To me, the sperm wash was one of the most fascinating fertility procedures. The term “sperm wash” sounded like the doctor was going to take my husband’s sperm, give it a good bath, and then put it to work. I was surprised to learn that water was not even involved in a sperm wash. (No soap, either!!)
Instead, a sperm wash is more like sending the sperm to Disneyland before they have to get back to work. The semen sample goes into a glass tube, which is placed in a machine that spins the sperm very fast for several minutes. In fact, it spins the sperm so fast and so hard that, when the tube is removed, all of the healthy sperm are packed together into a little pellet at the bottom of the tube.
I know a couple who conceived their first two children after doing a sperm wash and an intrauterine insemination (IUI). When the husband saw what they were doing to his sperm, he made all sorts of jokes about how “dizzy” the baby would be. He said that his child would always have an excuse for bouncing off the walls after coming into being through this process. I love his sense of humor! (And, for the record, both children are great kids without a hint of bouncing off the walls.)
Part of the sperm wash involves adding a fluid to nourish the sperm. This fluid can help the sperm live longer than they would others, which raises your chances of becoming pregnant. How cool is that? First, the sperm goes on a carnival ride and then gets a Big Mac before being sent off to work. For some people, this is just enough to get the job done.
The purpose of the sperm wash is not to provide amusement but to separate out the “good” and “bad” sperm. Only the good ones join the pellet at the bottom of the tube. Those that are poor swimmers get “washed” out, which explains the procedure’s name. By removing those that are not good swimmers, the “good” sperm do not have to swim around the barriers set up by the “bad” ones. Even though the sperm wash reduces the overall number of sperm available to reach the egg, it greatly raises the percentage that are healthy, thereby increasing the odds of your conceiving.
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