ImTakmo

> What does A&M stand for?

Basically the whole football game. (Sorry I couldn’t resist.)

Hi! This is a comment I made previously from the fertility perspective: https://www.reddit.com/r/asktransgender/s/bdS2gVpoNH

(For the record: we are expecting!)

I would say that all of my previous “abilities” returned fully, but so did a bunch of body hair and facial hair. It was honestly kinda miserable, but I don’t regret it.

I’m so sorry you’re having to struggle through this. It’s not fair and you deserve so much better.

My partner and I are actively trying to start a family right now. I find myself dreading the thought: am I capable of being the parent my child needs while living here in the USA? It feels like transphobic people and politicians are stealing pieces of my life and I worry about how much will be left to share with my future child.

I can’t begin to imagine how much harder it is for you. But I have to believe that I’m strong enough to endure this (whether that means staying or going), and I know you will be too. You’re taking steps to protect your family by putting your oxygen mask on first. I won’t pretend that it’s easy, but you know who you need to be for your family, and I think you’re a strong mother for preparing yourself for whatever is next.

When we wanted to pursue IVF, I discovered that 11 months of HRT left me with zero viable sperm after analysis. It took about 8 months replacing E with other T-enhancing medications before I had a “normal” number of viable sperm.

All of the other commenters are correct: there are no guarantees in either direction, so use your best judgment depending on what kinds of outcomes you want to optimize for. My experience will likely be different than yours.

Hi, I’m in this exact situation! (29, transgender woman)

I was on HRT (SubQ Estradiol Monotherapy) for just under a year and had no measurable sperm before we started. My employer offers “fertility benefits”, so we opted to see a fertility specialist ASAP.

We collectively decided that I would stop my HRT and begin taking Clomid and HCG to speed up the “waking up” of my production. Then, once I had measurable (and freezable) material, we would proceed with IVF to maximize our chances of success.

It took roughly 6 months before I had freezable sperm, and it has been another 4 months going through an IVF cycle. Last week, we finally got news that we have 6 healthy embryos! So now we are getting ready to schedule our first embryo transfer (fingers crossed!!!) and I’ll be starting back on HRT in the next few days!

The process has taken a long time as it hasn’t been particularly fun. I more or less undid all of my fat redistribution (but thankfully kept my boobs!), and I had a lot of body hair grow back thicker and darker than before I even started HRT. The gender dysphoria has been very real and present for most of the journey. But remembering that I get to be a mom makes the difficulties a lot more bearable.

We were super fortunate that we had the chance to work with a fertility specialist and pursue IVF. I know that isn’t accessible for everyone so I won’t pretend that it’s an easy solution. With that said, I feel pretty confident that I would have regained sperm production and we would have been able to conceive naturally, but it could have taken significantly longer.

I hope that helps explain my situation a bit. Feel free to comment or DM if you have any other questions for me or my wife.