Columbia University

We have nothing but positive things to say about Dr. K. Not only is she an attentive and compassionate person but she is also extremely competent as a doctor. We never felt rushed during our appointments and she was responsive and thorough when we had questions. She knew our case inside and out. We ran into a variety of obstacles due to my diminished ovarian reserve and egg quality issues and she adjusted our protocol accordingly - at each stage we had better outcomes than the last. Throughout our travails, she was consistently positive/optimistic yet also realistic about the possible outcomes. If we decide to have more children in the future, we absolutely plan to continue on with Dr. K and in the interim we will highly recommend her to friends and family who encounter their own struggles with infertility.

Our advice is not anything specific about Dr. K - we would advise new patients that this process is very likely to take longer than you anticipate and to adjust your expectations accordingly.

We tried for 6 months before seeking out a reproductive endocrinologist (by that point I was age 36). During that period, I had two miscarriages. I was diagnosed with diminished ovarian reserve and Dr. K also suspected that I had some endometriosis. My husband had low sperm morphology (2%). Our sequence of treatments was in part based on our insurance coverage which required at least three rounds of IUI before moving on to IVF. As such, we did three IUI cycles – the first one natural (no additional drugs) and the second two medicated – one with clomid and one with letrazole. We had a chemical pregnancy with the first and the second two were unsuccessful. From there we moved on to IVF. Thankfully, our insurance covers three retrievals/transfers (what luck/privilege as we could not go forward otherwise). Because of my diminished ovarian reserve, we planned to do all three retrievals back to back for batching before moving on to a transfer. 1) First Cycle: Meds: 225 gonal; 225 menopur; cetrotide starting day 9 of treatment. Unfortunately, I was unresponsive. I only produced 2 follicles and Dr. K switched us to IUI instead of a retrieval. The IUI was unsuccessful. 2) Second Cycle: Meds: 150 gonal days 1-8 --> 225 gonal starting day 9; 150 menopur; clomid days 1-5; cetrotide starting day 7 of treatment. This cycle I produced more eggs and went forward with the retrieval. 8 were retrieved, 7 mature. Unfortunately, most of the eggs had empty zona pellucida (which is the outside shell). As such, only 1-2 were able to be fertilized with ICSI. None made it past day 3. 3) Third Cycle: Meds: 150 gonal days 1-5 --> 225 gonal days 6-8 --> 300 gonal days 9-11; 150 menopur; letrazole days 1-5; cetrotide starting day 9. This cycle 10 were retrieved, 7 were mature, and 5 were fertilized with ICSI. Of those, 2 became day 5 blastocysts and 3 became day 7 blastocysts. We sent them out for genetic testing and the first two tested normal. We planned to take a month off before our final retrieval and somehow, by some miracle, I got pregnant naturally and am just starting my second trimester (fingers crossed). We have one more retrieval covered by our insurance and tentatively plan to go forward in the future (with Dr. K). In the meantime, our two “good” blastocysts are on ice for the future.

We had incredible insurance coverage (IUIs and IVF meds were fully covered, IVF was covered at 75%). We are waiting on bills for our second IVF retrieval but I believe that we ended up paying $1,300 out of pocket for our first retrieval as well as a handful of $20 copays here and there. I believe we will be paying approximately $100/month for frozen embryo storage.

We have yet to get to the transfer phase with Dr. K.

Dr. K always welcomed me with a warm smile. She has a very strong bedside manner. In fact, I noticed that she greets everyone in the clinic by name when she comes in each morning. I felt like I was in excellent hands because she would tell me all of the statistics and even mentioned how some of the statistics were slightly different for African-American women (I'm African-American). At each appointment, Dr. Karipcin would explain next steps, remind me to stay optimistic. She didn't shy away from explaining potential complications that might arise due to my endometriosis and fibroids, but she would always remind me to focus on the positive and that we would deal with any complications as they might arise.

Be sure to share all of your concerns. Dr. Karipcin will address each and every one of them. At one of our first appointments, I came in with a list of questions and concerns. She didn't let me leave until I'd written down notes/answers to each one of them. At one particular appointment, I cried while waiting to get my blood drawn. Dr. Karipcin and Nurse Varda set with me to alleviate my fears while in between patients.

We did two round of IVF. Our regime consisted of was Gonal F, Menopur and then Centrotide. The trigger injection was Ovidrel and Lupron. Our first retrieval yielded about 8 eggs. The second retrieval yielded 15 eggs. Our IVF rounds were relatively close together (Oct/Nov 2019 & Dec 2019), the insurance company approved it and we wanted to complete them before Christmas. We did the recommended genetic testings for the embryos. So, now we have a total of 6 chromosomally strong embryos that can be transferred. Our original transfer date was postponed due to Covid. So, we did a transfer in May 2020. I am currently 16 weeks pregnant.

The morning monitoring hours worked well with my teaching schedule. It was very organized as well.

The majority of our treatment was covered by insurance. In fact, we didn't proceed until we knew it would be covered as "in-network." I usually only had to pay the co-payment. The cost of the IVF medications were not fully covered by insurance but they are now covered in New York State.

Columbia University Fertility does not do multiple embryo transfers. This is very clearly explained in the paperwork that you have to sign prior to embarking on the IVF journey. They are also clear to reiterate this around the retrieval dates. I agreed with Dr. K's approach. Due to my age at the time (36), fibroids and endometriosis, multiple embryo transfers were not recommended. Neither my OB/GYN, Fibroid surgeon, nor Dr. Karipcin recommended multiple embryo transfers.

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. 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. Rackow was very responsive throughout my treatments, she did not just stick with the status quo if something wasn't working for me (4 egg retrievals, 2 embryo transfers using my own eggs). She changed protocol when the first egg retrieval didn't yield many eggs (we added clomid which helped me immensely), and she changed the embryo transfer protocol to natural with a trigger shot when the first transfer didn't work. The natural cycle with trigger worked perfectly for me and I did not have to take those dreadful intramuscular progesterone shots, a win. She did my early pregnancy ultrasounds with this successful transfer and I was pleased that she could do them personally.

Dr. Rackow is part of an excellent, efficient team. Remember, you are entrusting your fertility care to a large, busy fertility clinic where the doctors have certain days they are in the office and are in charge of procedures. Other days they are assigned elsewhere. This means you may/may not get your main doctor for every procedure or check. If you want a 1 doctor experience, consider a small clinic.

For all egg retrievals I did high dose injectables, and for 3 out of 4 I also used clomid, which helped me release (?) significantly more eggs. In all, I ended up with 4 PGS-tested embryos, one did not make it with the first transfer, the second successfully implanted. I have 2 frozen embryos remaining for possible future use. For the first embryo transfer, we did a traditional medicated cycle that did not result in a positive test. For the second embryo transfer, we did a natural cycle with a trigger shot. This worked great for me.

All but the last egg retrieval and embryo transfer were covered by my insurance.

We both agreed on a single embryo transfer.

Doctor Rudick was very clear, honest, and detailed in explaining everything about the IUI and IVF process. I never felt as if any of my questions went unanswered. She is very knowledgeable and skilled in offering the best treatment options for your individual needs. She did video meetings with me during Covid and helped ease any worry about my cycle. I feel she is very approachable, professional and a straight shooter. I would recommend her to anyone in need of fertility treatment.

Be sure to start your fertility treatments as soon as you think you might need help. The process can take longer than one might think. It has nothing to do with Dr. Rudick's skill, but more to do with the cycles and your body. You should not expect that you can just walk right in and get pregnant within a month...it takes time. Please be patient and listen to everything Dr. Rudick says, follow her instructions perfectly and you should get the results you desire.

I 1st did IUI ONLY because IVF wasn't covered by my insurance. For that I was put on BC, Clomid and did a trigger shot. This was after having an HSG and unblocking a tube. -Then I did IVF when my insurance covered it, I was on Menupur injections, cetrotide, and gonal injections, did the egg retrieval, did genetic testing of embryos, did transfer....positive pregnancy, still taking estradiol pill and progesterone oil injections until week 10.

Copay

Dr. Rudick only allowed for 1 single embryo to be transferred. I did ask for 2, but she informed me of the health risks and I am glad I listened.

As a patient, Dr. Rudick was always accessible even when I did not see her for routine morning monitoring appointments. I knew that she reviewed my results and I trusted her prescribed courses of action. As we graduated from monthly IUIs to more complicated procedures such as egg retrievals, polyp removal, and embryo transfers, there was a big shift in our relationship: I saw Dr. Rudick more frequently and she went out of her way to schedule my procedures so she would be the doctor performing them. On the occasion that she could not be there to perform a procedure, she emailed me ahead of time to let me know she was thinking of me and my partner. For a patient who had never been through this process, that was everything. In recovery, Dr. Rudick popped in to say hello, to see how I was feeling and to answer any questions. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, all procedures had to stop at Columbia Fertility. During this period, I was concerned that we would lose too much time and that it would seriously impact our chances of having a baby. Once again, Dr. Rudick was not shy about being in touch with her patients and being honest about next steps. It was incredible. .

My advice would be to always have an agreed upon course of action and to make it specific. This is advice I would give for any patient working with a doctor.

We started with monthly IUIs before insurance would pay for IVF coverage. Dr. Rudick explained that this was standard, but I wish we could have skipped over some of these cycles. At one point, Dr. Rudick suggested that I undergo a back-to-back IUI (two days in a row) because she thought the internal environment was ideal. It was not successful, but this accelerated our timeline by one month. After six unsuccessful IUI attempts, we moved onto IVF. We had one egg retrieval round that did not yield viable eggs. For the second egg retrieval, Dr. Rudick increased the dosages of the medication I was taking daily. I experienced significant physical changes from the increased dosages, which I took as a good sign. And it was! The second retrieval yielded a higher number of eggs and several that were viable. For the transfer, Dr. Rudick explained a the pros and cons of a medicated versus natural cycle and the possible steps that would follow in the case of a positive or negative outcome. We chose a natural cycle, knowing that if it was unsuccessful, we would have the option of taking a medicated course of action.

IUI procedure ($550 per cycle) x 6 cycles = $3,300 IVF meds = $200 Retrievals: $1,000 Hysteroscopy: $550 Donor Sperm: $4,000 Transport fees: $200 Total: $9,250 (roughly)

No words can express how grateful I am to have Dr. Forman and his amazing team care for me during my IVF journey. Everyone was so caring and detail oriented every step of the way. Dr. Forman collaborates with the patient and the nursing/lab team to provide efficient, timely results. I would highly recommend this center for any friends and family wishing to start a family. Dr Forman takes care of his patients in a way that I have never seen it before. He will email/call even when he was away just to check on us!

Listen to him and don’t doubt him... he definitely knows what he is doing. But even if you have any questions, he will always answer you!

Dr Forman was my first IVF doctor in NJ but the. He moved to NY. We figured we could stay in the NJ clinic because it would be the same ... we were wrong! We finally decided to start treatment again in NY with Dr Forman and the first test he did was ERA to check why I had to FET that failed in the past .... results: I needed one a day of medication! He took the time to go over everything and realized that was the piece of the puzzle missing from the other clinic!

She's arrogant and disrespectful. Obviously did not care. The result showed! We were planing to finish up the IVF cycle with covered insurance, but we ended up doing egg freezing with paying out of pocket. My husband was super sick right before my egg retrieval. She didn't explain that it could effect his sperms and would result a failed fertilization procedure. As an experienced doctor she could have him freeze his sperms for a back up before I started my injections. At the point it was too late. We ended up freezing my eggs with no fertilization. We also had to pay out of pocket even though we had the insurance cover for the whole IVF procedure. [Husband's perspective] Rudicks complete inability to communicate effectively is off putting but not the end of the world. If she was a good Dr, and did her job. Starting an IVF cycle while on vacation without having a frozen sample as a back up? During Flu and Covid seasons? That is just incompetence! This turned an insurance covered IVF procedure into an out of pocket egg retrieval procedure. This cost us thousands of dollars, but more importantly many precious months.

Listen to your patient and you're not smarter than anybody.

We started with Follistim 225 units and Menopur 1 vial daily for 3 days, then added Genirelix 250 mg on the forth day. I injected those for 6 days and injected the Pregnyl 10,000 unit vial trigger shot and took Doxycycline 100mg tablets on day 7. My egg retrieval was on day 8. I was hoping to retrieve 13-15 eggs as I was diagnosed with great numbers of follicles and the hormones level. The first couple of days after the injections my eggs were growing in great numbers and sizes, but times went by some of my eggs grew bigger faster than others. Dr.Rudick told our nurse while she was on her vacation to had me continue the same dose medications. Because some of my eggs were mature and they didn't want them to over mature while other eggs were still tiny, so we had to finish the medication and I had my egg retrieval on day 8 with 10 eggs retrieved and 9 of them were mature for freezing.

We were covered by our insurance for IVF cycle except the genetic testing and embryo storage. We had to cancelled our IVF cycle at the day my egg retrieval. We ended up doing egg freezing with us paying out of pocket.

We agreed to do a single embryo transfer, but we hadn't gone that far. We ended up the cycle with egg freezing.

There aren't enough words to describe how amazing Dr. Eric Forman is. He is kind, very compassionate, extremely knowledgable, great communication, and he handles all procedures with great attention and care. Dr. Forman goes above and beyond to provide quality care for his patients. He always addresses my question and concerns since our very first meeting. He explains all procedures in detail and makes sure you understand the pros and cons before it is done. He never forces any procedures on you, he suggests it, gives you all the information, and lets you decide if you want to take that approach. Because of the quality work and great advice from Dr. Forman, I now have a healthy baby boy.

Ask all the questions.

Insurance covered the cost

I trusted Dr. Forman's suggestion on transferring a single embryo for my first IVF cycle and it was successful.

The level of contact and patience he had for me as a patient goes above and beyond any other doctor I’ve ever seen. From the moment we met, I felt totally comfortable and respected any decisions Dr. Forman suggested as my course of treatment.

Ask questions and always be your own advocate no matter who your doctor is.

For all 3 IUIs we did letrozole to stimulate follicles. Then I was the one who volunteered to proceed to IVF. For the first egg retrieval, we used menopur and Gonal F. Then we added centrotide and triggered with HCG. For those frozen transfers, we did estradiol to thicken my lining and then progesterone in oil. After 1 miscarriage and 2 failed transfers, we decided to do a second egg retrieval. This was the same protocol. During that retrieval, Dr. Forman did a scratch test to see if there was any inflammation in my uterine lining. There was a few plasma cells found, so I took an antibiotic for that. We also went back and figured out which protocol provided my thickest lining and we decided menopur and Gonal f would gain the best lining for me. This was a natural cycle that I triggered a follicle and used progesterone suppositories instead of the oil. That’s what did the trick!

I have amazing insurance as a teacher so everything was covered except for genetic testing of embryos and cryopreservation. The biopsy was $2500 per retrieval and $100 per month for storage.

I always wanted to have one child at a time and Dr. Forman is a big advocate for it, so it was perfect for us.

As a physician myself, I was impressed with both Dr. Brady's clinical knowledge and competence as well as her empathetic bedside manner. If there was a setback, she would break the news in a sensitive and empathetic way, but at the same time come up with solutions to address the set-back. I did not have Dr. Brady do the egg retrieval because of a conflict in my work schedule, but she did do the egg transfer. I was extremely nervous about the transfer because I ended up with only 1 genetically normal embryo after PGS screening, but I was impressed with how carefully and smoothly she preformed the transfer. The embryo ended up implanting, and I am now in the 2nd trimester of pregnancy!

I would advise patients in general to ask their IVF doctor about their chances for success with each cycle given their individual circumstances. We did not discuss this in too much detail, and I did not think to push for more information on my chances of success because I was so focused on just starting treatment. I was 38yo when I did the egg retrieval. 12 eggs were retrieved, 7 fertilized, 3 embryos made it to day 5 and only 1 embryo was genetically normal after screening. I was surprised and disappointed that this was considered a good result for my age. I was expecting and hoping to have at least 2-3 good embryos. Every doctor wants to paint the most optimistic picture possible so I think it's important to ask about the worst outcomes too so you can prepare yourself and not be overly disappointed.

Gonadal F (225 IU), Menopur (225 IU) and Ovidrel were used for egg retrieval. To prepare for the transfer I took estradiol 2mg BID and progesterone IM injections nightly. I continued the estradiol and progesterone injections until the 10th week of pregnancy.

Monitoring appointments were scheduled for a specific time, but they were flexible at the same time. So if I needed an earlier appointment, they would easily accommodate that. I would typically get there at 7am, and my wait would be no more than 10-20min.

PGS $2,500, Cyropreservation (annual) $1,200, Anesthesia $500, Igenomix PGS fee $750. The rest was covered under insurance and required $50 copay for each clinic visit.

We only had one good embryo, so we did not have any other choices. But Dr. Brady said that she would still prefer eSET in my case any way.

Dr Williams treats each patient like he was treating his wife or daughter. He is kind, patients and truly cares. He is easy to talk and one can tell that his mind is brilliant. He takes the time to call you with results even if it’s 10pm to help alleviate any happy/sad news.

Whether it’s Dr. Williams or any other doctor, it’s really important to advocate for yourself and don’t be afraid to ask questions and share your needs.

Because my husband and I got pregnant naturally two times and it ended in molar pregnancies we decided to seek dr. Williams as he is a master in early pregnancy loss. He diagnosed me with endometriosis and pcos. As a result he began by monitoring my cycles and started a medications routine.

30K+

She was always honest with us about the chances for success while also explaining things in such a way that we knew she was setting us up for a positive outcome in every way possible. Dr. Karipcin exuded a genuine concern for us and our comfort level and made us feel cared for and human- not just "another patient." We went in expecting it to be a stressful process but having her in our court made it all so much easier than expected (because we trusted her and knew she had our best interests at heart at every turn).

Don't hesitate to ask your questions- she really wants you to feel comfortable, even if it means explaining something in multiple ways on multiple occasions.

I know that we did a natural FET cycle so as to avoid using additional hormone treatment when there was no empirical evidence that it would be beneficial given our circumstances. And for us: it worked.

We had good insurance coverage so this didn't stand out. They were great about handling the billing with the insurer.

He does not email patients. Will only call you when you request a call. Unfortunately, I miscarried the only embryo I had left and its happening during Covid. He was not helpful or comforting to help me make decisions about a D&C. In fact, he said one thing and the nurse said the other. I am now communicating with the head of the practice. I am disappointed that he didn't go the extra mile to make sure My next steps were squared away.

Make sure you have your questions lined up and your follow up questions and do not feel intimated if you get the sense you are being rushed. Keep talking until you are comfortable with the next steps of care.

I have GHI. Most was covered. I paid 2500 for embryo biopsy for each round. I paid PGS testing directly to the lab.

Dr. Forman clearly explained all options. He patiently answered our questions. He was available to answer follow-ups over email, and responded to those very quickly. He was compassionate at all of our visits. I was glad that he was able to do the egg retrieval.

Dr. Forman has a calm, dry manner of presenting information. Personally, I appreciated that, as I found it very clear, but I could imagine someone else finding it slightly cold. My advice would be to get to know the doctor and give him a chance. He is a very kind and thoughtful person, just a bit of an introvert. :)

We first tried IUI with Clomid and Ovidrel. The second IUI we used Letrozole (and Ovidrel for trigger). Both were negative preg tests. Given my age (38) and my partners sperm quality (not horrendous, but not great), we then moved on to IVF. For the stimulation, we did Follistim (150/night) and Menopur (75/night) for 7 days (Follistim was upped to 200/night for the last three days). For the 6th and 7th days, I also took Ganirelix. On day 8, I did my trigger shot, and retrieval was morning of day 10. I think part of the rationale for the doses was my good ovarian reserve/AMH levels. 8 eggs were retrieved; 4 were mature; 2 were fertilized; and 1 made it to day 5 (blastocyst, good morphology). We did PGT for that one and it was normal. (Now just waiting for treatments to begin again before transferring.)

My insurance covered about half of IUI costs. I believe out-of-pocket costs were about $450. For IVF, my insurance didn't cover anything. Cost estimate was ~$17K for monitoring, retrieval/lab, cryo; ~4K for FET; PGT was paid to a separate lab ($250/embryo+shipping).

Dr. Forman's recommendation was for eSET, in part because we did PGT. We agreed with that approach.

I wish I could rate her on a scale having numbers way greater than 10. She is above any scale that can measure her professionalism, dedication, commitment, concern, care and love for her patients. She studies her patients in depth and personalize the treatment based on each individual as she does not consider her patients as a number but as a human, who needs special care and attention. She would never ignore even the slightest of issues you are facing while going through the treatment. Throughout the process, I emailed her quite frequently on very basic issues and she would always address them in a polite way and often, I would receive a call from her personally addressing the issue. She makes the patients very comfortable, for example, I was having pain of injections and she resolved it in a very effective way. She takes the patient along on what is best for the patient professionally and she guides the patient on each and every issue although I know that most clinics and doctors never go in such details. We saw many fertility doctors for the last eleven years and went through many fertility treatments and emotional traumas and for most of the doctors, I was just a number and in time of failure, it was quite casual for them. However, Dr. Brady addresses very minute details like daily scans and readings quite seriously and would discuss with us. She is a very knowledgeable doctor and knows her work very well and then take her patients along that plan.

I would advise to trust Dr. Brady as she knows her work, being competent and knowledgeable and follow her each and every instruction very religiously, including timings and all other dos and dont's.

She used ICSI and embryos were frozen as I suffered from hyper stimulation during the retrieval phase. Hence, transfer was done after one and a half month. Besides, she followed a very regular monitoring regime throughout the process.

The doctor transferred single embryo as she advised it to be safe for us and we had no issue with that.

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

Again, I only saw her once and she responded to very few emails. It is very difficult to accurately rate someone with whom I had minimal contact. All follow-ups were handled by her team who were exceptional and the reason I stayed with Columbia Fertility.

If you want to have more direct interaction with her, you should voice this early on. This way if she cannot oblige, you know from the onset and can make an informed decision.

Only for co-pays and for blood work that was sent to the wrong lab.

Dr. Grossman was a clear communicator, had a kind voice and face and really made us feel optimistic and safe in her care. She didn't always perform procedures but touched base with us. She was a great doctor and we were sad so see her go when she moved to California.

Don't be shy about asking her anything. She's a clear communicator and she's happy to answer your questions. And she has a way of making you feel calm and reassured.

I don't remember any of the treatment strategies but I just remember that that first cycle of IVF went really fast. My body seemed to have taken immediately to the medication; however after retrieving 7 eggs, only 2 embryos were good. I know she had the intention of switching things up for the second round of IVF but she left before we could start it.

The costs were outlined and explained to me on my very first consultation. My insurance covered 75% of everything.

She was not a proponent of multiple embryo transfers and we were not that interested in that anyway. We asked questions about it and considered it but we were told that with advances these days, you only do multiples if you want to have multiples. It wasn't like before when doctors encouraged multiple embryos to ensure having one good birth.

My husband and I met Dr. K after our previous doctor at the practice moved to California. We liked our previous doctor and were a little apprehensive about have to switch doctors, after we had successfully produced 2 embryos with our other doctor. Dr. K was very clinical when we first met her. She went over and explained some of the lab results that the previous doctor had done, which he hadn't seen before. She appeared very knowledgeable and while we might not have completely understood everything she was talking about, she definitely knew what she was talking about and that made us feel secure. Once treatment started, Dr. K was much more personable and human. She was very much invested in my treatment. She answered my emails promptly and was there during the major events in the treatment. By the end of the treatment, Dr. K was a trusted ally. My mother even came to our last appointment to thank her in person for all her help.

Don't rush to conclusions if she appears very clinical. She is a very warm and sweet person. She is dedicated and competent and that is what you want during a time like this.

I can't remember everything but I do remember that Dr. K. decided to change my treatment and drugs from what my previous doctor had done, so that my eggs would grow at an equal rate and there wouldn't be a variety of mature and not mature eggs during the retrieval. After that cycle of IVF rendered no good embryos, she changed things up again. Then we got 1 good embryo from that. Dr. K performed the embryo transfer and we are currently in our 5th month of pregnancy.

When we tallied all the costs, after insurance we spent about 15K out of pocket. During our very first appointment, we talked to a financial adviser who clearly outlined the costs of all the procedures, ones covered and ones not covered, with our kind of insurance. We were satisfied with the outcome and the 15K was worth every penny.

I believe her approach was to lean towards single embryo vs. multiple embryo, which was what we wanted too. She was very up front when we asked her about our chances of conceiving after the transfer was done. She offered to do an exam that would test my uterus to see if there was anything that might impede the transfer from being successful. We ended up not going with it. We just did the transfer and it worked.

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.