Growing Eggs 101- An Anatomy Lesson of Sorts

Growing Eggs 101:

Tomorrow i'm going to the Dr. for the 2nd ultrasound of this cycle.  I usually have 2 or 3 of them to check the "growth" of my follicles. These follicles contain the egg that we "hope" gets fertilized.  Most normal ovulating women only have one follicle per cycle.  But those of us lucky enough to have somewhat of a hostile environment we need to have more.  That's why I take medication for 5 days each month- to stimulate the FSH hormone (follicle stimulating hormone). They have to do the ultrasound because these drugs can have some serious side effects. They can even be bad enough to be hospitalized. Oh...and the side effect of quadruplets and such. No thank you!!!

It's very interesting to see what the follicles look like on day 8 versus day 11 or 12.  It's amazing how these little things grow! And really, quite cool to see how everything forms before it actually forms if you know what i mean!  I asked my Dr. on Saturday what the {perfect cycle} is since he mentioned I hadnt had one yet.  He said, "I'd like to see you with 4-6 mature follicles." Yikes! That's gonna hurt! I'm sure most of you have never {felt} ovulation before. But when you're literally growing them, and your in tune with your body, you can definitely feel them! It's strange really. Anyway, in the past 4 months I've only ever had 2 follicles big enough. So tomorrow i'm hoping for 4!

Also, normal women ovulate on their own. Their bodies automatically know when the follicle is mature and releases the hormone to make you ovulate. I wont go into the technicalities of ovulation because i'm sure you all know what it is! I swear I could teach a class on this stuff! I on the other hand, do not ovulate on my own so I get a shot in the stomach or the thigh when the follicle reaches its mature state.

This is what I see on my ultrasounds. The big one on the top would be considered a mature follicle. The other ones dont serve any purpose. They wont have a viable egg in them.

Although it's sometimes depressing to have so many ultrasounds, seeing the eggs but also seeing an empty womb, I think it will be so cool if this does work that I have watched it from the very beginning! And I have learned a TON about my body, how a womens body works, and how to have patience. I cant say I'm patient and filled with faith ALL the time, but I can say that I definitely have more of those traits than I did two years ago!

I'll let you all know how tomorrow goes!

Grow little follies Grow! :o)