The Fertility and Gynecology Center

Scheduling appointments has been an easy process. The clinic works hard to work with you and your schedule. Every staff member is kind and willing to help. They have chocolate, coffee, water and tea in the waiting room. It's a warm environment.

I think our experience has been very different going from consecutive IUI's to IVF. We felt very prepared for the IVF cycle. All of our questions were answered and we truly felt that Dr. Ramirez cared and wanted the best for our family. He prayed with us, took his time with us and we felt valued. Our experience with IUI was different. The cycle was much less invasive but it just seemed more impersonal. Our IVF experience has been fantastic.

I don't think I could ever fully describe how incredibly grateful we are to Elvira. Her compassion, dedication and true empathy for our family goes beyond what I could say in words. She has touched our lives and we will be forever grateful for how she has guided us, comforted us and assisted us in ways that speak volumes. She is a genuine, loving, kind soul and it has been a pleasure to know her.

We worked with Dr. Ramirez in 2015, when my wife conceived our son on our first IUI. I started working with Dr. Ramirez the end of 2016 and had 5 IUI's during the course of 2017. We had many heartaches in 2017. 1 ectopic pregnancy, 1 chemical pregnancy and 3 unsuccessful attempts. It was incredibly difficult for us. in 2018, we started the process for IVF and although it is invasive, our experience has been very positive. We are appreciative of everything Dr. Ramirez has done to help our family!

Don't be afraid to ask questions! It's not about statistics and numbers. It's about creating a family. Be your own advocate. Don't be afraid to say what you need. Dr. Ramirez is there to help you thru this process but you need to be honest with yourself about what you need, and also with Dr. Ramirez. It's an emotional journey. Try to take it all in and then come back with questions and the support you need.

For my 5 attempts at IUI, I was on either Clomid or Femara. I had more success with Clomid. I was on the max dose of both the Clomid and Femara and if I remember correctly, I only produced 2, maybe 3, appropriate sized follicles each cycle. He was hoping for 3-4 per cycle. I'm currently in my first IVF cycle. The hyperstim process and egg retrieval went very well. I tolerated my med regimen without difficulty. The actual embryo transfer went very well and now we're in the wait period to find out if I'm pregnant.

None of our fertility costs were covered by insurance so it has been challenging for us, financially. We did apply for a health care loan, which Dr. Ramirez's office assisted us with, and have a very reasonable interest rate. Melissa is fun to work with (financial coordinator in the office) and the loan company has actually been very nice to work with as well.

Dr. Ramirez left it up to us whether we wanted to transfer 1 or 2 embryos. In our case, we only had 1 viable embryo.

They're a small clinic, but completely self contained. All procedures can be conducted in their office, including retrievals and transfers, and blood draws. They're office is also focused on fertility, so hurting patients don't need to worry about seeing kids in the office. Pregnant patients are transferred to the Patients OB once the pregnancy is stable- generally 14 to 16 weeks.

Dr Ramirez and his staff gave us hope and were with us the whole way. They were very invested in our success and we feel like they're an extension of our family. They were very supportive through the negative and positive results. Helping us have hope when all seemed hopeless. They never gave up on us... even through we took a break from treatments for a few years.

His staff is small. Elvera is his assistant, Karen is the patient coordinator, and Melissa is the financial planner. All are very kind and ensure you have all you need for each cycle. Having the small staff allows the patients to really feel connected and comfortable.

Their office is like a small boutique clinic. Dr Ramirez spends time with every patient at each visit. His staff is well trained and each one aids in the process. If we had questions between visits, he was always available through email or phone. Once I had an allergic reaction to a drug and we were communicating with him while he was in a different country. His patients are not numbers to him and you know it. He is always checking the latest research, so you know you're getting the highest quality care and planning

Don't give up, because he won't. I wouldn't recommend anyone else in the Monterey Bay Area...he's the best!!!

Which time? We tried everything from drug assisted, IUI, IVF (my eggs) and finally IVF (donor eggs) - each time the treatment was tailored to our unique circumstances and adjusted based on the previous session. Our last IUI ended in an ectopic pregnancy so we moved to IVF. But I didn't respond like an PCOS patient so we had to increase the medications on the 2nd IVF. Eventually we maxed out on medications, but my eggs were old. Our last IVF was using donor eggs, which finally ended in a live birth of our son. We have severa frozen eggs now, which we will work with in the near future.

We were provided an itemized cost list for each service. The last cycle IVF donor cost approximately $20k plus medications. I don't have a copy of these bills since they were paid.

In our last three IVF cycles we all decided multiple embryo transfer was best due to our history. We were well aware and informed of the risks, but due to our previous failures, believed the risk of a multiple birth would be low. With our donor IVF, we transferred 2 eggs... but only had one live birth. Dr Ramirez is very much against the octa-mom scenario, but is reasonable with his approach. In most cases, he would suggest eSet.

Strengths: Small practice, one doctor, you feel like they know you and you won't get lost in the crowd. Weakness: Since it's a one-doctor practice, if he gets sick or has an emergency, you may have to delay your appointment or treatment. The pros outweigh the cons, in my opinion. If you live locally, why drive all the way to the Bay Area when we have a fabulous clinic right here.

Dr. Ramirez and each of his staff knew our name and remembered our histories. I felt they truly cared about us and wanted us to succeed just as much as we did.

Elvira is very compassionate and caring. She takes care of each patient with extreme care and makes sure they understand what they need. She always took my phone calls and was very professional, even if I was upset about a negative test result. She's very warm and puts you at ease.

Dr. Ramirez is very straight-forward without being cold. He understands what it's like to go through fertility treatments and is very compassionate. We saw him at every visit and he always took the time to answer our questions. I never felt rushed by him.

Take the time to at least go meet him for a consultation and see if he might be a good fit for you. We highly recommend him to anyone who needs help conceiving.

We had 4 IUIs (2 with Clomid and vaginal progesterone & 2 with Femara / vaginal progesterone, Ovidrel trigger, estrace, ). We then moved on to 3 rounds of IVF with Follistim, Gonal-F, Ganirelix, Menopur, progesterone in oil, and medrol. On rounds 2 and 3 we added baby aspirin and heparin. We did one FET cycle after our 2nd fresh cycle. We used Lupron, progesterone in oil, medrol, estradiol, estrogen patch). We waited several months in between rounds 2 and 3 and I added CoQ10 (to possibly improve egg quality), and my husband added Proxeed (to possibly improve sperm volume and viscosity). Our first round of IVF resulted in a chemical pregnancy. Our 3rd fresh cycle resulted in a live, singleton birth.

He charged around $1,000 for a medicated IUI cycle. We purchased an IVF package that included 2 fresh cycle and any resulting frozen transfers for about $16,000 (not including medications, bloodwork, and monitoring). All together, for 4 IUIs and 3 IVFs, we spent a little over $50,000 (including medication, monitoring, and labwork).

From the get go they treated me and my husband with respect, even though we were nervous about being treated with infertility. Even though I was close to forty, Dr. Ramirez allowed us to go through and try IUI ( I had been doing clomid with my regular OB/Gyn before I saw him). We appreciated that, since we had been told it was no use to do that by other doctors. His nurse, Elvira, always always answered my questions, took my calls and was always positive with us. The IVF coordinator, Karen, explained everything we had to do when we decided to do IVF with such kindness and never minded going over procedures twice or three times if necessary. But really, the best part was being able to be seen by one doctor! That Dr. Ramirez was the best is an understatement, not just because he sincerely cared about our journey but also because he helped us to have our child after 5 years of TTC. We always felt like he respected our decisions.

Elvira, wow, she is so great. She would always return my calls...unlike my Ob/Gyn's nurse. Since IVF is so stressful, she tried so hard to make it easier for us. She explained everything three times if we need it. We felt very comfortable with her.

Dr. Ramirez, as I said before, was very thorough in all his explanations. He allowed us to try IUI even though I was close to forty. After each failure he was upbeat and listened to our frustrations...even the ones that we may have had against him! Never once did he make us feel ignorant and when I had my miscarriage, he was so considerate and took care of me through that horrific event. He is the only doctor you will see when you visit his clinic. It is always one on one care with him. My husband had to deploy (in the Army) and Dr. Ramirez made sure that we would be able to do IVF even with him being away. We froze his sperm and were able to do two cycles! Luckily we got lucky with the second cycle and we now have a lovely daughter.

Dr. Ramirez is the best and kindest doctor...don't let your failure to conceive right away discourage you because he will find out what is wrong and make sure you have the right protocol.

It’s pretty pricey and they’re always running behind. Make sure to ask questions because they do this everyday and assume you already know. Check around to price medications to save money and let them know if you have a preference for anything

He’s not all that warm and doesn’t explain things unless you ask

You have to ask a lot of questions to know what’s going on when you’re new to infertility

Nice, but not great bedside manner. You have to press him to explain things. He seems to stay up to date with new research, but one article could have saved me from having a failed retrieval if he’d read it a few days earlier. His military involvement is problematic for scheduling especially if you want to try IUI

Ask questions

If you have PCOS he will recommend using Lupron as your trigger to avoid OHSS

Egg retrieval was around $20k plus medication and FET was around $4k plus medications