Egg Hunt

Today the doctor gave me my second ultrasound to count how many eggs have been produced by our new medications. The hilarity of this exam taking place this near to Easter has not escaped me.

On Thursday, I had the first of these ultrasounds and the determination was that we had between 3 and 5 follicles. Given that the rounds of Femara and Clomid had only produced 2 at the most, this increase in follicles greatly increases our chances.

According to research, each additional follicle gives us an increased chance of 5-8%. That means, that, as typical IUI gives us a 10-15% chance, 5 follicles could give us up to a 30-39% chance. 

But each additional follicle also increases our chances of multiples. Though IVF is usually blamed when discussing high-rate (3-5) or very high rate (6+) multiples, it's actually more common with superovulation IUI. Remember Kate + 8? All 8 of their children are from IUI. The twins were the first, and they took many rounds of IUI. So when they wanted to have more children, they induced superovulation so they didn't have to go through as many treatments. The same goes for the parents on Raising Sextuplets.

So our doctor was a little concerned that the increased number of follicles could lead to higher rate multiples which can create a risky pregnancy.

Today, he confirmed that we have 5 solid follicles ready to go. This concerns him a lot more, but we've assured him, we're familiar with the risk. After all, our chance of twins is about 20-25%, but higher-rate multiples is only 8-10%. And if we have this high of a chance to conceive, we can cross that bridge if we come to it.

Our Easter Egg Hunt has been successful - 5 eggs, and better chances!