UNC Fertility

Very efficient but still make you feel like a person not a number. Great scheduling for working people. Had support all the time. Knew they would be there for egg transfer no matter the day even if on a holiday. Support and backing of UNC but feels like a private clinic. Every doctor I saw was fabulous. I knew no matter what doctor I saw they were all on same page and I could trust them. Even though Dr.Steiner is at Duke now I will without a doubt go back to UNC if we forward later with a frozen embryo transfer. Also if side notbthey give you the cutest little gift when you graduate

IUNC fertility was fabulous. They made me feel like I was the only person in their care. Personalized one on one attention and must say Ally the nurse was my saving grace in regards to sanity

Ally was the calm in the storm. She goes above and beyond with her patients. She is one of the most compassionate, organizations zed, and calming person I have ever met. She Celeste’s the successes and reassured me when I was worried

Well of note she is now at Duke and I do not have experience there. I will say Dr. Steiner was great non judgements supportive and even while I did not see her every time I knew she was always on top of my care

Be honest and know she will support you. One of the first and most important moments with Dr Steiner was when I first went in I knew she would say my weight was a factor in my infertility. But to my pleasant surprise she went through everything and never mentioned it. I brought it up and she said “yes every less pound would be helpful but I am assuming from the way you asked you have tried dieting and eating healthy. I told her I had it was just really hard for me in those programs because the weight did not just fall off. She said well it is up to you if you want to try and lose a few more pounds before we do this I will support you but I know you want this baby and I am not going to keep that from happening because of something that has not happened with your effort. My job is to help get you pregnant not judge you

She did the standard protocol they use but tailored it based on my labs and my pharmacy plan options.

Well efficient machine. Very personalized but they blocked off early morning so you could get labs and or ultrasounds and still make it to work on time. Also open 7 days a week for monitoring appointments and procedures. I could have scheduled later in the day if needed but early morning was great for me and so many others

So my husbands insurance luckily has great infertility insurance so our experience was very different

So dr. Steiner only put one egg in based on research. I never pushed the fact because their frozen and fresh egg transfer success ratios are the same. And like she explained it is better to try again with a frozen embryo the chance multiples. Now I will not the decision to only put one was based on my age and embryo quality

There are a few aspects of the clinic I wish I had known about before beginning treatment. UNC is a teaching clinic. It will most likely be fellows (students in their fellowship years) who perform most of your ultrasounds. At times, this was (literally) uncomfortable. I have a retroverted uterus, and the first fellow to do a transvaginal ultrasound on me had a lot of difficulty finding her way around. Unlike many teaching hospitals/clinics, the practice's physicians will not ask your permission beforehand to have the fellow observe or even perform the ultrasound. After the uncomfortable ultrasound, I preemptively requested a practice physician when checking in for my next one. Later, at another ultrasound, an unsupervised fellow gave me misinformation and tried to cancel our IUI (she was under the impression that the clinic only did IUI cycles with multiple follicles, while Dr. Steiner was aiming for me to have one mature follicle). The method of communication, at least as a patient of Dr. Steiner's, is strictly through portal messaging. I was never able to speak on the phone with Dr. Steiner, and 90% of the time, responses on the portal came from a nurse. This I imagine is typical for correspondence having to do with refills, etc., but when I wanted to pass on some information regarding my short period, I was told to book a follow-up appointment, which seemed unnecessary. I would also add that nurses perform the IUIs. This may not be uncommon, but took me by surprise.

During our consultation and follow-up appointment, Dr. Steiner took her time with us, explaining treatment and general fertility concepts in a clear manner. She remembered our details at every interaction, and her care felt personalized for the case we presented.

I didn't have much interaction with the nurses, as I wasn't doing IVF. In general, they were pleasant, and responsive via portal messages.

Dr. Steiner is very direct and research-driven. The fact that she continues to conduct research on faculty at a major institution is one of the elements that led myself and my husband to seek her care. If you are looking for a super-compassionate, empathetic doctor, she may not be for you. She cares, and will demonstrate that at times, but not during every interaction. She could be short with a response on occasion, but generally gave me the information I was looking for. Dr. Steiner was convinced that ovulation induction was the only treatment we would need, and told us she would comfortably continue that regimen for six or more months. We progressed to IUI only at my request. After four cycles, none of which resulted in a pregnancy or chemical pregnancy, we relocated, and began with a new doctor. Should we have stayed in the area, I may have sought a more aggressive doctor.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. You'll need to assert yourself a little bit, as Dr. Steiner is a very seasoned specialist and will give you a full run-down of your diagnosis and case without pausing.

I have a history of irregular or absent periods. Dr. Steiner prescribed 2.5 mgs of letrozole (Femara) on cycle days 3-7, with an ultrasound to check progress on day 13. Each cycle produced one or more mature follicles, and after the ultrasound, we did a trigger shot (Ovidrel) at home that evening. For the first three cycles, we had timed intercourse around the ovulation window. For the fourth and final cycle, we went in for an IUI 36 hours after the trigger shot.

For ovulation induction, medication was about $110 per cycle, and each cycle required one monitoring ultrasound which cost about $270. The IUI was about $700. My HSG was about $400. The initial consultation was about $400, and the follow-up with Dr. Steiner was about $340. Insurance did not cover anything, but gave us discounts because the clinic was in-network.

The one weakness to me is that I did not see the same doctor for each ultrasound appointment. I felt that it could have been beneficial to have the same doctor do each ultrasound for consistency. The strengths are they are friendly, compassionate, organized and easy to work with. The hours are convenient as is location. Their website has a patient portal and they do use it effectively. The financial and billing staff are excellent as well.

Dr. Steiner took time to sit with us and answer our questions. She presented the information in an easy to understand way, showing diagrams and charts as well as statistics. She always responds quickly via email and return phone calls.

All of the nurses were very friendly and attentive to my needs as a patient. They were easy to communicate with, would reply in a timely manner to emails and had compassion for the situation.

Dr. Steiner is medically professional. She explains things in layman's terms. The only thing I didn't care for was she did not do all of my ultrasounds. I feel like she did not explain the percentages with IUI versus IVF.

Take a notebook to write things down because she goes over a lot of information in the first couple appointments.

Dr Steiner used Follistim 375 units per night for 8 nights. I went in every other day for blood work and vaginal ultrasounds. One day, because my veins roll, they stuck me at least 10 times and still could not get blood. I wonder if results would have been obtained that day if it would have changed the outcome for me.I did not get to my Ovidrel trigger shot because my estrogen lowered and progesterone went up so they did not allow me to do that. Other doctors performed my vaginal ultrasounds since Dr. Steiner was not in the office.

Not sure since we are using insurance and are having some issues in that department. From what insurance has told us , we have used $13k so far.

N/A

Strengths: facility is great. Business staff are fairly knowledgeable. Weaknesses: it can be challenging to get in touch with their financial folks. Not impossible but they might be harder than the IVF nurse coordinator.

We met with Dr M multiple times and she always showed care of us. We never felt like she disregarded our worry or anxiety.

Kim rocked. We could call, Email, message her through their patient portal. She made herself extremely accessible and even helped us find cheaper prescriptions when ordering our medications. I can’t say enough positive things about her. Super caring, empathetic and compassionate. She clearly loves what she does and is really good at it.

I appreciate Dr M’s frank take on options with fertility. It was nice that she didn’t send us down a rabbit hole with “other” stuff to try (supplements, wives tales, natural remedies). She sticks to protocol using studies and her own experience to draw from. For me that was freeing because I would beat myself up on natural fertility enhancers or habits that worked for other women but not me.

Don’t expect her to throw the kitchen sink at your treatment. She feels very calculated and thoughtful in her approach. And she doesn’t want to make her patients do a bunch of unnecessary stuff.

One of the things we looked at was doing a natural cycle for transfer. I so much appreciate that we continued to look for options to build on what my body can do on it’s own even if my eggs were not great quality.

It was mostly one amount and everything was covered. The only separate things were medications, refrigeration costs, and anesthesia.

For the first transfer she wanted to do 1 because if I was to get pregnant we picked the best, most mature embryo (my others were Day 3). The second transfer we used the 2 remaining embryos. I feel like her advice made sense for us.

Very welcoming, clean, professional. I like that it was on the 3rd floor which allowed privacy. There is some miscommunication with the financial department and I would be vigilant with your information and payments. Twice we received a bill in the mail after we had already paid in full for the "all inclusive" procedure. They corrected this after we showed them the paid balance.

Dr. Jennifer Mersereau's team was helpful and caring. They listened and asked questions to make sure they understood the care and treatment we were hoping for.

The staff was cordial and professional, however there was some mix up on when to take the Ovidrel injection. The doc told us 36hrs prior to IUI but when my wife called to confirm the nurse gave us a different time. We said 36hrs to the nurse and she said 48hrs. This caused quite a bit of stress on my wifes behalf which is what we wanted to avoid prior to another IUI. We ultimately did get in contact with the doctor through another nurse and injected appropriately.

My wife and I worked predominantly with Dr. Jennifer Mersereau's team. They were caring and sincere, however, we did feel that they weren't willing to explore options such as double IUI in a cycle or InvoCell. Her team responded fairly quickly to messages. We worked with Dr. Jennifer Mersereau once for an US and she was very quick in and out of the room. At times we felt like we were asking questions to try and keep her in the room to explain further.

Come in with your questions on paper and be prepared. Be sure to give your entire story in a succinct manner including what meds you've taken, menstrual cycle regularities, family/social history, and other pertinent information. This will allow you to maximize your visit.

Tried multiple cycles of moderate and then high dose clomid by itself for approximately 3 cycles. Once we found out my wife wasn't producing the expected number of follicles, we switch to Femara for 3+ cycles. This showed some improvements but we never fully were sure if we had 2 follicles. It showed at least one on US but they suspected the second to be large enough to mature. After approx 6 months of orals, we attempted IUI with femara twice, once with a trigger shot. The 3rd IUI we used femara with a trigger shot (ovidrel) before IUI then pregnyl afterwards followed by vaginal suppositories of progesterone. Unfortunately all with no success.

There were questionable charges after we had paid for procedures in full. I would encourage you to keep a folder and follow closely. The appointments were different charges each time and our insurance didn't really cover much.

none. We didn't get this far.

Very organized and easy to access information either by phone or through the portal; feels very patient oriented. They are constantly reaching out about scheduling questions or finance questions. Nice office space, although it's a bit of a drive from where we are.

Dr. F is very friendly and personable right from the start, he was very welcoming and easy to talk to and gave us a ton of information on our first visit. He discussed our test results and explained what they meant and what we should do going forward. His information was very thorough and he was quick with scheduling and even informed us that he had a preplanned trip so would be out of office for a few days after one of our procedures.

Everyone seems really nice and friendly, very good at communicating basic procedures (taking blood, whatever else) and they have a great portal that I can access at anytime with questions or to look at my records/ schedule. Also, very helpful with financial counseling.

Friendly, comforting and very informative. I was scared to undergo one of my procedures and he calmly walked me through it step by step, which really helped me not freak out. He gives every bit of information relating to your options and answers any questions thoroughly. He also took it upon himself to contact my regular OBGYN and let her know what was going on.

Be ready for a lot of information but don't be afraid to ask questions or clarify things!

Initial consultation, HSG to check for any blockages, left tube blocked but developed a plan for IUI going forward with an understanding that we will consider IVF in the event that IUI fails.

My insurance does not cover UNC but they have reached out about financial counseling multiple times. We have paid for everything up front and it has been fine so far.

No one wants to go to a fertility clinic, the waiting room made me sad to see so many couples of varying ages there for the same reason. Everyone from the front desk, to the finance department, nurses and doctors were so nice, professional and compassionate. I was surprised when we started going that the staff knew so many patients by first name. By the end of our IVF cycle, they knew my name too. When we “graduated” I was sad to leave their care. If they could be my regular OBGYN I would go to them in a heartbeat. The patient rooms are comfortable and nice. The doctors meet with you in their office. Overall, they make you feel as comfortable as you can during one of the hardest times of your life.

Dr. M took the time to explain the process, our diagnosis and our treatment plan. She was patient when we had questions and put us at ease when we were anxious. She was warm and broke things down into language we could understand.

Wendy was amazing, she was blunt but so caring. She knew I was nervous to start injections and offered to facetime with me through my first injection. She literally made herself available to me anytime on or off the clock including nights, weekends and while on vacations. I would email her a non urgent question over the weekend and would have a response within an hour. I started to hold my nonurgent questions until the week because she wa so dedicated. When we took a blood test to determine if we were pregnant, she called us over the weekend when she was not working because she wanted to be the one to deliver us the good news. She would always provide me with all the necessary information, including any negative side effects I might expect and the chances that I would experience them. She was the most amazing nurse, ever.

I loved Dr. M, she was so friendly to my husband and I. We felt she really took the time to make sure we understood our diagnosis and treatment plan. She made me feel comfortable and helped calm my anxiety. I would go into appointments scared of the outcome or the next step and she always made me feel better and confident that I would become pregnant.

At times it felt like her time was short, go into appointments prepared with questions. I loved that she took notes of the conversation for you and let you take them home with you.

We tried 3 IUI’s, partially because that is what our insurance covered and partially because Dr. M said if IUi was going to work, it would work within 4 tries. After that we moved in to IVF which upped our chance from 8-11% for an IUI to 60% for IVF!

We were forunate that insurance covered most of our medication with just a copay. IVF cost approximately $12,000

Everyone is very friendly and you feel like they are cheering you on. They remember you as well, which I appreciate.

We've had a rocky road of miscarriages, molar pregnancies and chemical pregnancies. A molar pregnancy missed due to the Doctor's lack of follow up and reading of the pathology report after my first D&C. Through this process, I have been to several doctors all over the triangle, 3 gynos, 2 specialists and 2 IVF doctors. UNC fertility has been the most responsive and caring clinic I've been to so far. They actually care about you and your specific situation. I had one doctor that basically told us to go straight to a sperm donor, which was frustrating because we understood our odds and we knew there was a chance for us to conceive using our sperm and egg. A lot of the doctors we saw, read the word balanced translocation and gave up on us. Dr. M spent lots of time going over our numbers and percentages, I felt like she was actually interested and cared about understanding our chromosome imbalance.

Like I said we are just now starting IVF next week. As soon as I gave them the green light, I received an email with a detailed schedule on injections and procedures. She was very informative.

She went over our odds on IVF thoroughly. Because of our balanced translocation, we would benefit through PGD/PGS testing. This would reduce our risk of miscarriage from 48% to 5%. Even after a miscarriage when I told her I wanted to try one more time naturally, she was supportive of our decision and didn't pressure us into IVF. After my 4th miscarriage, we decided to hang in the towel and start IVF this month. Since we gave her the green light she's been very supportive. She's called me several times to make sure I'm aware of the next steps and procedures.

We used clomid for two cycles, one cycle ended in a Chemical pregnancy. I've just started the IVF process and will be going in next Friday for my first injection.

Most of my appointments prior to IVF were covered by insurance. The IVF process we were told it would be around 25,000- 30,000 depending on which medications will be covered and the final pricing from Genesis for PGD/PGS

Dr. Mersereau encourages only 1 embryo transfer. They've had a great success rate on 1. She explained that 2 embryos can lead to twins or even quadruplets which can be dangerous/ high risk pregnancies.

Strengths: clean, INCREDIBLE nursing staff, great email communication, good and responsive support with insurance Weaknesses: not always flexible to accommodate difficult patient protocols, appointments not always on time

Amazing. The nursing team makes all the difference in cycle management.

Dr. Fritz is clearly a leading expert in his field, is willing to take risks and adapt treatment as necessary for patients, and clearly cares about success. He is good at explaining concepts and procedures. He is not always the best listener, which can be critical in adapting unsuccessful strategies early (since management is pretty decentralized), or in making patients feel confident about course of action.

Be proactive about your own case management.

In my 3rd - 5th IVF cycles Dr. Fritz put me on his "eye of newt" protocol (estrace flare + HGH), which involved 375 Gonal + 75 Menapur + Lupron + estrace and 20 units of Human growth hormone (HGH). I had very unresponsive ovaries. My memory is that critical factors in these cycles tended to be management at the beginning of the cycle; whether we could successfully suppress follicle growth to get them to grow together, which apparently is a problem with severe DOR. Original intent in treatment was to save freezable embryos before trying to conceive; by the 5th cycle with 0 freezable embryos my goal was simply to have a baby. For each cycle we transferred available embryos at day 3 because there were so few. In the 5th cycle one of the three embryos resulted in a life birth. (whew!)

I had very few embryos and unproductive ovaries, so by the last cycle (#5) we just threw all 3 in. Dr. Fritz discussed risks with me, and his approach seemed to be consistent with my preferences and the specifics of my case.

They just implemented a new online service where you can view your testing data, send emails to the doctors and nurses, and set appointments. I like this because it makes communication easier. Before the online system I was less than impressed with how they reported testing results but since it is much better. They are kind and compassionate and will work with you on scheduling. As is necessary in the fertility business they are open 7 days a week so you can schedule treatment for Saturday or Sunday if you need to. It is a small clinic and they do have lots of students (fellows) that come there to observe and learn.

Dr. Fritz has been compassionate, empathetic, open to my feedback and ideas, listened to the concerns of myself and my husband, and is not afraid to touch me when he is talking to me. During pre-op for my polypectomy he came to see me and listened to my questions and talked to me instead of at me. He also checked on me on the night of the same day I had surgery.

I think the nursing staff at his office is wonderful. They will respond to emails in a timely manner and are very good with communication.

Dr. Fritz is one of the best fertility doctors in the nation. He literally wrote the infertility textbook that is used in medical schools. I wouldn't go anywhere else. He has worked with us every step of the way to ensure that our questions were answered and that we understood every procedure and treatment we have done. He is warm and personable.

Be as open and honest as you possibly can. If you hold things back or don't tell him everything he can't provide you with the best quality service.

We have done three cycles of IUI with a dosage of 100mg of Clomid with each one and then a follicle scan to determine when I would ovulate and the best time to do the IUI. We have not gotten pregnant with any of these cycles.

My insurance paid for all 3 of our IUI cycles AFTER I hit my deductible amount of $2,000. I think I paid a little over 300.00 for the first cycle and then my deductible kicked in. The rest I'm not sure about.

The difference between the ultrasounds I had here versus at my new gynecologist's office were night and day. The doctors at UNC missed the mature dermoid and often had trouble finding my left ovary which meant the ultrasounds were often very uncomfortable. The nurse at the new office found everything easily and walked me through the whole process. The procedure was not at all uncomfortable and she explained what she found and answered all of my questions. Huge difference. I hated going to this clinic because of the attitude of the doctor and the lack of guidance. The overall energy was just very negative. They were also not upfront about all of the associated costs so I feel like I was constantly being nickeled and dimed. I feel like I wasted time and money during something that is already a tough emotional journey.

I feel like the doctor went in with an expectation of failure due to my age. I had to ask for every test I received. Nothing was ever explained to me. I received no guidance.

My nurse was fantastic. She had a wonderful bedside manner and was very caring.

In the course of at least 5 ultrasounds she and the other doctors who performed them missed a mature teratoma/dermoid on my left ovary. They even missed it two different times when they knew to look for it because it had been seen on a CT scan when I had a kidney stone. I went to a gynecologist who found it easily and did not understand how it was missed and suggested I go to a new fertility clinic. The new doctor discovered that I also have an elevated CA125 marker which means the mass has to come out along with my ovary. I think it is outrageous that this was missed numerous times due to the health risk and the money wasted on fertility treatments. The other office also found fibroids that were missed or that I was never told about. Luckily, the fibroids are small and not in an area that affects fertility. I still feel like I should have been told about them...if they even found them in the first place. The other issue is that I am over 40 and Dr. Steiner went into my care with an expectation of failure despite the fact that my AMH number is good for my age. I had to request this test myself, by the way. I now have guidance from a gynecologist who found that although my thyroid is within normal range it could be better for fertility. This was never even discussed at UNC. News flash: more and more women are having babies in their 40s. Although more difficult, it is not impossible.

Find another doctor.

I was put on Clomid to increase my chances due to my age. I took an Ovidrel trigger two cycles. I ovulate regularly but an OPK missed it one month so it was decided this was a good way to go. I had 3 IUIs.

My insurance covered 3 IUIs, but the clinic hits you with additional costs that are not covered. Examples of some of these costs is a $100 administrative fee and a sperm thawing fee. I was not told about either of these beforehand which I don't feel is too much to ask. Just let me know about all the out-of-pocket costs upfront. I do feel the administrative fee is just a way for them to get around the contracted insurance rate, however.

The number of patients seemed smaller than at my first clinic. Everyone knew my name and remembered me at my visits. I was always seen within 10 minutes of arriving. The doctor staff rotated the monitoring visits, and I never had a bad experience.

The clinic has a very warm. welcoming staff overall. I really felt as though they understood what to say (and more importantly, what not to say) to someone experiencing infertility. Dr Fritz has a top-notch bedside manner, and probably made me laugh at every single appointment. I felt like the entire clinic wanted us to have a successful pregnancy.

Wendy is the best of the best.

Dr Fritz explained from the very beginning that IVF was probably our last resort, and we had approached that point (not a hard sell, just informative). He listened to my concerns and considered my requests for extra tests, procedures, etc. My husband and I had several unsuccessful FET's and I felt like we all learned from each one and implemented steps to make the next one more likely to succeed. Eventually, we did have success.

I had unexplained infertility so I think I had a very basic protocol with Lupron, menopur, and Gonal-F. This did not change much through the course of four cycles. My retrievals produced good results for my age (38-39). We did PGS testing on all our day 5 embryos, then froze them all. We never did a fresh transfer because we were embryo banking.

We were accepted into the Attain program, which was $18,900 for two cycles. We ended up doing two cycles with embryo banking and then two FET's, which did not result in a successful pregnancy. Then we did it all over again, two more cycles at $18,900 with embryo banking and one FET. The medications were extra. Overall we spent approx $50,000 on IVF. None of it was covered under United Healthcare.

Dr Fritz encouraged us to do eSET for our FET's. We did eSET for the first two FET's, which resulted in a negative beta and a chemical pregnancy. For our third FET my husband and I decided to transfer two embryos. Dr Fritz was not in favor of this decision, but considering our history and age, was willing to do as we wished.

Feel I've covered this already. Great strengths...didn't encounter weaknesses.

Dr. Anne Steiner is pretty brilliant. I had done lots of research prior to my appointment with her as we had been trying for over a year by that point in time. She was very patient with me even though some of my research wasn't really mainstream medicine. I could tell her mind was working to diagnose what could be happening. Regardless, she laid out our options very clearly and gave us her honest opinion on our chances. It enabled us to make a concise choice very quickly on how we wanted to proceed with possible treatments.

Very caring! The main nurse who responded to me via the patient portal worked around holiday schedules with me and provided me with progesterone samples enough to last me through the holiday closing hours.

I think Anne Steiner is a strong doctor. I feel I have a good gauge of this since both of my parents are in medicine and had experienced infertility. So we always aligned her suggestions and treatment options against their knowledge-base and experiences. She's pragmatic but very compassionate at the same time. She wants to move towards solutions that will get couples out of the "wondering" stage and towards a desired result. She had us all set up for an IUI, but due to delayed ovulation, decided to post-pone the treatment a month. This was a very big blow after 14 months of waiting, but it paid off! Timed intercourse with a trigger shot was all we needed to conceive! I'm now 8 months pregnant with a healthy boy!

Go see her, especially if you're at all like I was--consumed with finding a cause and a cure and highly emotional. I think she's a good fit for us. It also just feels better to put yourself in such experienced hands. I had visited one Dr prior to Anne Steiner who performed a routine procedure on me to make sure my Fallopian tubes were not blocked. By the end of the treatment, he said this was not the cause of my infertility and what did I want to do next? As if I were the expert on next steps? He did not have the bedside manner Dr. Steiner did nor provided an expert opinion so that I had the power to make a great choice. My experience with that office was not great from start to finish and I can confidently say that it was a complete 180 at UNC Fertility...from the welcoming floor of the facility where they have HGTV on all the time (what better to take your mind off of everything) to the staff, who was always very pleasant, to the nurses, who I loved, the great care from Dr. Steiner and her partners and then to the flexible hours on weekends as well as the quick responses on the patient portal. Even the billing was handled much more delicately prior to our first appointment as they ran our insurance and communicated with us what we could expect to pay prior to our arrival. This was huge. Nothing makes you feel worse about infertility than feeling as though you're somehow responsible for costing your family loads of money for treatment. UNC was sensitive to that and my previous experience with CC was not.

At the point at which I saw Dr. Steiner, we had been a year infertile already. My OB had already run some basic tests on me with thyroid, progesterone levels, etc. to verify everything was working as it should. She even ran me on a few cycles of Clomid and Fermara. So by the time I saw Dr. Steiner, I was pretty frustrated that nothing had worked thus far. Dr. Steiner suggested a procedural plan since we had exhausted the normal avenues and their correlated percentages of success. I felt as though she was more determined to see if the Fermara would work better for me at a higher dosage (something my OB hadn't suggested was an option). So she let us choose what path we wanted to take. We decided we'd start with fermara + IUI which clocked us in at 3x more likely to succeed than if we remained on the fermara alone. The next step was injections + IUI, however, that only got us to 9x likely to succeed, and the next step after that had a 15% success rate. So we decided to start with the 3x, then progress to the 15x for maximum results. We technically never even got to the first stage as the trigger shot + timed intercourse was all we needed to conceive. From this experience, I took away some knowledge that it's possible the cause might've been a hormonal result from the hormones I was already taking as well as poorly timed intercourse. I'm hoping this doesn't happen again with our next attempt, however, now I feel well-informed if it were to happen and how to work better with my body.

$600 +

we never discussed this

I felt cared for and KNOWN at this facility. Nurses were kind and warm and i'd say 75% of the time I see my OWN doctor instead of just one of the many rotating. I have the email address and phone numbers I need to contact my Dr. or my IVF nurse if I have questions and both have responded out of hours to my inquries. Dr Young has answered my MANY questions (lists and lists!) and spent a lot of time to tell me what details I need to know to feel comfortable. Dr. Young is honest but understands the need for humanity even in giving bad news.

Wendy is warm, compassionate, and wonderfully communicative. I often have lists and lists of questions and she patiently answers each one. I never feel like she is rushing to be done with me or that I am just another patient to her. I often wonder where she keeps her back storage of compassion because she surely cannot treat all her patients this kindly but she does. She is knowledgable and quick and she knows the Doctors that she works with well.

Dr. Young has been great to work with. He sees a lot of patients, but I never felt like a "number" when speaking with him. I occasionally have to remind him of my specific scenario, but its more just jogging his memory - he immideately picks up where we left off in our conversations and is clear and honest in our discussions. He has given us options for our procedures and is always patient to explain those options, the risks, and the benefits to us. He has a nice sense of humor (IMO, I make lots of jokes when I'm uncomfortable) and when things are going well he is beautifully optimistic and encouraging.

You're in the hands of a doctor and a professor, relax and let him guide you.

Monitoring appointments were usually scheduled in a window from 7:30 am until 9 am. The earlier your appointment the more likely you are to get in and out quickly without any delay. You check in and sit in the waiting area like a normal appointment (but you know most of the women waiting around you are there for the same reason).

Dr. Fritz was very sweet about asking us about our life and sharing information on his own. He has also since followed up after we moved to help connect us with other doctors if need be, and was always very responsive to our needs and concerns.

I LOVED the nursing staff. So sweet, so caring, and so professional. They made me excited to go back and see them, and were always so reassuring and positive. Definitely a highlight of the clinic.

Dr. Fritz was incredibly knowledgable and helpful in determining why it was taking us so long to get pregnant. We never felt rushed with him, and he always provided very detailed explanations of what was going on and why.

Go see him!

I presented some symptoms of having PCOS, including increased hormonal acne once I stopped taking birth control, but did not have many of the most symptoms (I'm tall and very thin). He identified this immediately, and tracked my ovulation to find that I was not, in fact, ovulating. We tried letrozole, two different doses, to induce ovulation, but they did nothing. We then went to climbed, which resulted in two back to back cycles of ovulation. On the second, I went in and they saw two very mature eggs on my ultrasound, and so gave me a shot that caused the eggs to release. 2 weeks later, I had a positive pregnancy test, and 7 weeks ago I gave birth to a perfect baby boy. The whole time, the office and Dr. Fitz were incredibly supportive, and watched over my early pregnancy with great care until they discharged me to my normal OB/GYN.

We have great insurance, and they covered it all.

Beautiful office with coffee and water available. Front desk/reception was somewhat disorganized. Nurses were good, no nonsense, quick and to the point.

He repeatedly asked the same questions, to which I had the same answers. Tests were done, but results were not always shared. Complete lack of response when attempting to schedule surgery.

Very little interaction with the nurses. The front desk/reception was unorganized and unprofessional at times, of which the nurses had a hand in. Otherwise, they really just checked my blood pressure and weight, confirmed the info on my chart was correct.

Met with him 3 times. He was very cold, lacked the ability to listen. His immediate and then persistent insistence that I use my sisters eggs gave me the impression the clinic is overly concerned with their success numbers. I was informed of my infertility in one breath, and pushed toward my estranged sister's eggs in the next... I suppose that was a natural transition for him, but not for us. He also had a constant sniffle and struggled to look us in the eye, constantly staring at his computer. I was also pushed toward surgery, and then could not get him or his office to follow up as I tried to schedule it.

Be mentally prepared to feel treated as just another patient in a factory of infertility. Science and numbers are his strength, not compassion.

My routine physical revealed the presence of uterine fibroids, which after a few other steps, led me to this clinic. He ordered the blood work, which ultimately sealed my fate... Nearly nondetectable AMH. He ordered the X-ray test to determine the patency of my tubes, which were determined to be fully open. At which point, he recommended surgery to remove the fibroids as a first step toward the possibility of conceiving. Our discussion left off with me needing to check into work and insurance, at which point I would call to schedule. I did all this as planned, but could not get through to get it on the books. I gave up after several phone calls, one I was able to get with another clinic.

It's been a while, and I have a terrible memory... But, I believe the charges were around $400 to sit and speak with the Doctor- to get results and recommendations.

What I love about the clinic is that no matter how much time has elapsed between appointments they remember who you are and a little about your background. As for weaknesses, sometimes its hard to schedule an appointment when its most convenient but they are willing to work hard with your schedule.

She was the first doctor to explain things to us in ways we could understand and not just go for all the technical verbage.

Mindy and Wendy have been amazing to work with! They have answered every one of my questions no matter what I have asked with such ease and person-ability. I feel like I am talking to a friend when I send in an emailed question versus talking to yet another clinician.

She explained things in great detail but was also ready to get down to business. Dr. M was willing to work with us exploring all options available instead of just saying it wouldn't work and going straight to IVF.

Be ready for her to put everything into action. She is no fuss but cares greatly.

We did 3 medicated cycles under direction using Femara. The first cycle the IUI wasn't able to happen. The last two cycles the IUI happened but both resulted in negatives. She is trying that approach because I asked about it. With one blocked tube and unexplained diagnosis, I don't want to leave any option unused.

I had a copay for visits with her. Then each IUI cycle there is a $600 fee that includes all labs, ultrasounds, and the SAs my husband had to do.

I loved the clinic. Everyone was friendly, and supportive to our infertility needs.

I felt like Dr. Coward did a great job of explaining our infertility problem thoroughly, and helped answer all of our questions. He spent about 2 hours with us during a consult meeting, and laid out all of our options for us. He personally sent us an email, on a Sunday with our results, and is quick to respond to any questions we have for him.

I felt that Dr. Coward did a great job, and we love having him as our doctor. We walked away from our appointment feeling confident that one way, or another we would have a family. He was very explicit and thorough during our appointment, and was positive about the options that we had. We would recommend him to any friends or family struggling with male factored infertility.

Go in with your paperwork, and with questions you are ready to ask.

Dr. Coward wanted to do a surgery to fix some varicose veins that could be causing infertility. It would take about a year to see results, and he felt strongly that we would see an increase in our numbers and quality of sperm. We decided that we wanted to do IVF before the surgery, and Dr. Coward was supportive of our decision.

We had to pay over $200 for our consultation visit for bloodwork, and a vein analysis. We will be paying for a semen analysis, and to bank sperm as well in the future. We will be paying for various scans, tests, and IVF in the future as well.

I honestly cannot name a weakness. This team is excellent! They are prompt, attentative, reassuring and most of all very positive. Going through the struggle of fertility treatment, it is very important to have as much positivity as possible.

He is always very kind and asks about my over all well being, not just parent planning. He feels like more than a doctor but also a friend.

They are always very welcoming and assuring. Fertility treatment can be quite stressful and embarrassing but they never make you feel this way. I am very open to discussing any issues with all of the friendly nurse staff at UNC.

He listens to all of my concerns and treats each one with high importance. He is very thorough and straight forward, never leaving me to second guess what is next. Phenomenal doctor! Even when he was pretty certain both my tubes were open from a previous HSG test, after seeing hospital notes from 2004 that said one tube was scared and possibly blocked, he decided to perform another one to be sure. That spoke volumes to me!

Be total open and honest so that he can help as best as possible. Don't be shy or embarassed to share anything.

So far he has checked hormone levels, my egg reserve, and even performed an HSG. Everything looks good on my end but we do know my partner has a sperm count issue. We are waiting for him to be seen to see if IVF will be our only option. So far we think it is.

So far I've only paid for the visit fee.

The staff is great and the clinic is very clean. They make dealing with billing easy too -whether that's through insurance or not. Sometimes the waiting could be full so wait time could sometimes feel long but they have complimentary beverages and a TV to keep you occupied while you wait.

She cared about finding the problem to my recurrent miscarriages and figuring out how to prevent future pregnancies from being lost. She was very nice, genuine and informative.

The nurses were always so compassionate and nice. They always made me feel comfortable.

Dr. Mersereau was so invested in helping us start a family. She cried with me when we heard my baby's heartbeat for the first time and cheered us on every time we had another great appointment and ultrasound. She made us feel so comfortable. I still send her updates on my son now and he's 10 months old.

Trust that she will do everything she can to make your dream of becoming a parent a reality.

I had to have a number of different tests done to help determine why I was having recurrent losses. She found I was pre-diabetic and also had adhesions in my uterus from the miscarriages. I followed a very strict diet and exercise plan and prepped for surgery to remove the adhesions. She took very good care of me and a month after my recovery, I was able to get pregnant and carry my son to 35 weeks.

The office needs to have a stronger organizational structure in order for me to recommend anyone to come to this clinic. I could have come at a bad time (changing of administration). I had a botched IUI and twice they said I never called to schedule my IUI (notifying of period), even though I called and talked to the nurse who had to get my clomid prescribed. They did an IUI even though it was clear I had already ovulated. I felt like they were just trying to make money and that was frusterating.

Dr. M is great. The problem was with the staff and communication.

They had different information and instructions depending on the nurse and the day I called. I felt like it took a long time to get a clear response.

She is excellent and professional. She listened and gave good feedback. She gave realistic expectations and was compassionate when I had a miscarriage. I am not sure she was aware of the miscommunication that was going on in the clinic between patients and staff.

Maybe if I made follow up visits with her I wouldn't have had so many miscommunications with the staff.

IUI with clomid, monitored at home with UPT (clearblue) x 3. one resulted in miscarriage at 6w.

my insurance covered some of it, but they made me pay before all my services in full and i felt like thats all they cared about.

Strength was the quality of most of the staff. It is a teaching location, but I was a nerd who liked hearing what in-training fellows needed to know, and hear the thoughts of doctors out loud. The wait list is intimidating, especially if there's anything on the male side thay needs to be done.

She was very warm, very honest and straightforward about our options, and when we had a negative interaction right before a critical step, she came in and reassured us we were on the right path

Wendy was a godsend! She was my best friend, the shoulder to cry on, and biggest champion until handoff to the obgyn.

She was very warm, explained answers to our basic science questions well, and helped us understand the plan with the highest chance of success. After a very quick miscarriage, she was incredibly gentle and gave us time and encouragement for when we were ready.

Be honest and ask any question, she'll answer and have your back.

The dosage stayed relatively low and there was still very high growth. A cyst on one side of my ovaries actually came in handy because it reduced the overall number of eggs growing. The amount of drugs I was prescribed matched very well with what I ordered in advance so there was little to no wasted drugs.

I remember a really transparent talk with Jim the finance guy who explained my insurance was pretty awesome. Our total out of pocket for UNC was around $8k?

They followed industry guidelines and only transferred one embryo the first time in a fresh cycle. Ethics guidelines gave us the option to put in 2 eggs the next time in a frozen transfer, and though one person we spoke to (for the first time), discouraged the two egg transfer, I was young, healthy, tall, and my husband had already raised twins, so what was one more set? We put in two eggs, they both grew, and it was a great experience.

Modern, calm, organized, clean.

Wendy and Kim were the nurses I worked with most closely. They heard me cry over the phone a couple of times and they were so incredibly compassionate. They talked me through my questions and never seemed rushed or like they didn't care. Priscilla was magical at drawing blood.

She was very direct and to the point, but did it in a way that was warm and not condescending. She explained every aspect of treatment, and was very conservative in how she approached our situation. So each step was gentle and not overly aggressive/invasive. I walked out of each appointment feeling confident we were going to get our baby.

Trust her instincts. I was very well informed and wanted to jump the gun with treatments and testing. She kindly shut all of that down and helped me slow down. We ended up pregnant after three cycles.

I had a history of PCOS, irregular cycles and anovulation. We started with 5mg of letrozole on CD3-5, then I had an ultrasound to check follicle growth and then we were asked to have timed intercourse. She wanted to try this protocol for 3-6 cycles to give us an equal chance at ovulation/conception as any other fertile couple (20%).

We just paid for genetic testing, medicine costs and a specialist copay at each visit. Everything else was billed through insurance.

Strengths: It is very clean and a nice environment. The staff is very friendly. All of the nurses are good at drawing blood. Weaknesses: sometimes hard to get an appointment due to high demand of doctors.

Dr. Fritz was patient and kind. He explained things gently and allowed us time to grieve and process our feelings, and he always had tissues available!

Mindy was very personable and friendly. She always had a positive attitude. She was prompt returning emails and phone calls, and was not annoyed when I asked her a million questions.

I consider Dr. Fritz to be one of the most knowledgeable doctors in his field. He has a ton of experience in this field and is very smart. He is personable and easy to understand, and takes the time to explain.

Ask questions! If you don't he will assume you understand.

Fresh IVF cycle: Gonal F, Menopur, Cetrotide, HCG, and Crinone. ICSI used to to husband's low sperm count. 30 eggs retrieved, 18 fertilized, 3 survived to day 5. 2 embryos were transferred and 1 was frozen. Of the 2 transferred, 1 implanted and split. Frozen cycle: estradiol and progesterone. The frozen embryo did not survive the thaw.

I don't remember exactly. I want to say around $15,000 for IVF and about $5,000 for meds. I used the Attain program though, so I paid for more cycles than needed, since I got pregnant on the first try. All expenses must be pain up front before IVF can be scheduled. Frozen transfer was around $5,000.

Dr. Fritz prefers to transfer 1 embryo, but leaves the ultimate decision to the couple. He would not transfer any more than 2 due to my age.

The clinic's support staff is phenomenal. They learn your name quickly and genuinely care to provide a good experience when infertility is very stressful. The clinic is very busy, so if they are running behind you will have longer than average wait times.

Dr. Fritz is kind and gentle as a provider. He takes the time to make sure I am comfortable (physically) and frequently asks how I am feeling during procedures. During consultations he explains things clearly and remains positive and genuine. The clinic is busy and the wait for a consultation is occasionally longer than I'd prefer, but when in an appointment he is fully present and engaged.

Wendy is truly one of the most caring people I have the pleasure of knowing. She's knowledgeable, patient, kind and well-organized. She answers emails regularly at off-hours and weekends, no matter how trivial the question or concern.

Dr. Fritz is a compassionate doctor with a kind bedside manner. His wealth of experience in infertility treatment is incredibly valuable to me as a patient. He also consults with other doctors (in and out of the practice) when necessary.