Sanford Reproductive Medicine

Dr Von Wald is very thorough, practiced and specific. She gave us expectations based on the history of the hospital and everything held true in terms of statistics. I was very impressed with how dialed in the numbers were. She was compassionate and patient. I would guess, like most doctors, she receives a lot of the same questions on a day to day basis but she was always willing to take the time to answer any and all of them. I never felt rushed out of the office and my husband and I were never overly stressed throughout the experience (so far).

Come prepared and do some research beforehand. A lot of people have gone through these appointments and are very open about their experiences.

Oofta- there are so many: We started with some medications for both my husband and myself. We tried IUI with no luck. We then decided to abandon the IUI option and moved to the IVF process. My husband treated a small tumor in his pituitary gland to help his motility (related to testosterone levels) with medication (sorry I do not remember the name of it). I was given lots of shots in order to produce eggs and then we did the retrieval and were able to freeze 2 eggs. We will be doing implantation next week (hopefully). I am happy to have a conversation as the treatment is A LOT to try and remember and type haha.

I do not have exact numbers in front of me but the IUI was about $5,000 and the IVF process is around $22,000 (depending on genetic testing- which we chose not to do)

My husband wanted to try both eggs (for twins) but we were discouraged from doing so. I think it was considered less safe for myself and the potential babies.

He was straight forward, helpful and made me feel like my concerns were heard and met. He made sure that we got more information on my endometriosis and what further issues I might have from that. That we were in good hands, and definitely felt like we had hope of conceiving.

Be prepared to see everyone on the fertility team, but know that they all care and are really thoughtful when it comes to treatments/procedures and everything. Also that their entire team is dedicated to you, and great at responding!

I have one tube and an ovary on the missing tube side that likes to produce eggs more than the side that's completely healthy and working. We went with Femara/Letrozole 5mg for 5 days on CD5-CD10 to get follicles growing, checking their growth on CD10-CD14 depending on when my cycle falls. Trigger shot of Ovidrel and then timed intercourse. They believe that doing this will result in pregnancy and don't want to be too aggressive because I do have one working side.

I have been with Dr. Christensen for a couple months. I have been through infertility treatment for 5 years and having him as a Dr. Has been a blessing. I only wish I would have started with him sooner. He covers absolutely every detail and makes sure you understand moving forward. I would say the only downfall is he is long distance for me but telemedicine has made it very easy to still have that patient doctor relationship.

Make sure you write down all your questions, he is very good about answering everything.

I have only done one round of treatment with Dr. Christensen as I just switched to him. We meant in person at a consultation where we discussed everything we have done and any issues that had happened before. He explained all my options and gave his professional opinion on what he felt would be the best options for us. We decided to do an IUI cycle with injections, menopur, this would be our 6th but our first with him. During the process over that month. I had several questions and he always responded back in a timely manner and was very helpful. We had appointments every couple days, we would first do an ultrasound and then meet with Dr Christensen via telemed and then follow up with labs to check my estrogen and progesterone levels to make sure I did not hyper stimulate with the injections. I really appreciate it how thorough he was with every step and every appointment. I felt like things were missed in the past with our years of fertility treatment. when it became time for the actual IUI procedure we seen dr. Klemin at Sanford Women's Health Center. This is standard because Dr Christensen is 3 hours away from the town that we live in. We did have the choice to drive there and have the procedure done there but he recommended that the staff was very good at the clinic here and we had no reason to worry or feel the need to travel to him. A few days after the procedure we started progesterone and did the long two week wait and unfortunately I started my cycle. Of course we were disappointed but we knew this was a chance of this happening and we've experienced it five times prior to that. Dr Christensen and his staff were extremely supportive and compassionate with the cycle not working for us and have recommended IVF moving forward we are considering it it's just the initial expense that we have to save up for to be able to do this procedure. he went through every step of the process with us and made us feel very comfortable and if we do pursue this in the future we will be doing it with Dr Christensen.

His clinic excepts my health insurance so one my deductible is meant, I'm required to pay 20% of any appointments, procedures and medications.

He is so kind and compassionate. He knows we have been trying almost two years since our loss and is getting more aggressive with treatment to give us the outcome we want. I have PCOS and most doctors I’ve seen is always scared because I have 30 antrial follicles on each ovary at baseline scan. But he isn’t scared to up my dosage just enough to eat a coupe more follicles to grow. We normally only get two good ones after 10 days of injections. He is hoping for 4 this cycle.

Always be open and honest and don’t be scared to ask your questions.

We started it with femara days 3-7 and the menopur 75iu daily until eggs were ready. I always had two but never conceived. I then had laparoscopy and then started straight menopur cycles. Cycle one we started at 75 iu for one week and no growth, then 150 iu for 4 days. No growth. Then 225 iu for 4 days. I then had 9 12 mm follicles. My estrogen was super high and my body surged on its own. Cancelled cycle and afterfliw showed up a week later. Second cycle 150 iu for a week. 2 follicles at 16 mm. 150 iu two more days and then triggered with 2-21 mm. Timed intercourse day of trigger and the next two days. BFN. Cycle number 3. 225 iu mneopure cd 5-7. Then 150 iu cd 8-12. Have my scan the next day. He expects I’ll be ready to trigger cd 14. 🤞🏻

Because we did timed intercourse I would pay for meds and my insurance covered scans and visits.

Dr Cain was friendly and a pleasant doctor. She ordered infectious disease testing that I had already done in my past, and the results were in my record. Which was a large waste of money. I did 3 medicated IUIs with 5mg of femara with no pregnancies. I do not feel that that enough monitoring was done. I asked several times for testing to confirm when exactly I was ovulating, which was denied. She recommended continuing the same protocol, where I felt it was time to move on to other options, further testing, etc.

Do a lot of research on your own and have an idea of how many times you want to repeat procedures before moving on.

Dr Cain repeated the same protocol for me. I ovulate on my own. Our only known issue is moderate male factor, 3% morphology, 20% motility. I ovulated 2-3 eggs on 5mg femara. Ovidrel trigger shot when follicles were mature and IUI 36 hours later. I did not get pregnant.

IUI was a total of $2,000-$2,500/cycle

I have not discussed IvF with Dr Cain. We are planning on doing Ivf with a different clinic, but will monitored at her clinic.

Dr. Christensen was always patient to answer any questions I had, described why he was prescribing/planning they cycle and gave me all the details of what to expect. He is very personable, interested in more than just getting another patients. I had him for my consult as well at during many appointments. He was very detailed in the consult, he took time to read over my chart, ask questions and create a plan for moving forward with more fertility treatments. I always left appointments after seeing him feeling confident in what we were doing as far as treatment.

Listen to what he has to say and don't be afraid to ask questions.

We did timed intercourse and one IUI cycle with just femara initially. Once that didn't work we added in gonal-f and ovidrel. Since I have a high AMH he started with lower does of the meds to avoid creating too many follicles, as that wasn't working he would adjust the doses and when they were given.

An IUI cycle was roughly $1,500 with monitoring (medication were extra). They actual procedure and sperm wash was about $550.

She is very quick to start treatment. Was very good about answering questions. We are dealing with male infertility as well as female and she set us up with a urologist she liked and we are now able to move forward with our treatments again. My only complaint is it can take a few days to hear back when you ask a question. Other than that I love the clinic in Fargo.

Go in with all the questions you have and don’t be afraid to ask. These doctors are here to help you and you should be comfortable to ask those difficult questions.

We did a ton of lab work and uktrasound. Did a semin analysis on the first visit as well. Scheduled another HSG since it’s been over a year since my last one. Started with promethium to induce cycle, ultrasound cycle day 3, femara 5mg cd 4-8, Menopur 75iu days 9-12, folicules can day 13 and ovidril trigger if ready, timed intercourse or iui and progesterone suppositories in the two week wait.

They charge what I’ve seen a lot of places charge. Nothing outrageous but not the cheapest either.

Doctor Kane seemed like she had a lot of knowledge however she was not willing to share that information with us when we asked questions we felt as if my questions were brushed to the side she made a lot of jokes about the money that she made and enjoying time in her hot tub after our appointment was over she also made recurrent jokes about we might alredy be pregnant even though my husband and I knew that we weren't during our appointments she was very Blunt she told me I was overweight which I am about 5 to 10 pounds overweight she also mentioned to me that it was my fault the treatments weren't working because I wasn't fully understanding how to use the medication every time questions were asked I would felt scolded and this enabled me to switch doctors

If you like sarcasm and you're out of very good place with your infertility journey Christine Caine is probably very knowledgeable if you already feel like you know a lot of information and you don't have many questions she may be a great doctor for you however if you like to ask questions about small details or if you don't understand why treatments are not working she is not one to give you explanations and to sit down with you and figure out or troubleshoot a different way to provide services and help you meet that end result of holding a precious baby in your arms

The protocol is very similar to many clinics in the US 1st she completed a medical history of both my husband and I followed by an HSG and semen analysis's from my husband labs were also taken for blood after all of this information was gathered we had a consultation to discuss the findings and our next steps we are diagnosed with unexplained infertility and our next steps are to begin medicated cycles with timed intercourse appointments were hauled from the 1st 1 to 3 days of your cycle and tell cycle days 9 through 12 where they could monitor the egg size and determine when to do the trigger shot and timed intercourse follow ups are performed after unsuccessful cycles And trouble shooting was completed through mostly questions of the patient

Most of the medicated cycles were covered by my insurance minus a small co-pay I you I was about 3000 for the 1st time due to required additional labs and for ever yet other time was closer to $2500 IVF was upwards of $20000

Dr. Steffen Christensen is very personable and makes you feel like he really cares about you. In 2012, I went through some treatments and they were unsuccessful. I know that he would adjust my treatments each month. It was very frustrating to continually have a negative test but Dr Christensen always keep it positive. We ended up pausing our treatments due to having insurance that didn't cover anything. One this that was very nice was that many time Dr C would give us free samples of some of the injectable medication. This was very helpful to us at the time.

He is an awesome Dr and very personable. This is a stressful time and he helps to put you at ease.

I started out with clomid but my lining was thin so I was switched to another med but I cant remember the name. My lining was still thin so we started injectable medication. Follistum and did this for 3 months. Everything seemed to be good but I didn't get pregnancy so we did the follistum with an IUI for 3 months and still no pregnancy. We decided to take a break and ended up getting pregnant on our own. We will be starting with the injectable medication again as soon as I start my cycle. We will not be doing the IUI as he doesn't think I have a problem getting pregnant. Had a miscarriage a year ago. He thinks it a quality of egg issue. I'm not ready to do IVF.

the main cost I remember was the injectable medications and the going to many ultrasounds per cycle. The IUI was also expensive and needed to be paid before the procedure

none

Dr Cain was always professional and honest. She took the time to familiarize herself with my history at each visit. She was compassionate and encouraging. She talked to me on a level I could understand, never condescending. I felt comfortable and confident under her care.

Ask lots of questions. She will take the time to explain as many times as needed.

Dr Cain started out conservatively with my first IVF cycle. She noted that I always responded well to femara, so she was confident about getting enough good quality eggs without over stimulating. Bravelle + Menopur for follicle stimulation, then Ganirelix to prevent ovulation, and Novarel trigger. Menopur dosage was increased a little when my blood estrogen levels were low in the beginning. I used crinone for progesterone. She chose She recommended ICSI, as I was older and evidently older eggs can be difficult for the sperm to penetrate. She retrieved 9 eggs, all 9 fertilized. We transferred two on day 5, and froze 3. Both embryos implanted, but one was blighted ovum. I had a healthy single pregnancy and a full term live birth. Two years later, we did a frozen transfer. For that cycle, she altered the protocol a bit to accommodate my allergy to adhesive. Estrace: Oral, 2mg twice a day, increased to add vaginal estrogen, Progesterone: Crinone gel twice a day, then later added PIO. We transferred just one embryo, upon my request. Again, it was successful, though we terminated at 20 weeks due to severe anencephaly.

The costs were detailed early on in the process. I don't recall the specifics, but it was broken down by office visits, ultrasounds, lab work, retrieval, transfer, and extras like ICSI. The total was about $15,000 not including medications.

Dr Cain left it up to us to decide how many. She strongly recommended two both times.

I felt like Dr seemed so busy each time I saw him and just was concerned about following procedure rather than treat as an individual. He would answer my questions if I had them. I felt like he was trying to push me into IVF without doing more investigating if there was something else going on that could be treated first.

Don't be afraid to ask questions and push for what you think is right for YOU and not what the doctor wants that has worked for other patients.

I believe it was standard protocol. I believe he only performed 2 of my IUI's which seemed very routine for him. He performed my egg retrieval and I remember waking up from surgery and my first question was how many eggs did we retrieve and he didn't know and had to call up to a nurse...I was very suspicious about that!

These appointments were very quick and easy

My insurance did not cover any preocedures for infertility. They would still try billing my insurance and then I would get the bills weeks later and they were very confusing. I ended up calling the finance dept with questions often.

N/A

Dr. Christensen never rushed the appointments, he always made sure all of my questions were answered and that I fully understood everything. He's kind and sympathizes with you when you are having a hard day with everything. He always makes you feel like you are the priority.

Always ask questions! Never hesitate in calling or brining a list of questions. They are happy to answer all of them!

My first round we used clomid and ovideral (trigger shot). I had awful side effects from clomid and the cycle failed. Dr. Christensen saw the side effects and he recommended we tried Femara next time first. The second round I started with Femara and the follicles didn't grow to optimal size so they put me on clomid and they grew but my uterine lining was thinned so they started me on estrace. I took the trigger shot and 2 weeks later I finally got a positive test! Dr. Christensen continued to monitor me until my 1st appointment with my OBGYN. At around 7 weeks I was required to go on progesterone and finished it at 12 weeks. I went on to give birth to a beautiful baby boy!

Just didn’t seem like she was on top of her game with my meds and the dosing and then she wasn’t the best about ordering follow up test for me. When we went for our first consult she seemed great but more and more each visit It felt less and less like that first consult visit

Speak up for want you want.

We did one round iui with clomid and then the remaining 6 where with Femara. I wasn’t put on metformin till I asked about it. If DR Cain wasn’t available I would see someone else and that was fine, but it was like Dr Cain never looked back to see what my medication dosings had been changed to the previous round and I would have to tell her.

I felt prices where within range of other clinics for iui. IVf prices were a little high compared to other places.

Dr. Von Wald seems knowledgeable in her field but lacks warmth and individualized care. As a patient with elevated BMI, she suggested weight loss. I asked for specific behaviors related to diet and movement to help support my treatment and was met with a blank stare. It is clear that I am seen as a less than ideal patient for asking questions.

Expect clinical knowledge with an aloof delivery.

Clomid was prescribed first, with significant reduction in endometrial lining. My second cycle included 5 days of Letrozole and estradiol, with better lining and more mature follicles. My third cycle included 7 days of Letrozole and estradiol with the addition of Menopur for an IUI cycle. Progesterone was added following the insemination. My current cycle has included 5 days of Letrozole, 2 days of Menopur and estradiol with an IUI scheduled tomorrow.

He is very knowledgeable and makes sure you fully understand everything planned. He treats patients like individuals, not just a number or diagnosis. We fully recommend him and the Fargo Reproductive Medicine clinic.

Don't be nervous, this is a good step to get answers and hopefully help you on your journey. He reminded us that everyones path is different and he really cares about all aspects of this, physically and emotionally.

Clomid to induce ovulation-didnt work well for us Femara to grow follicles-working so far! Ovidrel to trigger ovulation- He also makes sure you have monitoring done throughout your cycle to make sure everything is working correctly.

They do their best to code with diagnosis' that way insurance will cover medicines and procedures. They offer many payment options and plans available for IVF

I could tell she throughly reviewed my results and my history. She explained what the numbers for each test meant. She also would go through my options if my current cycle didn’t work. She was always positive and encouraging.

She is thorough and is very knowledgeable about her field. I trust that she is doing everything she can to help me achieve my dreams!

I started with just pills to grow follicles. My body was responding well but she wanted to lay down the facts about being aggressive because of my age. She said we would be as agressive with treatment as I felt I could handle. We are currently using injections and IUI. I fear we will not be able to afford the IVF stage if nothing else works.

Every office visit or telemedicine visit cost around $200. Ultra sound $300. Medicine ranged from $100 to $600 a month. The IUI and sperm washing about $800 a month.

Dr. Christensen came recommended to me and I recommended him to several friends. Since then, we all have children or children on the way. He is a remarkable doctor and his only downfall is his age. I hope he never retires from this profession.

Be thorough with asking questions, he is always there to answer them and he listens to concerns. He told us what hr thought we should do, we wanted to start smaller and he was okay with that. Worked hard to get us medications at an affordable price. In the end, he knew best and his suggestion worked.

Dr. Christensen was a more open book doctor. He took what we wanted as patients and what he thought would work and went with it. I over stimulated on a high dose round, but it was our 4th iui round and he was hoping for more eggs. My body just responded differentlu that round.

IuI was about $5000 a round. Ivf was closer to $20,000 for the full round with retrieval.

Again, he was very open to hearing our thoughts while providing knowledgable and thoughtful insight.

Stephanie was the 1st doctor to really sit down with us and assess our situation in a way that we weren't even sure we were able to experience she explained a new medication and looked into our insurance helping us understand how this medication could help and that is covered by our insurance

Doctor Dahl is very understanding and compassionate she is kind and easy to speak with I would highly recommend her

Most treatment protocols were similar to my experience with another doctor at the same hospital at this point she just reviewed my medications last and discussed any changes that we are comfortable way she also identified some changes to our medical intervention and next steps if this was unsuccessful

Most medicated cycles were covered by my insurance as far as timed intercourse I you I was about 3000 for the 1st time due to additional labs and 2500 every time after IVF was 20000 and up

Dr. Christensen has a kind of quirky personality. He tends to give you all the information, and yet is still able to be lighthearted with you. The only thing he ever did that bothered me was an offhand remark about having two kids in one bedroom when we were first trying for our second baby. But other than that, he was a really great guy.

With our first child we use Clomid and a trigger shot and was pregnant with the first cycle. With our second child we did Clomid for 3 months, my body didn't respond to it. So he switched me to Femara and the trigger shot. We got pregnant on our fourth cycle, which was the first with Femara. For third baby we tried Femara, my body didn't respond and so he gave me a second round of Femara within that cycle. My body ended up ovulating on its own, but having sensed that my husband and I were together and it resulted in a pregnancy.

Dr Christensen spends real quality time with his patients. He sees you after every ultrasound to go through the results and let’s you know any adjustments to your medications and care right away. He answers all questions thoroughly

Be expected to love your doctor! He is so kind, funny, and willing to do whatever he can to help you

I used Gonal-F, Menopur and Ganirelix throughout my IVF cycle. Doses were adjusted numerous times to try and help with the number of eggs being made

We paid $15,000 for one IVF cycle and another $5,000 for FET. The costs were high

Doctors will leave it up to the patient to transfer 1 or 2 embryos

I was able to have very detailed conversation with Dr. Christensen. He took in to account my science/health knowledge, and gave me very informative responses to any concerns I had. He was very warm and welcoming at all appointments. We would chat about various events occurring in my life which made me feel more comfortable talking to him as a provider.

Don't be afraid to ask questions if you have any. ART is a challenging process with many intricate details. If you don't understand an aspect of your treatment, simply ask for clarification.

My IVF protocol involved the usage of 75 units Menopur and 225 units Bravelle. A few days prior to egg retrieval I also administered Ganirelex.

I don't recall specifics of my costs. My insurance covered reproductive treatments which helped considerably with cost.

He suggested either eSET or a max of two embryos transfer for me. We were given both the risks and benefits of doing both procedures.

Dr. Cain always made sure I understood what we were doing throughout the process and why we were doing it. I thought she took sufficient time with us but also was efficient. I didn't doubt her capabilities during the process.

Trust her knowledge.

I do not remember specifics but I know I was taking estrogen and injecting progesterone. The first embryo transfer failed with a single embryo so we decided to implant 2 the second time. This resulted in a singleton pregnancy that was successful.

The up front cost for the egg retrieval and first FET were just under 18k, the second FET was just under 6K. There was another couple grand with extra ultrasounds and bloodwork that ended up being needed.

We discussed both a lot since our first transfer failed when using a single embryo. After discussing pros/cons it was up to us to make the final decision.

He is an amazing doctor! My experience as a patient there have yet to get my desired results but we are not done yet! Look forward to working with them again in the near future! He was always very informative and understanding of feelings. I always enjoyed seeing him, great personality and humor to go with it! Very smart and always made myself and my husband feel good about what we are doing!

Listen to him!

We tried a few different types of medication.. Ending with the best dose of Femara 10mg for days, with a follow up trigger shot...Over our journey we have had 3 unsuccessful IUI treatments.

The costs have been what I expected, my insurance does not cover any kind of treatment