Muffin-Baking and Baby-Making: That Feeling of Fullness

I went back to the doctor's office today, and saw my favorite nurse, Linda, who does my sonograms. All is developing beautifully, with six follicles progressing on the left side, and five follicles on the right side. When she asked me how I was feeling, I said, "I've been feeling a little bloated and sensitive." What I meant was, "I feel like a beached whale."

You may or may not know the anatomy of the female reproductive system. For those of you that 7th grade health has been a long time, I've drawn some diagrams.

The Female Reproductive System

Now, when you take stim meds, your follicles (see above) are stimulated all at once to produce as many eggs as possible. When they get stimulated, it looks kinda like this:

Follicle Stimulation is so sexy!

Now, normally, when a woman ovulates monthly, one follicle in the ovary will be stimulated, and will produce and drop one egg. So ladies, you know that kinda crampy, full feeling you get when you're ovulating? Multiply that times 10 or 11, and you'll get the IVF feeling. I've provided some illustrations below.

*Please note: drawings are not to scale.