Columbia University

Dr. Rudick is very professional and knowledgeable. She never pushed me to do something I was not ready to do, and let me set the pace of my treatments. When I decided to take a short break between cycles, she was very understanding. She is also very straight forward and matter-of fact with results and reasons for those results, and she doesn't sugar-coat, which I appreciated and which added to my trust of her. When I received bad news after a few cycles back to back, Dr. Rudick sent me a very nice email and I felt that we were in this together, working toward a common goal. Although Dr. Rudick was not always available at every visit, all of the doctors and nurses at Columbia were pleasant to work with. Before and during each procedure, Dr. Rudick would explain each step in detail, which helped ease my anxiety. I felt very cared for by her and the team at Columbia.

I would tell her that she is in good hands, to trust the process, and to ask a lot of questions to ease anxiety and understand all of the details and risks. At points, it can seem like there are no answers and it is all trial-and-error, but with each cycle, more information is gathered that will lead you toward the right treatment for you.

After several tests, we were diagnosed with unexplained infertility, which can be very frustrating. We decided to try IUI first. The first cycle of IUI was with Clomid, which was not successful. The Dr. switched me to Letrozole for the next three IUI cycles. I felt a lot better on Letrozole (much less bloated). Unfortunately, these cycles all resulted in biochemical pregnancies. We met with Dr. Rudick to discuss next steps, and she recommended IVF with genetic testing as she suspected a chromosomal issue in the embryo was the cause of the biochemicals. We proceeded with this recommendation, which produced two normal embryos. We transferred one of the embryos and this resulted in a positive pregnancy.

Fortunately, I had fertility coverage under my health insurance. I did have to pay some costs out of pocket up to the deductible. I also had to pay for the embryo freezing and the Genetic Testing separately, these were not covered by insurance. All in, I feel that I paid close to $8,000 out of pocket in total.

Dr. Rudick recommended transferring one embryo at a time, to avoid a multiple pregnancy. We agreed on this course of action.

Dr. Rudick is kind, compassionate, and very smart. On our initial consultation, she took the time to listen carefully to my history, and developed a treatment plan based on my desires as a patient. I was interested in lowest intervention first, and she completely supported that. She did a great job of explaining everything to my husband and I, and helping us to feel informed. I did not see her much during monitoring, but she was responsive via email and typically answered (or had a nurse call me) within 24 hours of any emails. She was always positive when we interacted and always had a good plan for us. When I did become pregnant, her happiness and excitement for us was genuine. She helped me through my first few weeks of pregnancy, and was able to guide me before I switched over to an OB.

Do not expect to see a lot of Dr. Rudick after initial consultation, since monitoring appointments are with any available provider during the time slot you were allotted. This is simply the model of the clinic, which was not something I was aware of in advance. I got used to it after a few visits, but wish I knew to expect different providers all the time.

I underwent two treatment cycles with Dr. Rudick. Cycle 1: 5 days of Clomid starting on CD3, 50mg (lowest dose). Monitoring via vaginal ultrasound starting around CD10 to monitor follicle growth. Trigger shot injection given to myself at home once one follicle was large enough (largest that cycle was 18mm). Provided with directions for timed intercourse after trigger shot. This cycle did not result in pregnancy. Cycle 2: 5 days of Clomid starting on CD3, 50mg (lowest dose). Monitoring via vaginal ultrasound starting around CD10 to monitor follicle growth. Follicles failed to grow by CD14, so I had several additional monitoring ultrasounds through CD17 when the follicle finally grew to 21mm on right side. Trigger shot injection given to myself at home once one follicle was large enough. Provided with directions for timed intercourse after trigger shot. This cycle resulted in pregnancy.

I have a high deductible HSA health insurance plan, and I was seeing Dr. Rudick during the deductible phase of care, so unfortunately for me, all expenses were out of pocket until I hit the deductible. A typical blood draw/ultrasound appointment ranged between $700-$1000 per visit, and sometimes I had these visits 2-3 per week. This added up quickly and was a financial burden for us. We had money saved for this purpose and had planned for the expense, so we were lucky enough to make this work for us. Overall during the deductible phase I spent $2700 out of pocket for 2 cycles of clomid/trigger shot/timed intercourse. Once I hit my deductible, I was only responsible for 20% coinsurance, so each visit was between $70-$100. I became pregnant shortly after hitting the deductible. For me the price was worth it and I knew my insurance was not great going into the process.

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As a patient of Dr. Forman, I've felt that we're in this together and that he wants the best possible outcome for me and my husband. From the very first meeting where we never once felt rushed, he explained all of our options. And when we needed to change our approach, he didn't force it upon us but rather allowed us to come to the decision on our own as this is a very personal process and often times there isn't just one way to proceed. I never doubt he has our best interests at heart and that, along with his priceless communication skills, gives us peace of mind that we're in the right place with the right doctor.

Be patient and try and relax - allow Dr. Forman to guide the process.

We started with oral meds and IUIs. My IUI first cycle we tried Letrozole but I didn't respond well so we went back to Clomid and did a double IUI. When that didnt work, I took a cycle off from monitoring but took Clomid to ensure I ovulated and keep things moving forward. Dr. Forman had mentioned injectable meds as a course of treatment but I was resistant and concerned about multiples. After reading a blog of a patient successfully pregnant via injectables, I decided to follow his advice and move ahead with them for the next cycle. And it worked - we were pregnant! I was NOT expecting it and was fully prepared to move on to IVF. Unfortunately, we had a miscarriage - and we were prepared for it as Dr. Forman saw the signs during an early scan. He never gave us false hope but was very pragmatic in managing expectations. We're now onto IVF and retrieval cycles - our first one did not yield as many as expected, but we're learning from it and hoping to have more success this 2nd time around.

My IUI cycles were not covered by my insurance - no monitoring or medication. I now have monitoring coverage but nothing for IVF or medication.

We are doing PGS testing on the embryos and Dr. Forman will only transfer one at a time (when we get there).

Dr. Forman listened to my concerns and is very good with first time IVF patients. Nothing was too small for his attention and he’s always doing his best for you. He consistently went above and beyond for me the entire time I was in his care. A perfect example of this was when I had expressed how much I wanted him to perform the actual IVF procedure rather than another doctor from the clinic. The day of the procedure, it wasn’t guaranteed that he could make it but he rushed to the clinic and made it happen. I actually teared up when I saw him. These things mean the world to women who have no control over their bad fortune.

I do not have a uterus but still have my ovaries. IVF, creating and freezing embryos and using a gestational carrier was the only strategy. It was all pretty straight forward for everyone. I declined using birth control because I had LH test strips to tell me approximately when my first day of cycle would be. He then monitored my blood work until we knew when to start everything. My injectables were Menopur, Gonal F & Cetrotide.

Dr Brady is a confident doctor who immediately put us at ease. She is compassionate, clear and a great communicator. Her bedside manner is wonderful and always makes sure we are comfortable with next steps before pursuing a treatment plan. She is optimistic but realistic which works well for my specific needs.

Understand that you are receiving care at a clinic and not a private practice

Work up bloodwork to check AMH,FSH levels and AFC since there was concern for DOR. Once that was determined IUI with trigger was suggested Cycle pushed off several times due to hormonal imbalances Semen analysis MF diagnosis Oral medication trigger IUI resulted in negative Semen analysis One more IUI recommended before moving on resulted in negative Recommendation IVF/ICSI Estrogen patch luteal priming 250 gonal F 225 menopur Trigger Retrieved 4 eggs (no surprise at all that was predicted) 3 fertilized, one made it do day 6 blast Sent for PGS testing and is genetically normal Banking before transferring

My insurance covered monitoring appointments and blood work as well as IUI All IVF expenses were Out of pocket Retrieval medications genetic testing total of 20K

Dr Brady strongly believes in single embryo transfer and made that clear in our initial IVF consultation

Dr. Brady was very matter of fact and straightforward but had a great bedside manner once we reached the stage of doing the procedures. I always felt like I was in good hands with her. She's very intelligent and caring and kindly answered every question I had in a very prompt manner.

The protocols were not explained to me (wish they had been) and the reasoning for using one drug over another was not explained to me. One downside of the this clinic and doctor. I started the stim cycle with 150 Menopur and 200 Follistim then added 250 Ganirelix on the 5th day, with Lupron trigger 2 days before retrieval. After transfer, I was on 1 ml of progesterone in oil and estradiol 2x daily. I knew I had a high AMH and produced a large number of eggs. I ended up with 4 embryos sent for testing and 2 genetically normal embryos.

Appointments were always scheduled before 9am weekdays and weekends. The waiting room was always absolutely packed but it was run pretty efficiently. I never had to wait too long past my appointment time and was in and out quickly.

I was lucky that my insurance covered the vast majority of the IVF procedure. I had to pay about $5000 out of pocket which included the ICSI procedure, genetic testing and embryo freezing.

My very strong preference was for a single embryo transfer, and my doctor agreed with that approach given my age.

Dr. Brady is a doctor that genuinely cares and is passionate about what she does. Coming from a different clinic where I felt like a number on a conveyor belt being shuffled around, I felt a sense of calm and trust as soon as I met Dr. Brady. She took the time to listen to my concerns and provided me with innovative approaches that were not offered to me in the first clinic I went to. Dr. Brady's calming and caring personality combined with her up-to-date knowledge and innovative approaches truly set her apart. I strongly feel that being under her care and feeling that trust was a key factor in successful treatment.

Trust her!

Our case was not that involved. I have Pcos and responded well to clomid but did not conceive after 4 cycles of clomid/ovadril. My previous doctor was ready to move on to IVF as she felt that iui would be ineffective for us and that it was too dangerous to try as I responded with a large number of follicles to stimulation. Coming to Dr. Brady, I was fearfully expecting that ivf would be our only option. Dr. Brady not only dispelled that myth, but provided me with an alternate treatment approach. She recommended letrazol/ovadril as research has come out that it is more effective for PCOS patients. Furthermore she projected a plan to try at least 8-12 cycles with oral medication, possibly adding iui at some point before jumping to IVF as we had only tried 4 cycles of medication and it can take people even without any fertility complications more than four cycles of trying to conceive. We are happy to report that are first letrazol/ovadril cycle was successful.

Dr. Karipcin is from Turkey and English is her second language. I was honestly biased at first and hesitant to try her. These were my own prejudices in my head, and once I was able to overcome that - I came to really appreciate and love her as my care provider. She made my husband and I laugh and never trivialized our process or journey (took up 4.5 years to get pregnant). She always respected our work / time constraints and never made us feel guilty about living very active and busy lives. Dr. K exuded confidence leading up to our transfer which definitely rubbed off on us! I believe it was Dr. Karipcin's positive and warm bedside manner that made our 3rd transfer more calm, positive, and successful than the previous two.

Don't judge her by her accent. She is very capable, caring and knowledgable.

When taking over my treatment from another Columbia doctor, Dr. Karipcin took the time to get to know me and my fertility past. She din't just rush in (even though I was impatient). Before doing another transfer, she decided to test my uterine lining a step that felt like it was delaying us further and felt unnecessary. They discovered that I had endometritis which can take months to treat. I was very frustrated and discouraged after this diagnosis. Following diagnosis I went through 4 rounds of antibiotics and uterine biopsies to try and get the inflammation of my uterus to go away. The process was long and daunting. When I finally tested negative for endometritis we got the green light from her that we could move forward with our 3rd embryo transfer. the day before our transfer Dr. Karipcin was nearly giddy telling us that she had chosen the best embryo for tomorrows transfer and she seemed as excited as we were! During the transfer my retroverted uterus was hard to see/ find on the monitor, so rather than guiding the catheter with the visual help of the ultrasound, she did unaided transfers off of feel and her past training at Cornell! We are now 8 weeks pregnant and going strong!

Egg retrieval ~$17K embryo transfer ~$5K storage / freezing ~ $2K a year medications ~$500 - $2K depending on stage

Dr. Karipcin said that due to my age, general health and past transfer success (none thus far) she wanted to continue to transfer one egg vs two.

Dr. Williams was exactly who we needed after an unsuccessful attempt at IVF with another clinic. Dr. Williams took more of a clinical approach with us and I did not feel like they were playing a numbers game or just going through the motions with us. We walked through our plan by steps. It was A to B. When we got to B we stopped assessed and moved to C. It was never a check the box feeling I had when working with this office. I also felt that Dr. Williams viewed my health as a priority. After my third miscarriage (2 natural, 1 IVF), another clinic said I should jump right into another cycle. I felt like something was missing and I needed to know that I was okay. Dr. Williams took a step back and ran test after test until we were comfortable with moving forward. I also felt that the office walked me through everything to make sure I understood the procedure. At another clinic I was told to watch youtube videos to figure out some stuff. It was just a different experience for me, and I feel lucky to have found Columbia when I did.

Dr. Williams is extremely sought out and very busy, but I never felt that he didn't get back to me. When I was going through setbacks, Dr. Williams would call me personally just to check up on my mental well being - he really truly cares. If I was unable to get a hold of him, my nurse was able to get the information I needed.

Dr. Williams stopped an IVF cycle Day 8 into meds as he felt I could get better results with a different attempt, so we switched to IUI that month. When we were ready for another IVF round, I was put on Chlomid, Menapur and Follistim. I never really had a reaction to meds, but this go around with the addition of the Chlomid I was super tired - exhausted. I never felt hormonally out of control, just tired and sleepy after the Chlomid so I started taking it right before bed instead of the morning.

Cost of IVF with ICIS, PGD and transfer was around $22,000. Medication costs were approximately $5,000 per cycle.

My experience as Dr. Williams' patient couldn't have been better. He gave me the attention I needed and was my advocate through a complex maze of infertility exploration, diagnosis, treatment and surgery. I needed surgery for uterine fibroids and he identified that as the cause of two early losses. He then recommended surgery by other surgeons through Columbia and made sure I got the absolute best surgeons to do three complicated surgeries that had great results. Dr. Williams acted as my advocate and made sure surgeons that he recommended were top notch and were giving my case the attention that it deserved. When navigating fertility treatment in the NYC, I think advocacy from your primary fertility specialist is an incredible asset. I had that in Dr. Williams. His knowledge of treatments and early miscarriage loss seems to be really unparalleled and I felt very very comfortable with him in my corner that I would end up where I needed to be. I eventually did end up pregnant without an early loss within one year of starting treatment with Dr. Williams. Dr. Williams was essential in diagnosing the problem, getting me the surgeries I needed from the right surgeons, and making sure it was safe for me to try to conceive again without a continued or increased risk of a third loss. He was just fantastic and I can't recommend him enough.

His nurses and staff could be more responsive.

See comments above.

My Cigna health plan covered Dr. Williams as a specialist. Some labs were out of pocket, but then the labs would negotiate rates for patiences without coverage. I didn't pay that much out of pocket for my clinical visits. I didn't need any invasive fertility treatment other than my surgery to remove fibroids which was also covered by my insurance other than a deductible.

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I absolutely adore Dr. Brady. She is so thorough and thoughtful, always considering what more we can do to achieve a healthy pregnancy. She treats me as an intellectual equal and answers all my questions without ever rushing me or making me feel like my questions are silly. She was new to the clinic after my first round of IUI and I am so grateful to have switched to her care. I feel like she is fully invested in my case and always up to date on the latest research. Of all the doctors I have seen at the clinic, she is the most warm and personable. I seriously can't say enough about her. She is absolutely the best.

Ask all the fertility questions you have ever had! She will answer all of them!

With my first round of IUI, the Clomid caused ovarian cysts that took a while to go away. After that she switched me to Letrozole and I had no problem with it. When I began IVF, she monitored my follicles closely and raised the dose of Gonal-f and Menopur as she felt necessary. Considering my low reserve, I had a good egg yield during that cycle so she kept my doses the same during the next one. After my first round of IVF, I waited to do a frozen transfer and it didn't take so after the second round, we did a fresh transfer. All along Dr. Brady has been recommending that we do genetic testing of the embryos but we declined because of cost. In my first pregnancy, we had heard a heartbeat at 7 weeks and everything was proceeding normally. Then, when I went in for my last appointment with the clinic, Dr. Brady discovered at that time that the baby's heart had stopped beating. In disbelief, I asked the next day if she could check again and she invited me in and even had another doctor take a look. She recommended a D&C and testing of the contents of conception. The results of the testing showed that the baby had trisomy 9. I was grateful to know this as it helped bring closure to the loss. After that, Dr. Brady proceeded with additional testing (including additional blood panels and an endometrial biopsy) to make sure we cover all our bases before doing another transfer. I just lost my second pregnancy very suddenly at 6 weeks and when I informed Dr. Brady, she asked me to bring in the tissue I had passed so she could send it off for testing. She wants to schedule a meeting with my husband and I next week to discuss additional genetic testing and how we can try to prevent additional miscarriages.

Monitoring is super easy and fast. Monitoring occurs from 7am until 9:30am, 7 days a week. I am particularly grateful for the early hours because it takes at least 45 minutes to get from the clinic to my school (I am a teacher) and I can still make it to work on time if I go in at 7am. Since everyone at the clinic is always so pleasant and friendly, it's not a bad way to start the day. They really make it painless to have to get up a little earlier to go to a monitoring appointment before work.

Each procedure has been different so it's difficult to say what each cost has been. Also, my insurance covers some parts of treatment. So far, we have spent around $5,000 total.

Dr. Brady has been adamant about transferring one embryo at a time for the health and safety of both me and my future child. At this point, I only have 2 frozen embryos left and one didn't make it to the blastocyst stage until day 7 which apparently means it's of lesser quality. Dr. Brady previously mentioned transferring those last 2 together so I am going to follow up with her about that the next time I see her.

Dr. Forman is very open about the treatment protocol. I underwent 3 transfers at a different clinic and neither resulted in pregnancy. I was frustrated and seeking advice from someone other then the doctor o was seeing who's only recommendation was to proceed with another embryo transfer w/o knowing why they kept failing. Dr. Forman was the only person I encountered who opened up other options for me.

Eric Forman may seem standoffish but I've come to realize that's just his personality. He seems a bit of an introvert. He does however know fertility and takes extra care to ensure you feel comfortable. Without Dr. Forman offering other options I would never have come to learn new things about myself and my fertility.

I've just recently started seeing Dr. Forman however I already feel comfortable with him. After multiple failed transfers he was the only person who offered me an option. Instead of pushing me to proceed with another transfer that could potentially fail and result in losing my last embryo he suggested an new test to measure my receptivity to the transfers and it turns out that I needed more time on progesterone than my previous doctor was aware of. All of my transfers were being done too soon.

I've only done testing this far but I believe s round of IVF was quoted around 16K.

Dr. Forman advised that because of my age I should only transfer 1 embryo. We havent gotten to the tra sfer process yet but I trust his judgment and if the next transfer fails he said he is open to discussing the possibility of transferring more then one.

Dr Forman is very blunt. Not in a mean way, he certainly is very compassionate, but you can tell he is a man with an analytical mind. He never inflated probabilities and was always honest about what the chances for complication were. He is readily available by email and phone if needed. I always felt that we were dealing with a very smart man and that we were in good hands

Don’t expect a ton of attention with regards to the IUIs. Dr Forman even admitted to me that they don’t expect them to work (which I had always suspected, anyway.) however, with regards to IVF he takes it much more seriously

I have unexplained infertility. The only hiccup in my bloodwork was borderline hypothyroid, so we started on Synthroid right away. For my first cycle we did clomid and an IUI. My uterine lining was thin as a side effect of the clomid so for the second cycle we switched to letrozole. After we decided to try IVF we did an SHG test. I had done an HSG 6 months prior, but he wanted to make sure everything looked normal before starting IVF

IUIs were $660 flat. We had no IVF coverage so it was about $14,000

Dr Forman doesn’t believe in transferring multiples in my age range. He says the risk of miscarriage and complication is higher and I believe him

We didn’t know what to expect when we first decided to go to the fertility center. But honestly it all went so smooth and hustle free. I had no confusion I knew what to do next every step of the way. This was probably the most non-overwhelming doctor experience I ever had. After several months we had a successful IVF in the first try :) Every doctor we worked with was incredible but our favorite by far was Dr Brady. We are definitely coming back for baby #2 :) Dr Brady was incredibly knowledgeable, professional, supportive, compassionate, never judging and always sweet. She was always in touch and her entire team was on top of everything. We were always updated the same day after our appointment. I didn't have to follow up or explain anything to anyone. It felt like everything was done for us.

Dr Paula is fantastic but regardless of the doctor it is still lengthy and emotionally draining procedure. Just be patient it won't happen over night.

Everybody is different and after several IUIs and continuously monitoring my ovulation we learnt some things about my body which helped us to address when we arrived to the final step IVF.

Our insurance covered 95% of everything. We only had to pay some small fees here and there.

I agree with the hospital's policy, multiple embryo transfer may cause complications. One healthy baby at a time.

Dr. Brady is an amazingly bright doctor who always keeps her patient's interests/desires in mind. She strives to keep her patients informed and always responds very promptly to any questions that I had throughout this wild IVF process. If Dr. Brady is unable to respond she ensures her nurse communicators or other staff relay important information in a timely manner. She is so encouraging and uplifting which are essential qualities when dealing with the ups and downs of infertility. She makes her patients feel confident that every choice she is making is the right one because she is so savvy about the world of infertility.

Listen to any and all advice Dr. Brady has for you. Even if your timeline of becoming a parent gets thrown off for some reason, you can wholeheartedly trust what she decides to do because she always has your best interest in mind and she also considers all possibilities to ensure you will successfully become a parent one day.

Dr. Brady adjusted the meds I had been taking during my egg retrieval based on how effective they were. I ended up having a retrieval after about a week on the injections which I was thankful for because it was nice to stop those sooner than later (even though I understand how they act differently on different people). Dr. Brady has ensured that our healthy embryos have successfully frozen so she is now trying to navigate when the best time would be for the embryo transfer so that my body and the embryo are in the best conditions for a smooth transfer.

With my insurance, I had $30 copay every visit. I have not completed the entire cycle yet so I am unsure how much the whole IVF will cost. It did cost us $4000 to have our embryos analyzed though.

Dr. Brady encouraged us to do chromosomal testing through Igenomix, which we did. From our 8 embryo samples sent to their lab, we learned 6 of our embryos were healthy. Dr. Brady asked us if we'd like to choose a sex but we are confident in her knowledge and asked that she select the embryo that seemed like the healthiest regardless of its sex.

Dr. Rackow is very compassionate and is willing to discuss all the details of treatment with her patients. While I didn't get to see her as much during my second cycle she still communicated with me during the process. She adjusted the approach after an initially disappointing first retrieval, and we had a much better result.

Do not be hesitant to ask any and all questions initially. She was very willing to answer them.

$6,300, not including anesthesia. Plus costs of meds.

Dr. Forman is not only kind and compassionate, but also extremely knowledgeable and does not leave any details to mystery. At times, his explanations felt verbose and overwhelming but I suppose that is a natural feeling in this situation. He is happy to answer any and all questions and will repeat information as much as you need him to. He is very easy to contact. He always let me know when he will be away and responds to emails within a few hours.

I would say Dr. Forman leans more towards the blunt end of sharing clinical information and doesn’t shield his patients from any potential risks or poor outcomes that can be scary to hear. If it seems off-putting initially, just know he truly does care and made that known to me through his diligent follow up and never forgetting any details of my case.

I completed one IUI cycle with Dr. Forman. I used Clomid followed by an Ovidrel injection prior to insemination. During this process I was frequently monitored by ultrasound to assess my eggs and blood hormone levels. This continued after a positive pregnancy result to monitor the embryo until I was discharged from his care.

Unfortunately I do not have any insurance coverage but thus far am pleased with the lack of excess charges I’ve received. I think costs are consistent with the average and I’m still waiting for some bills to roll in. However they helped when they could and even waived one charge.

I saw Dr. Rudick for an initial consultation for future egg freezing as well as a full workup. I appreciated my one-on-one consultation with Dr. Rudick for her thoroughness and care in explaining the procedure and rationale to me. I felt that she didn't dilute or in any way gloss over any relevant information, which was important to me.

I'm still learning to navigate the system of this clinic and it might've been helpful to ask the doctor more about that. But our one-on-one interaction was good.

I'm in the beginning stages for egg freezing. Dr. Rudick and I discussed medications in general terms as well as PCOS and my past blood results, and I would like to have heard more specifics, but this is something that I will follow up on. She was thorough and thoughtful in explaining the procedure and rationale.

Still being determined.

When we first met Dr Mc Connell I was immediately at ease with her and felt in good hands because of her vast knowledge about her area of expertise. She answered all our questions and made sure to get every preliminary test done so that we could have all the information we needed to move forward. As we progressed through 3 IUIs she suggested the option to move towards IVF but I didn’t feel pressured by her at all. She gave us all the information we needed to make the big decision and was willing to work with anything we wanted to do. After two IVF cycles, I inquired about donor eggs as well and she gave me all the information about that process, even though we weren’t ready to take that step yet. Another thing I really appreciate about Dr McConnell is that she always goes out of her way to be the one to do my morning monitoring if she is in the office. It’s a big office and for monitoring I don’t always see her, but I appreciate that she looks out for me and is there when she can be. We have developed a nice relationship and we are able to joke and connect as people not just as doctor and patient. I trust her expertise completely and I feel very lucky that I found her on my first try with a doctor. I will say that I don’t particularly need a doctor who is gushingly warm so Dr McConnell is great for me. She is sensitive when needed but tends to be very matter-of-fact which I appreciate, but I mention here because some people really might want a more warm bedside manner.

I would advise any prospective patient of Dr McConnell to ask any questions they have because she is more than willing to answer and fertility treatments can be daunting and there is so much to learn.

The first three cycles I did a basic IUI protocol with Clomid and a trigger shot. Dr McConnell has diagnosed me with low ovarian reserve, a blocked Fallopian tube and some male factor infertility in my partner but she wanted to start with a least invasive procedure and work up. I appreciated this because it also eased me into the treatments and shots as the IVF cycles we did later were much more involved. When we did our first IVF I was on Gonal-F, Menopur and later Cetrotide to prevent premature ovulation al followed with a Gonadotropin trigger shot. We did subcutaneous injections for everything - except the trigger shot. This first retrieval yielded 3 eggs but none made it to blastocyst stage. The second retrieval cycle we did a similar protocol but she upped the Gonal-F dosage to 450 from 300 units. That time we got one embryo and did a transfer supported by Oral Estrogen and Progesterone shots. The transfer was unsuccessful. We went back in for a consultation and decided to adjust some things for the third round including doing all shots intramuscularly - which Dr McConnell said could possibly increase absorption rates. In addition to the Gonal-F and Menopur, the third time she added Lupron shots. This time we retrieved 5 eggs and 3 made it to blastocyst but after PGS testing unfortunately none were genetically normal so there weren’t any to transfer. If we had done a transfer however, Dr McConnell had gotten me going on a mock transfer cycle to test my uterine lining with an ERA procedure to give us more information about the quality of the lining so that we could adjust the dosage of Progesterone or estrogen as needed to get the lining ideal for implantation.

This is all very relative to the patient’s insurance but for me I usually had a $25 copay for the morning monitoring. The IUI costs were largely covered by my insurance per NYS law. I had a few balances I had to pay but it wasn’t much. I also had three rounds of IVF covered through my husband’s insurance, so there were costs associated with that, but again not all out of pocket. The PGS testing was a separate $3000 to a company each time and we had some other costs associated with freezing some of my husband’s sperm due to his travel in zika areas.

Dr. McConnell had a strong preference for transferring only a single embryo with my situation. I think it makes the most sense because I have only gotten one viable embryo after three transfers. She also doesn’t think that there is enough evidence that multiple embryo transfer increases chances. For me it wasn’t a big deal because I didn’t get many embryos anyway, but I can see this being an issue for others.

Dr. Rudick was absolutely amazing with my husband and I during this whole process! Ever since, I read her online Overview and saw her introduction video on the Columbia OB/GYN website, I knew that Dr. Rudick was the right doctor for me. I appreciated how she showed compassion for her patients and their experiences. I always appreciated how kind Dr. Rudick was, but mainly, she was incredibly knowledgeable and made me feel very confident about her work during my visits and treatments in the clinic. Dr. Rudick always educated both my husband and I during our visits at the facility and guided us during the whole process. Lastly, Dr. Rudick was always accessible for questions and concerns. She was very responsive to my emails, which was much appreciated when I wasn't feeling well or was experiencing symptoms from my treatment. I was very happy, and I am very thankful for Dr. Rudick's work.

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From what I can remember, I did a few tests at the beginning of my visits to ensure I was in the right track, such as checking my hormone levels, a brain MRI, blood work, genetic tests, etc. After these initial tests, I was prescribed to take a small amount of Cabergoline once a week to balance my prolactin levels. My blood work and uterus were screened frequently in order to see my progress. During my first IUI try, I took Clomid, and for the last two IUIs, I took Letrozole which I was able to get pregnant with. On the 3rd IUI, I was able to get pregnant with twins :)

During my visits at the facility, I had two insurance, Aetna and Empire BlueCross BlueShield, and they both covered my IUIs treatments, etc.

Dr. Forman takes time to evaluate and analyse each patient´s particular history and needs. He´s straightforward in a way in which you understand perfectly well what you are getting into and have realistic expectations of what´s to come. He explains every detail with patience and takes all the questions you want to ask. He´s very professional, serious, and gained our trust since day one.

Take advantage of the fact that he answers all his emails within an hour. Ask every doubt you have, he´ll be there.

We started out with a medium dose of Clomid, ater having tried Letrozole with my general Ob-Gyn before with no reaction at all. The response with Clomid was slow but there was a reaction and had my ovulation induced with Ovidrell and an IUI performed two days later. I am still waiting to know the results.

Until now, we have only spent about $2000 out of pocket, but our insurance is covering most of it, about 90% of it up until now.

We haven´t gotten to that on my case but he has pointed out that he prefers single ebryo tranfer to reduce risk of multiples.

Dr. Forman is truly amazing. I had previous IVF treatments at 2 different clinics across NYC and went to Dr Forman after being suggested to go for an egg donor with my previous clinic. Dr Forman took a lot of time to read through my reports and understand our case. During our 1st visit, he told us that we are too young and early in our journey to give up and can try different protocols. I went through 2 IVF cycles with Dr Forman and he changed the protocol during each cycle to try something new so that it could give me a fresh chance to get more embryos due to poor egg quality. Even when we were undergoing our transfer process, he insisted we try a natural cycle transfer protocol instead of doing the usual medicated ones to see if it helps increase our chances. Dr Forman's communication is immaculate! I never had to wait for more than an hour to get his response via email.

Listen carefully to what he says and trust his judgement and ability to try something new.

With my previous IVF cycle, I did not get any embryos due to poor egg quality. During our first IVF cycle, Dr Forman reduced the dose of Menopur for the first few days to help curb my estrogen levels since my eggs were maturing too early leading to poor egg quality. The cycle lasted a few more days but he wanted to ensure that the follicles were a good size and did not mature too early before retrieval. I was able to get 1 day 6 embryo from this cycle. With my 2nd IVF cycle, Dr Forman tried the long Lupron protocol to help improve egg quality. I was doing a micro dose of Lupron for about 2-3 weeks before starting actual IVF medication. This cycle gave us 2 embryos. We then did the ERA test since we had 2 failed transfer cycles with our very first IVF treatment at another clinic. Dr Forman wanted to make sure that we were transfering the embryo at the right time since some women have shifted windows of implantation. The test came back at the right window for previous transfers. Dr Forman then decided to do a natural cycle transfer for us to try something new and see if it works better with my body this time.

We went to Dr Forman after 2 IVF cycles at other clinics. So we had already met our deductible and out of pocket, so our insurance covered most of it. Some high level costs we paid for are: Medications - $900 Embryo freezing - $1200 Embryo thawing - $700 Monitoring - $250 (combining all co-pays) ERA test - $800 (not covered by insurance)

Dr Forman has a vert strong preference to transfer only 1 embryo if you are <35. I wanted to transfer all 3 embryos due to previous failed transfer but he strongly advocated for 1 embryo transfer since he thought it was very risky to transfer multiple ones.

Dr. Forman was a kind and gentle man who was incredibly well informed, well trained and handled all communications and procedures with great attention and care. From our initial meeting to our most recent, he has taken the time to review all our concerns, teach us the necessary science and let us work through the options. I feel we were in charge of the decision(s) we made and always felt I was informed.

IVF is always a choice. There is a huge amount of pressure, when seeing a fertility doctor, to get pregnant as soon as possible--but making each decision with your partner, without pressure from anyone else is very important.

We elected not to move to IVF treatment just yet. My fiance has male factor infertility that could potentially be solved through surgery. As I am young and in good fertile health, we elected to wait to pursue IVF until after the surgery is complete and hopefully the sperm quality is much higher quality.

Dr. Forman and his practice took our insurance. So the costs were not too bad for the variety of tests we needed. We didn't choose to pursue IVF just yet--so we weren't hit with the huge IVF+ bills.

Dr. Forman said he rarely transfers multiple embryos (only in extreme cases). At first I wasn't aware that single embryo transfer was preferred due to the increased risk to mother and child--but after learning a great amount during the course of our journey, I would not see a doctor who regularly practiced multiple embryo transfer.