Dr. Potter,

I am wondering if you might be able to comment on the question raised in this thread:

http://in-gender.com/cs/forums/t/49120.aspx

Several of us are wondering if our chances of pregnancy would be increased by our husbands giving two semen samples a few minutes apart to be sorted together. It seems to us that this would increase the sperm count and therefore the number that come through the sort and can be used. Others have said that the MS sorting process is stopped when 200,000 sperm are sorted, so a larger sample would not be helpful. I'm hoping you can give us a definitive answer. I am coming to HRC for MS/IUI this week, so this is a very timely question for me. Thank you!

I have been wondering the same thing too...

My husband ended up being called back in to give a second sample an hour after the first because the first count wasn't high enough. His abstinence was longer than intended because I ovulated a couple of days later than anticipated, so that's probably why he needed the second sample. They like a 2-3 day abstinence but his was 5 days. I guess if they don't call and ask for more, they have enough the first time and a second sample wouldn't make much difference. 

Two specimens would only be required if the first specimen was poor. The sort process is stopped at around 200k sperm when the specimen is to be used for ivf. For insemination, the sort runs longer but there would not be any benefit in having say two normal specimens because the sperm are sorted one at time. The pregnancy rates for iui max out at around 300k (versus say 600k). Even with multiple samples we still will not get counts in the millions.

 Thanks for your response Dr. Potter. After my husband gave his two samples, we ended up with 180,000 sorted sperm for the IUI. And it worked! WIth our first cycle last year, he only gave one sample and we had 240,000 sorted sperm, but no pregnancy.

Congrats on your BFP!!!