Nadya Suleman became the poster child for everything scary and reprehensible about fertility treatment when she gave birth to octuplets in 2009. But pursuing fertility treatment does not mean you need to price the newest double strollers and build an addition to your home.

While multiple pregnancies have always been the biggest risk of fertility treatment, professional fertility organizations have been working to reduce multiple pregnancies since the early 1990s. For example, guidelines for the number of embryos to transfer have helped reduce the IVF “triplet-or-more” rate by more than 70% since the late 1990s, with only less than 2% of IVF pregnancies in that category in 2008.

A good fertility doctor can, and will, work with you to try and to avoid an aggressive treatment plan, but he will also be honest with you about your chances and when it’s time to try something with a bit more oomph.