported in my earlier post. My theory is 1) stirring up all the heavy metals in his system through the detox made them more likely to interfere with the zinc absorption, and 2) the detox, especially since he did not get enough support for it, was a stress on his system that weakened his energies.

Also, I did get him to go in for acupuncture the day before he had to give the sample, and the acupuncturist said he was "damp" in Chinese medicine terms. Not surprising since lately he has been snacking on ice cream and cookies. Which of course not only make you damp (which can be bad for sperm, see here and here) but also sugar, dairy, and wheat are the three things that are always on the list of do-not-eat when you are trying to detox. So his poor snacking habits (undermining the healthy food I so carefully cook for him) I think are hurting his body's ability to get rid of the heavy metals. And his lack of interest in learning about the science of all these things really drives me nuts (as well as the idea that my precious few eggs might be getting crappy sperm in them).

I got very angry at him yesterday and said no more junk, he has to choose more healthy snacks, and also issued an ultimatum that he has to choose a doctor to work with and make an appointment by the end of the day Monday.