Working Too Well!

I went to the doctor today to check up on how my follicles are growing. A normal woman develops 1 or 2 on her own and then releases them as eggs during ovulation to be fertilized. Well, without the medicine I don't make any, or if I do they are never released. They just stick to the ovary as a cyst or they dissolve.

I am excited to say that the medicine is working so well that I have NINE follicles growing. NINE. Nine big follicles almost ready for ovulation. Yikes. I am really happy that my body is responding so well to the medication but unfortunately nine is simply too many. They are not quite the right size. They are still a little too small. So for the next four nights per my doctor's instructions I will inject only half of the amount of medication I have been up to this point. We are hoping that will only be enough medication to get three or four of them to finish growing.

If three or four finish growing, I'll inject what they call a trigger shot of hCG to induce ovulation and attempt to get pregnant. If all nine continue to develop there are several (EXPENSIVE) options:

1. Call this cycle a wash and wait until the next cycle, using smaller amounts of medication from day one. This is the cheapest option because all it costs is what we have already paid for in medication. It would be a big disappointment, but it may be our only option.

2. Have Dr. Y go in and remove a few of the follicles and do artificial insemination at the same time for the few that are remaining. This is the most expensive option (somewhere in the ballpark of $1500) and freeze the extra eggs (at no cost to me-- the freezing part).

3. Go ahead with the hCG shot and if multiple eggs are fertilized go in and take a few out and discard them. Does that sound like elective abortion of some of the fetuses to you? It should. Because that is what it is. We won't go this route. Not an option. But the nurse did tell me about it today anyway.

4. Take our chances and maybe have quintuplets or more. This isn't a realistic option either. I am simply too small for something like this. Mark won't even consider this one.

But those are the options if all nine follicles continue to develop. We are really hoping that over the next four days only 3-5 of them continue. Otherwise we might just have to wait and try again next month. But hey, at least the medication is working so far! I could have other problems if I do get pregnant. I might not have the ability to carry to term but I am just going to be thankful for the medication and technology that has gotten us this far.