Higher risk of birth defects with ICSI? Stories of healthy babies please!

#1

Hi everyone…my DH and I have been dealing with non-obstructive azoospermia for over a year now. DH is currently on fsh injections. We recently found one sperm in his ejaculate (just one but it was the first time we ever found anything). This makes his doctors hopeful that there may be sperm inside the testicle for surgical extraction and use for ICSI.

So now of course I’ve been googling ICSI and reading as much as I can. And I’ve found some studies that show that there is an increased risk of birth defects for children born from ICSI. It makes sense. We are circumventing natural selection here by literally forcing a sperm inside an egg. Anyway, so now I am freaking out and would LOVE to hear any stories from people who have gone on to have healthy babies from ICSI. And from people who have had babies with some health challenges too…thank you in advance - I could really use some help in thinking about all this.

#2

I don’t have any experience to share but did want to say that my RE’s office only does ICSI and told us that the rate of birth defects is no greater than that of the general population in this day and age. I believe she said that with ICSI there is a slight increase of passing on male infertility, but that is more of a familial genetic issue rather than the procedure itself. Good luck to you!

#3

We used ICSI and our 3-year-old son is fine as far as we know.

#4

My RE’s lab only does ICSI as well unless you ask specifically not to do it. And, I do have a very healthy and happy 9 month old from a cycle where we used ICSI. Good luck with your upcoming cycle!

#5

My clinic also only does ICSI for patients with MF issues. I’m about 5.5 months pregnant and at our 20wk appt everything looked perfect. Hoping and praying that everything continues to go well…