Dara Havemann

Dr. Havemann has always made us feel like more than just a patient. We always left feeling secure and knowing that she truly has our best interests at heart and is motivated to help us obtain our goals.

Go see her, now! You will leave feeling secure and confident, as well cared for personally. I would suggest bringing a list of questions with you, as Dr. Havemann is open to any and all questions we have had throughout this process and has always demonstrated having knowledge regarding anything asked.

Initially, we chose to pursue the INVOcell route utilizing my wife's eggs and donor sperm. Dr. Havemann used egg/ovary stimulation medications (menopur, Gonal-F, GnRH) performed at home) prior to the egg retrieval to improve outcomes. Egg retrieval went perfectly, resulting in 6 eggs retrieved as planned, and the INVOcell device was inserted the same day for the 5 day incubation period. As a result, we had one 5day blastocyst embryo which was then frozen. Given that I am going to carry our child, she then prepared my uterus with medication to assure the best environment for the embryo transfer. The frozen transfer went great, however unfortunately it did not result in pregnancy. Following that cycle, all treatments were cancelled due to COVID-19 and left us with an unplanned down time. When treatments were able to restart in May 2020, we chose to move forward with IUI in hopes of saving further financial stress prior to attempting IVF. Dr. Havemann utilized Letrozale for ovarian stimulation prior to the IUI procedure, which was completed with donor sperm. Following the IUI procedure she prescribed progesterone vaginal suppositories. Unfortunately, this round of IUI resulted in a negative pregnancy test as well.

INVOcell treatment package: $6400 / Frozen Embryo Transfer: $3700/ IUI procedure: $300-500

Dr. Havemann was great about educating us regarding the risks and benefits of both single embryo transfer as well as multiple. She provides her professional opinion based on your specific medical history and other factors yet was supportive and open to hearing our personal preference as well.

She really took the time to make sure that I understood every single thing she was saying to be during our consultation. I was seeing a different RE, and was just not getting my needs met. My OB/GYN referred me to see Dr. Havemann (he raved about her) and I am so glad that I decided to make the change. I had labs drawn prior to my consult with her, and she took the time to explain EACH and every lab (and there were a lot) in great detail. We reviewed each of my previous cycles and care plans, and discussed the changes that she would like to make.

MAKE THE APPOINTMENT!!

We went through each of my cycles/treatment plans that I had with my previous RE, she explained exactly why my body reacted the way that it did to each and ever procedure, med change, and dosage change. We then came up with a new care plan for my next cycle, based on my reactions to previous cycles.

I have a copay for specialist visits, so I paid my copay. Of course, any procedures (such as ultrasound) are additional but they do not collect for that up front. They always allow me to make a payment on my balance as well. All costs are explained if asked.

NA

Dr. Havemann is extremely thorough she will do every single test and make sure no stone is left uncovered. Unfortunately our situation was frustrating for both her and us. We have unexplained infertility and recurring pregnancy loss. Dr. have been did in fact get us pregnant twice but we miscarried twice under her care. She had referred us to specialist on recurring pregnancy loss and even had reached out to a reproductive specialist at UT Southwestern for additional insight on some of our RPL testing. I do have an autoimmune disease that I can’t help but think may be a contributing factor, but I have been repeatedly told it is a bone issue and that Dallas IVF gets women pregnant all the time with the same issue. We are still not pregnant which is frustrating, I truly felt that IVF was the answer after Initial consultations. We are down to our last embryo now and are considering one last round or a gestational carrier.

Be patient. She is not going to rush the process, she is very theorough and will lively require many tests.

We did one egg retrieval that was highly successful. We did ICSI and genetics testing and had 6 day 5 embryos. We did estrogen pills to time the FETs and progesterone suppositories or injections as well. We got pregnant twice and had two negative tests. Nothing really changed cycle to cycle other than switching from progesterone suppository to injection on the last cycle. We also took a six month break between 3rd and 4th cycles for a mental and physics reset.

We spent roughly $25,000 on the egg retrieval process. $3700 for each frozen embryo transfer plus progesterone at about $1000 per month for suppositories or ~$150 per month for injections. $35 copay per visit plus lab test fees. Our first four IUIs were about $1500 each.

Dr. H was open on this topic to whatever the patient preferred. We would not have opted for this.

Dr. Havemann is such a personable RE. She enters the field with incredible knowledge, but also personal experience. All three of her children were conceived through fertility treatments which makes her very compassionate and understanding to every situation. She gave us our first child through treatment and I wouldn't see anyone else as we are working on getting the second child.

Listen to her story, if you have questions ASK THEM! She always answers them very candidly and thorough.

I've used letrozole (similar to clomid), I've taken birth control to thin the uterine lining, each visit to the office generally includes a ultrasound scan. I've used the gonal F rediject injections, the "trigger" shot, I also had a laparoscopic scope, and a surgery to remove polyps.

She happened to be out of network for my insurance, but was very willing to go the most affordable route and discuss options.

Dr. Havemann is extremely warm and welcoming. She is extremely thorough in trying to investigate the cause of infertility to best guide next steps. Unfortunately, we still fell into the “unexplained” category, but I do feel like she exhausted every test possible to come to that conclusion. She communicates very clearly and she is honest. When it comes to hard discussions she is very empathetic. Having been through IVF herself she truly understands the infertility journey. I was amazed that she personally did all of my treatments and a Dr. from the practice is always available by phone after hours if you need anything. We did get pregnant through IVF with Dr. H after 4 failed IUIs with another doctor in the clinic. Unfortunately we miscarried but we will be trying again soon.

Make sure you are okay with a doctor who is very thorough. While that may sound standard, being thorough takes time and you have patience because it is a process. You will not go in and schedule IVf for the next month that is not how it works, even though many of us with infertility feel we are running out of time. Over a period of months we tested my fallopian tubes, had a hysteroscopy to check out my uterine lining, tested egg quality, did blood work to test my autoimmune condition, etc. before being led to IVF. For me, it wouldn’t make sense to me to go through such an emotional and expensive procedure without ruling those things out first.

For IVF egg retrieval, I did hormone injections with a trigger shot (I cannot recall the dose or name). The only side effect I recall was severe bloating and a little bruising from the shots which were painless. I also took a progesterone suppository after the transfer. We had 18 eggs retrieved and got 8 five day embryos that we did PGS testing on and we wound up with 6 total healthy embryos. Our first transfer was a success but we miscarried at 6 weeks.

$35 copay for all of my visits. IVF was roughly $20k + medication (ranges from 3k-6k. That includes ICSI and PGS testing. IUI at this clinic was about $3400 with medication. Progesterone to take after the procedure is $1800/mo if not covered by insurance.

We only wanted to transfer one. From my understanding the max they will transfer is 2 to avoid risks of high order multiples.

I truly cannot say enough good things about Dr. Havemann. We received our diagnosis of poor egg quality from her and even though those were not the results we were hoping for I still loved meeting with her every time...even when we received such devastating news. She is equally personable and professional. She follows through on everything she says 100%. I did not feel like a number there at ALL as I did at the other fertility clinic I used in the past.

Go see her immediately...you will not regret it at all...she is wonderful!

We planned to do a freeze all cycle for IVF. When my follicles were not responding as hoped she changed dosage of medications, etc. She kept me extremely informed throughout the whole process. I only was able to retrieve 4 eggs (later diagnosed with low egg count and poor egg quality), 3 fertilized, but none made it past day 5. She personally called me to discuss this as well as a follow up appointment where she delivered the worst news I have up to this point received in the best way possible.

Each procedure was "a la carte" here instead of being a pre-packaged payment for all services. This ended up being a better deal for us. The cost of a full IVF cycle was a slightly more pricey than my previous clinic but WELL worth it.

She was really thorough in what she explained. Our options, how things were going to go. But also wanted our opinion. She made she we were on the same page and was also excited for us to get going. She was sensitive and said she was sorry we were going through this. But was also very positive. We are doing embryo adoption and told us exactly how it was going to look. No questions. Talking to her didn’t feel clinical, but rather like I was meeting with someone who WANTED to help us. She doesn’t like to mess around and was willing to wait a few months until things were perfect.

She understands what infertility is like. She is sympathetic and down to business. She knows that people are done waiting and want to get moving. Go in with an open mind. She has such good information that I trusted her immediately and was willing to do whatever she recommended.

We started with provera everyday for 10 days. This was to start my cycle. We then did 2 weeks of estrogen to help prevent ovulation and thicken the uterine lining. After that we did progesterone shots everyday until 14 weeks pregnant. So far the provera has worked. Getting ready to start the estrogen.

It was a little more than expected, but at this point we were just happy to have someone who listened to us. Over all we spent about $3700 per cycle.

She is willing to transfer 2 embryos and was informative of the risks. She made sure we understood them and what that meant for multiple babies.

She was cordial but she was not forthcoming with information. We only met with her 3 times throughout our IVF process. The initial consultation, decision to do IVF & course, and the last diagnosis consultation.

We choose to do a round of IVF after that as it gave us the greatest chance to get pregnant. She tested my husband and everything was fine with him. She also tested me and I had fewer egg reserve then normal for my age but everything else was fine. We proceeded with the shots and medications. Dr Havemann retrieved 5 eggs on a Saturday in July & sent them to the lab to combine them with my husbands sperm. The lab called me on Monday and informed me of the development. They called me again on Tuesday and one egg had stopped growing. They called me again on Wednesday to inform me that all the eggs had become defragmented. We scheduled an appointment with Dr Havemann to discuss our options the following week in August. My husband and I went to the appointment disappointed but with the hopes that we would continue working with Dr Havemann and discuss another round of IVF or other options. We never thought we would hear what Dr Havemann told us that day. Dr Havemann went over what happened to our eggs. She couldn’t really explain why they defragmented. She said they were bad eggs and that all my other eggs would be the same and give us the same results and didn’t recommend IVF. She told us I would never have any biological children and my only options were to do donor eggs or adoption. We left her office heartbroken that day in August. But we regained our hope the following month when I took a pregnancy test at home and it came back positive. We were cautious and didn’t quite believe it. I scheduled an appointment with an OBGYN for October and that’s when they confirmed I was pregnant. I continued my doctors appointments and the baby was healthy. I gave birth to my daughter on May 10, 2017 the following year. Fast forward 19 months and I took another pregnancy test which showed positive. I scheduled another appointment with my OBGYN who confirmed another healthy pregnancy. I gave birth to my second daughter last 7/01/19.

We choose to do a round of IVF after that as it gave us the greatest chance to get pregnant. She tested my husband and everything was fine with him. She also tested me and I had fewer egg reserve then normal for my age but everything else was fine. We proceeded with the shots and medications. Dr Havemann retrieved 5 eggs on a Saturday in July & sent them to the lab to combine them with my husbands sperm. The lab called me on Monday and informed me of the development. They called me again on Tuesday and one egg had stopped growing. They called me again on Wednesday to inform me that all the eggs had become defragmented. We scheduled an appointment with Dr Havemann to discuss our options the following week in August. My husband and I went to the appointment disappointed but with the hopes that we would continue working with Dr Havemann and discuss another round of IVF or other options. We never thought we would hear what Dr Havemann told us that day. Dr Havemann went over what happened to our eggs. She couldn’t really explain why they defragmented. She said they were bad eggs and that all my other eggs would be the same and give us the same results and didn’t recommend IVF. She told us I would never have any biological children and my only options were to do donor eggs or adoption. We left her office heartbroken that day in August. But we regained our hope the following month when I took a pregnancy test at home and it came back positive. We were cautious and didn’t quite believe it. I scheduled an appointment with an OBGYN for October and that’s when they confirmed I was pregnant. I continued my doctors appointments and the baby was healthy. I gave birth to my daughter on May 10, 2017 the following year. Fast forward 19 months and I took another pregnancy test which showed positive. I scheduled another appointment with my OBGYN who confirmed another healthy pregnancy. I gave birth to my second daughter last 7/01/19.

$15,000

Our experience was that she never wanted to think outside of the box and give us a diagnosis or even theorize why we aren’t getting pregnant. She seems very timid and scared. For example, after 3 miscarriages I had to push hard for a recurrent loss panel - which is pretty standard. So, all of our treatments and procedures were a very generic, blanketed approach. She was supportive and sweet throughout our time with her. Once we got to IVF everything fell apart. Due to going into IVF with unexplained infertility and a very generic approach, I was concerned about a zero fertilization rate and had requested to do ICSI. I was assured by my nurse if it was deemed necessary on day of procedure it would be done and I let it go because it wasn’t explained clearly how that decision was going to be made so I assumed it was going to be done because I had asked. (Rookie mistake) Dr. Havemann also pushed for us to fertilize “X” amount and freeze the rest because since we were on the younger side she prepared us that we would probably end up with more embryos than the number of children we wanted. We decided to fertilize 10 and freeze any remainder. We ended up with 10 to fertilize and 7 to freeze at retrieval. On the day of retrieval the embryologist suggested doing ICSI and Dr. Havemann made the executive decision to do conventional IVF because she made the statement we had a religious objection to ICSI because we had only requested 10 eggs to be fertilized and we were worried about having too many embryos. Fertilizing “X” amount and freezing the rest was her idea! For the record, we do not have any religious objections to any fertility treatments/procedures and this was a complete assumption made on Dr. Havemann’s part and I found out after speaking with embryologist this was actually noted in our medical chart!! In the end, we had a zero fertilization rate and had one slow-to-start embryo that was poorly graded and we were told ICSI probably would have circumvented this issue. That was an expensive and upsetting lesson, especially when it was not communicated to me clearly we were not doing ICSI and I had to find out my doctor put notes about me being religious in my chart. Even worse the embryologist later denied our conversation where she told me she recommended ICSI but Dr. Havemann made the decision to do conventional due to our “religious objections” to ICSI. Also, since our embryos were doing so poorly, we kept being told every day when the embryologist would call that Dr. Havemann would call us that day to check on us and explain where to go from there. This was told to us 4 times and we never received a call from Dr. Havemann. That was very upsetting. We did do a fresh transfer on day 5, in which that morning the embryologist called me and chewed me out denying our previous conversation about the ICSI and called me crazy and a liar. Which was very unprofessional and upsetting. We did get pregnant from this transfer but it ended in a chemical pregnancy a week later. In our appointment to debrief this whole IVF cycle and figure out how to move forward, Dr. Havemann was looking across her desk at me 8 months pregnant and crying tears saying how unfair this was for us but that at least we learned a lot. She apologized for the religious assumption and the poor communication and said she would do ICSI moving forward. And used the cliche hindsight is 20/20. I would not recommend her if you aren’t a straight forward, text book, simple case. I think her bed side manner is great but her intuition as a doctor and her confidence in herself and her decisions she makes needs some growth. Communication and professionalism in the whole practice is very poor. I truly felt that Dr. Havemann and the embryologist knew they had both made poor and unethical decisions and were both trying to cover their behinds so we couldn’t sue or wouldn’t get a compensated cycle. We had an independent doctor that has been doing IVF for 30 years look at our case and he said the least Dr. Havemann owed us was a free cycle with our frozen eggs. I don’t even trust Dr. Havemann to do something for free on me.

Make sure you are communicating yourself very clearly about your wants and needs as a patient. I would get as much in writing as you can.

Timed Intercourse- Letrozole, Follistim 75 iu every other day for a total of 3 shots and progesterone suppositories 100 mg daily for 14 days IUI - Letrozole, Follistim 75 iu every other day for a total of 3 shots, Pregnyl trigger shot, progesterone suppositories 100 mg daily for 14 days IVF - Ganirelix 250 mg for 4 days, Menopur, Gonal F 300 iu daily, Pregnyl trigger shots and Crinone 90 Mg progesterone daily for 14 days

For the most part, since I was working I requested the earliest appointment so there wasn’t much of a wait. The only thing I didn’t like was our ultrasound tech didn’t seem familiar with IVF because I had some follicles measuring 22 mm and she told me that I had already ovulated and caused a big scare and she told a nurse and she came in and looked at the size of the follicles and told me I had not ovulated.

An IUI was about $500 plus the medications. IVF was about $15,000 plus medications

I was pleased that my doctor felt one embryo was best for us.

She is wonderful. She went through the IVF process herself, so she really understands the emotional side of things, and is extremely empathetic. She was great at checking in with both my husband and I's emotional health in addition to our physical health. I was always comforted that she personally did every ultrasound and procedure; I truly felt like I was in the best hands possible.

Ask questions, and tell her how much info you do or do not want.

I have PCOS, so we always had to do a "low & slow" protocol to ensure I didn't overstimulate. We were always successful with that (never had to cancel an IUI cycle for too many follicles – typically had 2-3). I did always have big cysts after every medicated cycle, though, and had to skip a month for them to resolve. When we did IVF, we did 10 days of birth control, followed by 12 days of Follistim + Menopur, and Ganirelix the last 5-6 days. Due to my PCOS, we had planned to do a freeze-all cycle with a Lupron trigger to prevent OHSS, but the day of my trigger, my E2 levels were still low enough that she was comfortable moving forward with a fresh transfer, and switched me to an HCG trigger at the last minute. It worked! I got pregnant that cycle.

Since Dr. Havemann has been through IVF herself she understands the process and the emotions that go with it. She is caring, smart and very quick. You can tell she knows what she’s talking about and she’s very thorough! I love that she draws pictures and writes out descriptions for me to take with me.

Start saving money unless you have insurance coverage

For IVF we used menopur, gannirlex, and foloistim. She was almost spot on when ordering meds and figuring out how much I’d need. We did stims for 9 days with follicle checks and blood work every other day. I felt she was gentle and thorough the day of my retrieval.

Our IVF cycle cost us about 17,500. That was with conventional insemination, monitoring appointments, med cost, retrieval, anesthesia, and PGS testing of 5 embryos. We do not have any fertility coverage through insurance.

Dr. H suggests we transfer 1-2 PGS tested embryos

Love Dr.Havemann! She's very sweet, personable and very open / honest about everything. She's gone thru IVF herself, so can relate to everything you go thru, which makes a world of difference! Through treatments, you don't always see her, but it's comforting knowing she's always behind the scenes making sure things are done correctly.

Be honest and open to her about all of your struggles.

At 1st, she ran a lot of blood tests and we went over treatments. I had high AMH and a lot of follicles! I have PCO ovaries and we concluded that I don't always ovulate on my own. So we started medicated cycles with IUI's to see if could possible get pregnant a less invasive way. After a few of those, we ended up going to IVF due to age, being able to chromosome testing.

Self Pay / No insurance: $11,200 egg retrieval IVF Monitoring appointments: $1,500 PGS Testing: $150 / embryo Frozen Embryo Transfer: $3,700 Anestesia: $500 IUI: $525

I'm a new patient and haven't fully gone through my first cycle, but so far she has been great. She explains things well and is willing to answer questions and listen to concerns. I'm also very impressed with her staff. The respond immediately with any messages I leave, and call as soon as they get lab results in.

Don't be scared to speak up and ask questions or present concerns. She exhibits compassion and a genuine desire to care for you as her patient.

I have PCOS, so for my first cycle she recommended Femara and IUI. Other than anovulation, I did not have other abnormal markers such as egg quality/count or advanced age. She chose Femara and Metformin to help with ovulation and IUI because my husband has a morphology issue that she felt sperm washing/IUI would assist with implantation.

Copay for doctor visits, medication, sonograms, IUI

Dr. Havemann was very helpful and knowledgeable. She is compassionate, and we truly felt like she cared about whether or not we had a baby. She explained the process in a down-to-earth manner that helped us understand it much better.

She is great at explaining each step of the process in detail. She doesn't seem to cut corners and is very thorough.

We did not undergo any IVF cycles with Dr. Havemann, but we will be starting with her soon.

They offer a 3 cycle guarantee program, where if you do not get pregnant (up to 12 weeks) after 3 cycles, you receive a partial refund.

I am unsure about her thoughts regarding eSET.

She is a wonderful Dr. You can truly tell that she cares. She is open about her own IVF journey, and you can feel that she is on your side. She is compassionate and thorough. She explains everything to you in a way that you can understand, and you can tell that she is invested in you and your journey.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions and to ask why.

Based on my labs she dosed my pills abd injections. When the first cycle was unsuccessful, she adjusted the doses.

Initial visit $300 Dr visit after $150 US $150 IUI $300

I feel like we did not get a realist C expectation and full analysis of what could have been done differently... I feel like even she was surprised by our results but offeremed minimum explanations or resolutions... especially bc we were very clear that we only had 1 shot at IVF

Expect to be oversold on Expectations... but she is very nice

IVF with freezing multiple embryos. On at least 3 different injections plus oral and suppository meds. Only 2 embryos made it to implantation

$27,000+

Dr Havemann cares and does not push ivf on you. She focus on fixing the issue and not pushing her agenda. Most clinic suggested ivf but Dr Havemann doesn’t. She absolutely cares about her patients and takes detailed notes on your history.

She cares about her patients. She never rushes her appointments but she super busy.

Most my procedure is medical and covered by insurance. But their prices seem higher than other DFW clinics for ivf.

Dr Havemann is kind,thorough shows empathy and genuinely cares! I always feel very comfortable speaking to her and don’t feel rushed. She had also gone through fertility treatments herself. Knowing that she has experienced the same journey put me at ease in a sense. She is the best!

Bring all questions she will answer them

Additional blood work, saline sonogram

Have not completed cycle so far I’m at $3200

She listens to what you want but also makes recommendations

She was kind and explained next steps. She has experienced infertility as well so she was able to relate to my struggles. She ran several tests to give us a comprehensive view of underlying causes. She understood my frustrations as a woman and was warm on days that I began to cry from exhaustive efforts.

Have LOTS of money because infertility is an EXPENSIVE journey!

Injectibles and clomid for both IUI cycles.

The cost were expensive and insurance covered hardly anything at all.

Dr. Havemann met us in the waiting room and was friendly and kind from the moment we met her. We enjoyed the visit and the information she shared with us. She was professional, thourough and compassionate during procedures.

Definitely see her. If we had to go through the process again, we would choose Dr. Havemann again.

Their approach is to transfer a single embryo because it is safest for mother and baby.

Still in progress with my IVF. When this cycle is done I will provide details.

Around 19,000-20,000