NYU Langone Fertility Center

I chose Dr. Licciardi based on the very thorough way he explains everything and his detailed approach. He may be more "scientific" than some patients prefer it I knew I was in good hands. The nurses in the practice are very hands on and knowledgeable.

Trust his approach and go to him if you are comfortable with a top notch Doctor in a very busy practice. You may not get a ton of 1:1 attention but you will get great care.

Clomid and IUI for several years of unexplained infertility prior to seeing him. He prepared me well that it would likely not work and we would need to move to injections but surprise, it worked!

My insurance covered a portion (up to $5k per year I think). I covered the rest.

First consult he was kind, encouraging and listened. He explained everything and made a plan that workedfor me. On important appointments, for sonos and pregnancy tests he was present. Always asked how I was doing and made the visit very personal. He was genuinely happy for me when we got the positive results.

I feel he has your personal best interest in mind when working with you

First my issue was not getting pregnant, it was having a healthy baby. I have a chromosome translocation which leads to miscarriage or fetus death. It was a hard pill to swallow when I had to turn to using donor eggs. He never made me feel like I was alone. Once I chose a donor from a private agency they did ALL the work for me. I just showed up for blood testing during cycle. I cant remember what injectable I used to sync our cycles. But Week prior to transfer I injected progesterone oil I think so embryo will have better chance to stick. Day of transfer went so smoothly and contined the oil injections a few more days. This IVF resulted in a positive pregancy. I have a gorgeous baby girl who is now 2 1/2 years old. We are choosing not to tell our child and family about using donor egg. I have a 9 year old daughter using my own eggs.

Including using private donor. This cucle cost us around $30,000

I partially answered this with the "number or person" question. Dr. Licciardi was very upbeat with my initial assessment and FSH levels, and quickly got me started on testing and polyp removal to make my chances as high as possible (I had never tried to get pregnant and was doing this with donor sperm). When my FSH levels subsequently elevated, he was sympathetic but to the point that I might get lucky with IUI and he would support that for 2 or 3 cycles. I think some women might have taken that as uncaring, but I felt like he was only being honest and not judging me nor did he want to mislead me. When I failed at IUI but my FSH and estrogen had improved I met with him regarding IVF. He was not in favor of it, but said we could try and then he had a positive, supportive attitude throughout that process. When it failed and I cried, saying I felt stupid for trying at my age (I was at that point 44 years old), he told me I shouldn't feel bad at all about that and he seemed quite genuine with his supportive comments. I commented that I had a family member interested in donating eggs and he was very positive about it. Overall, I think he is neither mushy-concerned nor cold about his assessments. He seems genuinely interested in his patients and in helping them. And when I pushed a little to do something he did not recommend, he quickly took my side. This was important because I think being very downbeat about the process or feeling like your doctor is annoyed or unsupportive because you don't agree with him can make it all too hard. I never had that kind of negative experience with him. But he also was honest and "to the point" about the process at each stage, which might seem uncaring to some women. I am not the kind of person who pushes hard to get my way, and I think that had a positive effect on my interactions with him. I do not know if that aspect of my personality may have hurt my chances, such as when I only had 2 follicles with my IVF cycle (at a high level of hormone treatments) and he said we needed to convert the cycle to IUI. I now feel pretty confident he made the right call.

The patient should expect honesty, but understand he and the clinic are trying to get good numbers. He will recommend what he thinks gives you the best chance of success at having a baby, especially considering most of us have limited resources and usually can't do more than two IVF cycles with our insurance. As a patient, you want to pull out all the stops. I think that dynamic goes on with all the doctors. But I do believe he really believes in his work and wants to help.

It's been quiet a while and don't remember a lot of details. He recommended IUI cycles with HG injections to time the injections. With IVF he went high on the hormones, which I think was right given my age. He also said with IVF that they won't do retrievals unless there are at least three follicles. I only had two so he recommended I stop the medications and just to HG injection with IUI. With the donor egg cycle, we synchronized our cycles with birth control pills and then went to estrogen pills and progesterone shots daily. I don't know the rest of the protocols for the egg donor.

I don't remember much. I think the first IVF cycle was maybe $10k or $12k before insurance. The frozen embryo cycle was less than $5k. Frozen embryo cost $1,200 plus another $1k annually for storage. IUI was much cheaper

Since I used a younger donor and told him I couldn't handle having twins, he was very supportive of doing just a single embryo transfer. It worked out great for me.

He was very personable and always was around to schedule a call if we had questions. I do think it's important to always read up and be on top of your own care. My thyroid kept spiking and I felt I needed to be on top of it bec no one else was. This may or may not have contributed to infertility as it wasn't that high (3-4 max), but I had read that fertility doctors did need to see it below 2.5 in order for treatment to be effective. So that's my only complaint... But I truly think he is the best.

Always do your own research and be aware of the right questions to ask.

Well oiled machine First come first serve between the hours of 7am-9am Cycled you thru

Dr. Fino was very nice, took a lot of time with us listening. Seemed very intelligent and knowledgeable. Gave us all our options.

Understand that you won't see her every time you come in for visits (and there will be a lot of them). But that she is aware of what's going on and is monitoring everything.

Dr. Grifo is knowledgable, straight forward, reliable and honest. He adjusted treatments in response to results. He and the other physicians in the group were well coordinated, so I never felt as if there was a lapse in care if he was out of the office on the day of my visit.

Perhaps the only thing I would have advised was only doing IUI once and if that failed to go straight to IVF.

I went first thing in the morning. Hours were convenient. Very efficient, was able to always leave clinic and be on time for work. It is a first come first served process so getting there before the doors open is recommended

total over the yrs probably over $150K

I am very happy that they placed 3 embryos at a time. I strongly believe this is the most appropriate option for women who are in their late 30's or older.

She is a guru in the field and has special expertise around protecting women like myself who are also undergoing treatment for breast cancer. It was disappointing to me that I only saw Dr. Noyes though at the initial consultation and then at the egg retrievals.

Don't expect warm and fuzzy but a very experienced doctor who will get you good results.

I do not remember the entire regiment of medicine I took but I did take the follicle stimulating hormone Gonal F my first round and then switched to a different stimulating medicine the second round in an effort to produce more eggs; although, I produced about the same amount. I was also on Femara to protect me as I had hormone related breast cancer.

The clinic was open between 7am and 9am which made it very convenient with work. For the most part, the wait was about 15 minutes. The clinic ran fairly smoothly.

I received financial assistance from Live Strong so each cycle was discounted. My cost per cycle was $6750.

We got the results we wanted and were always treated compassionately. I had had a previous bad experience with an HST test and he redid it in a much better way and made me feel like it was the other doctor's fault and not mine. At a time when I felt very vulnerable that my body wasn't doing what it was supposed to do, he never made me feel like it was my fault and he always made me feel like we had options.

Be prepared for a wait to get an appointment but once you're in, it's all good.

Both pregnancies -- Clomid (lowest dose) one cycle with monitoring (ultrasound). IUI at the right time and I got pregnant. Very lucky, I know.

I'm sorry - it was a long time ago. I remember they didn't take my insurance so I had to submit by hand, but they always had the paperwork ready for me. It wasn't cheap, but we weren't expecting it to be.

Strengths: he was real and honest and encouraged us to 'stir the pot' with the donor eggs which we really liked. He showed us pictures of his IVF children and made us feel comfortable with the procedures. Weakness: he was speaking at an event the day of my embryo transfer so he didn't perform the day of the big event, which made me upset. However, like the entire process, I just went with the flow and now have two beautiful and healthy twin girls who I love and adore with all my heart.

Request him to be present at the transfer if important to you.

I really liked him and was very knowledgeable. He followed up when the IUI wasn't working and did further testing to find out if I wasn't having a problem. Since I was okay we moved into IVF. The first time was successful

To be upfront about everything and clear on your history. Be prepared it is group of Doctor's so he may not be the one performing your extractions and implantation.

sorry I do not remember anymore.

there were set monitoring hours and would make sure to go early to beat any waits.

don't remember

He did not provide an feedback on that. I only had 2 good embryos so we went with both of them.

Our initial meeting with her lasted almost an hour. She spent a lot of time asking me questions about myself, family, job, education, social life etc. She really wanted to know who should could be working with. She made me feel like I was doing the right thing, and that I was light years ahead of my counterparts. It was obvious from this meeting that Dr. Noyes's compassion and bedside manner matched my needs. Once my cycles started I did not see Dr. Noyes very often. I saw her an average of 2 times per cycle, and Dr. Noyes did not do either of my two retrievals.

Be ready to have complete strangers give you internal ultrasounds at 7:05 am. If you this bothers you, than NYU, Cornell, or any big time center, is not the place. Talk to the person in the finance office that deals with medications and insurance. I was able to get my medication covered through Aenta Speciality Pharmacy. Aetna themselves did not tell me this, one of the patient coordinators at NYU told me to go through Aenta Speciality Pharmacy. The medications are brutal but you just need to power through it with your eye on the end result. Write everything down the doctors and nurses tell you during monitoring and nightly calls. Stay organized by inputting your medication doses and timing on the calendar on your phone. Keep track of your medication supplies daily, and check with the doctors/nurse weekly to be sure you have the correct supplies and enough medication to complete your cycle. Never give up. After having my first cycle cancelled I was devastated. I pushed through and ended up with 34 eggs...

Round 1: Non-Lupron Cycle (10/27/09-11/4/09) - Cycle Cancelled 10/27/09: Nothing 10/28/09: Blood work and Ultrasound- saw Dr. Noyes: 450 Follistim pm 10/29/09: 225 Follistim am & 225 Follistim am 10/30/09: 225 Follistim am & 225 Follistim am 10/31/09: Blood work and Ultrasound - did not see Dr. Noyes, saw a fellow: 450 Follistim pm 11/01/09: 450 Follistim pm 11/02/09: Blood work and Ultrasound - did not see Dr. Noyes, saw a fellow, only 4 eggs, was told by fellow that these were disappointing results. The fellow was also about 8 months pregnant, so that did not help the situation. Antagon injected at NYU, 450 Follistim pm 11/03/09: Antagon am & 450 Follistim pm 11/04/09: Blood work and Ultrasound- saw Dr. Noyes, only 2 eggs, cycle cancelled. HcG shot taken at home Round 2: Lupron Cycle (11/11/09-12/10/09) - 12 eggs 11/11/09-11/22/09 - .1 injection of Lupron 11/23/09 - Blood work and Ultrasound - did not see Dr. Noyes, saw a fellow, possibility of cysts 11/23/09 - 11/27/09 - .5 Lupron 11/25/09 - Blood work and Ultrasound - saw Dr. Noyes, possibility of cysts so may delay start 11/28/09 - ok'd to start - .5 Lupron, 450 Follistim, 150 Menpur 11/29/09 - .5 Lupron & 450 Follistim am, 150 Menpur pm 11/30/09 - .5 Lupron & 450 Follistim am, 150 Menpur pm 12/01/09 - Blood work - .5 Lupron am, 450 Follistim & 150 Menpur pm 12/02/09 - .5 Lupron am, 450 Follistim & 150 Menpur pm 12/03/09 - Blood work and Ultrasound - did not see Dr. Noyes, 9 eggs, .5 Lupron am, 450 Follistim & 150 Menpur pm 12/04/09 - .5 Lupron am, 450 Follistim & 150 Menpur pm 12/05/09 - Blood work and Ultrasound - did not see Dr. Noyes, 9 eggs, .5 Lupron am, 450 Follistim & 150 Menpur pm 12/06/09 - .5 Lupron am, 450 Follistim & 150 Menpur pm 12/07/09 - Blood work and Ultrasound - saw Dr. Noyes, 9 eggs, .5 Lupron am, 450 Follistim & 150 Menpur pm 12/08/09 - Blood work 0- HcG shot at 11pm 12/09/09 - nothing 12/10/09 - retrieval - 12 eggs Round 3: Lupron Cycle (01/08/10-02/20/10) - 22 eggs ( I didn't seem to write down when I saw Dr. Noyes at morning monitoring) 01/08/10 - 1/26/10 -Blood work and Ultrasounds every 3 days. Progesterone levels were low, ovulation was delayed, and there was a cyst on my ovary. 01/27/10 - Blood work and Ultrasound - saw Dr. Noyes - got the ok to start as ovulation had occurred. 01/28/ - 02/05/10 - .1 Lupron until period 02/05/10 - Day 1 of cycle. Called NYU to let them know that I had gotten my period and did not receive a call back 02/06/10 - continued the .1 of Lupron. Did not hear from NYU all day. Called at 5:30pm, got a call back at 7pm from a doctor I had never met. 02/07/10 - .1 Lupron 02/08/10 - Blood work and Ultrasound - ok'd to officially start stims - .1 of Lupron in the am, .5 Lupron, 450 Follistim & 150 Menpur in the pm 02/09/10 - .5 Lupron & 450 Follistim am, and 150 Menpur pm 02/10/10 - .5 Lupron & 450 Follistim am, and 150 Menpur pm 02/11/10 - Blood work - .5 Lupron am, 450 Follistim & 150 Menpur pm 02/12/10 - .5 Lupron am, 450 Follistim & 150 Menpur pm 02/13/10 - Blood work and Ultrasound - .5 Lupron am, 450 Follistim & 150 Menpur pm 02/14/10 - .5 Lupron am, 450 Follistim & 150 Menpur pm 02/15/10 - Blood work and Ultrasound - .5 Lupron am, 450 Follistim & 150 Menpur pm 02/16/10 - .5 Lupron am, 450 Follistim & 150 Menpur pm 02/17/10 - Blood work and Ultrasound - .5 Lupron am, 150 Follistim & 150 Menpur pm 02/18/10 - Blood work and Ultrasound - .5 Lupron am, 11pm HcG 02/19/10 - Blood work 02/20/10 - Retrieval - 22 eggs

10k for Each egg retrieval and close to 2k for meds each round

I saw Dr. Noyes a long time ago -- 1999-2000. I was 42 years old and had failed a number of IUI and IVC rounds with injectable hormones, as well as two previous donor egg attempts at a different clinic. Dr. Noyes was straightforward, candid, warm but a bit brisk (I am OK with that), and made it clear that she would give you as much or as little detail as you wanted. She told me at the first visit that she thought she could get me pregnant "one way or another," and she did. She originally planned to go straight to a donor egg cycle, but while waiting for a donor I unexpectedly got pregnant the old fashioned way (courtesy of my husband) for about ten minutes, until I had an early miscarriage. Still, that was enough evidence to prompt Dr. Noyes to suggest one more cycle using my own eggs. We tried that, but it did not work. Next, a donor became available and we had a long talk about how many embryos to implant. I wanted to be aggressive, in light of my age and history. Dr. Noyes eventually agreed to 4, with all kinds of contingency plans if I ended up with too many. As it turned out, one took. Dr. Noyes discharged me from the fertility clinic at 3 months but sent a lovely note when my first daughter was born. Somewhat amazingly, I got pregnant again -- also the old-fashioned way -- when daughter #1 was 6 months old. Even though Dr. Noyes had nothing to do with that (except, perhaps, in the karmic sphere) and she sent another lovely note when my second daughter was born. Both girls are now in high school.

Don't be shy. She responds well to questions: ask them.

See above. I don't remember any of the names of the drugs.

Don't recall the details. It was a lot, and most was not covered by insurance.

She is smart, and tells it like it is. I appreciated her sense of humor. I didn't ask alot of questions, because I didn't feel the need to. I'm not a doctor, but I am smart, and I trusted her expertise. If you are older, she indicates that will work against you. She did follow up with me.

Be prepared that she will be honest. She is not going to sugar coat your chances.

I was prescribed the usual IVF protocols and each cycle produced eggs and embryos, but for some reason there was a failure to implant.

Depended on the day, I was taken in the order I got there. Sometimes there was a line, sometimes not. I tried to get there early and get in and out.

$8K per cycle