Over a half a million men in the United States have vasectomies every year. Tens of thousands of them change their minds, and want their fertility back. But that's not always an easy thing to do.

Bill Wilde has a successful career, a wife, and adorable 9-year-old twins. But there's something else he's wanted for years:
Another baby.

"We just decided that we would be too young to just all of a sudden have our kids done and out of the house. And we really just enjoy kids," Bill says.

The 37-year-old had a vasectomy 5 years ago. It was a financial decision. He and his wife Amy thought raising twins was expensive enough.

"We also thought, well we have one of each, so we don't need any more. We soon changed our minds after our kids started school and we realized how fast life was passing us by," Bill explains.

It's a story Froedtert/Medical College of Wisconsin Urologist Jay Sandlow's heard many times.

"There's over half a million vasectomies that are done every year in the United States, and about 6% of them end up coming back for reversals," he says.

Dr. Sandlow performed a vasectomy reversal on Bill. The procedure is not covered by insurance, so the couple paid $6,500 to have it done. But this procedure is not for everyone.

"The best candidates are men who are not that far out from their vasectomy. So someone who is less than 5 to 7 years out tends to be an excellent candidate," Dr. Sandlow explains.

Doctors also prefer to do reversals in men whose partners are younger than 35-years-old.

It doesn't do the couple a whole lot of good to go through a reversal, and then find out that the woman is not going to be able to get pregnant on her own.

Bill's reversal was initially successful, but then scar tissue created a blockage, preventing his wife from getting pregnant.

"It was very tough, I mean, I was looking at it like this is a sign that this wasn't meant to be, and maybe we should be doing this again," Bill admits.

But they did do it again...spending another $6,500 on a reversal procedure. And this time...great news.

"The news that it worked, to know that we're going to have another addition to the family, and just...we've been looking forward to this for a couple of years now. It's hard to describe," Bill says.

Dr. Sandlow's advice for anyone considering a vasectomy reversal: Go somewhere where you can get counseled about all of your options, and where the doctor has experienced doing all different types of reversals, and does them fairly often.