Jonathan Kim

Dr Kim is patient and is willing to answer all of my questions following my independent reading of published studies. I like to understand everything about my IVF plan and how to avoid unexpected impacts.

Ask as many questions as you can.

We started with loestrin bc at day three of my cycle and continued for three weeks to stall ovulation while my insurance was pre-authorized. Then we started daily injections with ultrasound and bloodwork every other day to measure eggs, estradiol and FSH. The injections, blood work and injections lasted for nine days. The first four days of Injections were 200 gonal-f and two vials of menopur. Day five through nine of injections were 175 gonal-f, two vials of menopur, and cetrotide. Day ten was leuprolide 80 units trigger shot at 9:15pm and day eleven was leuprolide 80 units trigger shot at 9:00am. Day twelve was egg retrieval at 8:30 am. The stand-in doc retrieved 26 eggs of which twelve were mature eggs. Ten eggs were fertilized via ICSI with a fresh sperm sample from TESA procedure the same morning. Five embryos made it to blastocyst stage. Three embryos made it through cryopreservation. PGS genetic testing was completed and all three embryos were aneuploidy. Dr. Kim explained that aneuploidy embryos are usually isolated and does not expect the same result on another cycle. He plans to prescribe increased menopur and decreased gonal-f dosage in conjunction with HCG for the next cycle starting five weeks following the egg retrieval resulting in No embryos for transfer.

There were no embryos to transfer following review of embryo PFS genetic testing results.

Dr. Kim was very supportive and wonderful. We managed to get pregnant but the embryo quite growing at 7 weeks. Dr Kim was right there with us each step of the way. I cannot say enough great things about him. We will be staying with Dr Kim for the next round of IVF.

He is the best at what he does. He is informative and educated. He and his wife have been through these medical procedures as well so he had first hand experience with every detail of infertility. He supports and encourages through the entire process.

There is a lot of drugs we used in egg retrieval but I cannot remember the dosages. After the egg retrieval we used estrogen and progesterone shots everyday for 8 weeks, up until I miscarried.

I believe it was $6000-7000 to begin the IVF treatment. Then $6000-7000 to do the procedures and dna tests. Then $5000-7000 for medication. Egg retrieval was around $5000 and before/after transfer ran over $1500. But with Dr Kim, they have a reassurance program that cuts the cost if the first transfer doesn’t hold. I have not seen this at any other clinic. The costs are cut in half. I believe the total will be around $7000 then the costs of medications.

N/A

Dr. Kim does a good job explaining procedures and the risks behind them. I've never felt uncomfortable in his care. He does split his time between the Katy and Sugarland clinics so I have not seen him at every appointment but this has not been an issue in my case. He was very compassionate when I experienced my chemical pregnancy.

Feel free to ask lots of questions. Dr. Kim will answer to the best of his ability and you won't feel rushed.

My first IUI utilized Clomid (100mg over 5 days). I only had one follicle develop and did not have a successful outcome utilizing donor sperm. Post IUI I took 1 progesterone suppository per day. The second IUI utilized Clomid (50 mg over 5 days) and Gonal injections (3 days of 75 iu). This generated two mature follicles and a 3rd that also had a chance of developing in time for my IUI. I took 1 progesterone suppository per day until I had HCG testing on Day 13 post IUI when progesterone was increased to 2 suppositories per day. I experience a chemical pregnancy on this try.

Oral Medication IUI -$1700 Combo Oral Medication + Injectable Medication IUI - $2200 $50 sperm storage fee from HFI $950 donor sperm per vial $285 donor sperm shipping $295 Cost of prescription medications

I liked that he didn’t shy away from the realistic outcomes (sch, heartbeat being low, miscarriage) he was honest and up front about about sch and that it could be normal but it did increase miscarriage chance slightly. I saw another doctor there for an ultrasound that we found the heartbeat to be lower then the last ultrasound and I felt he skirted the obvious concern until asked several times and still wasn’t completely open. When dr Kim called he said the chances at miscarriage at that point was 85% but that it could be from the trauma of the sch. Of course I hate hearing bad news but I would rather not be blindsided and have a realistic expectation. I do wish I saw him more at each appointment, but I was glad to be able to hear directly from him if we wanted after the appointment.

That he is really nice, honest, straightforward, smart, and will explain thing fairly detailed. You won’t see him every time since he is at different locations.

We did blood work first as I came in for baseline at cycle day 3. I was put on birth control To do a Hysteroscopy. Before I started B/C I took a pregnancy test. It was slightly positive. (Which was weird since I had a pretty normal period) I looked at blood work from a few days prior and hcg was very low and “not pregnant” I called and told them, doctor called and said it was likely a chemical since progesterone was less then one, but he had me come kind roe blood work. Hcg did not double and progesterone was still very low, less then 1. He called and updated me again saying it would be ectopic again. He had me come in 4days later. I started bleeding after appointment later dr Kim called and said Hcg more then doubled progesterone had raised, but was still very low(3). He was now very concerned that it was ectopic. He had me come in a day or two later. I was having pain and had fluid in my abdomen at the ultrasound. He then scheduled a laparoscopy due to likely ectopic and rupture. He went in and took his time he saw no rupture, my remaining tube was fine, but did remove blood from abdomen, he followed that with a d&c so that he could confirm if the pregnancy was in the uterus or if I needed the methotrexate to keep tube safe. He had me in a couple days later and hcg did not drop like he had hoped after d&c so it was confirmed ectopic and was proscribed methotrexate. Becasue of yet another loss(3), second confirmed ectopic, and one tube he concluded that there was likely a tubal functionality issue (nothing physically wrong with remaining tube and it was not blocked he looked at the hsg I had done with OBGYN previously) we did the eggretrival first before the Hysteroscopy. We were on gonal f(150), menopur(75), centrotide, and luprolide(sp?) . He did change is up a bit towards the end increasing menopure and lowering gonal. He also added a day or two. I had to order more menopure and centrotide. We were seeing about 20-24 sizable follicles on ultrasound. Egg retrieval resulted in 15 eggs, 15 mature, 7 made it blast and 5 pgs tested normal embryos. Hysteroscopy found a few small Polups they were removed, but everything else looked good. We had to wait a bit financially before transfer. I was on estrodiol 2mg tablets orally 3 times a day. The lining was not progressing as much as he wanted so he switched me to vaginaly 3 times a day. Started 2ml pio injections. I got a positive hpt at 5dp5dt. Blood test was at 9dp hcg was more then doubling on schedule. First ultrasound confirmed it was in the uterus, I started bleeding red blood 6w4days they had me come in the next day. Heartbeat was 91(a little low) and we were measuring a couple day behind and he saw a hematoma twice the size of the gestational sack. He told us it could be normal as 20% of IVF patients get them. He said once we see a heartbeat miscarriage drops to 5%, but the miscarriage rate raises to 15%. He said we just need to keep an eye on it and he increased my progesterone to 3ml for three days. He did let me know that I may pass a clot. At 7w3d I started bleeding red blood and a rather large clot. They had me come in the next day this is wen we saw a different doc and heartbeat dropped to 75 and size wise it was only 6w3days. We asked dr Kim to call us and he said they it was not a good sign that likelyhood at this point of miscarriage was 85% but that it could be a trauma from the hematoma maybe why it dropped. Two days later there was no heartbeat. I was given the choice of d&c or meds to start contractions. I chose the medicine in hopes of seeing the baby. I was warned of the “pain” side effects from meds vs d&c process.

Cash price 6900 for physician, Lab 3000 Facility 2800 Anesthesiologists 250 Meds 4000-7000 Additional FET Doctor 1750 Lab 725 Facility 1400 Meds 300-1000

I believe he mentioned and suggested 1 embryo and that one healthy baby, mother, pregnancy and birth was the goal. Although, I never had an doubt that I wanted to only transfer 1. Now I might consider using two, but unlikely.

Dr. Kim is a phenomenal doctor. He listened to all my concerns. We went over what the best treatment options were. If I wanted to discuss anything, he would give me his opinion on the topic and then let me ultimately decide what I wanted to do. He cared about me as a patient and truly wanted to see me get pregnant and have a baby. He definitely was not trying to push anything for money. He wanted to make sure we got the outcome we wanted (a baby) as fast as possible. He was honest and upfront about everything. He set realistic expectations, and had a positive demeanor.

Do your own research. Get as educated as you can. Understanding the process yourself will help you so much with outcomes. Dr. Kim will work to get you the baby you long for, but you also should understand the process and have realistic expectations for your diagnosis.

I have PCOS. My husband has no issues. I had used clomid for 4 cycles with my OB with no monitoring and no success. We met with Dr. Kim and he laid all our options out. First we did an HSG to make sure my tubes were open. My left tube showed a blockage, so we did a hysteroscopy and found polyps in my uterus, he cleaned them out and it opened up my left tube. He then recommended IUI with injections (since the pills didn't seem to help). I wasn't ready for that yet, so we did a cycle with Femara/Letrozole. Hardly any follicles grew. So we moved to IUI with injections as Dr. Kim had suggested. We got 2 mature follicles and did a double IUI (trigger shot, then IUI the next 2 days in a row). No success. Since no treatments were covered by our insurance, about 4 IUI cycles equal the cost of IVF. Dr. Kim said we could move in either direction. My husband and I decided to go forward with IVF as it has much better success rates and we didnt know how many IUIs it would take to work. We started with birth control to get my cycle regulated, then did injections for 11 days (stims for 11 days, cetrodide for 5 days to keep me from ovulating). We were doing an all freeze cycle, so my trigger shot was lupron (2 days of injections). 19 eggs retrieved, 11 mature follicles, 11 fertilized, and 9 made it to freeze (embryos). My husband and i decided to do PGS testing, even though Dr. Kim didnt think we needed it. Of the 9 blastocysts, 5 were gentically normal.

IUI with cost of meds - $4000 IVF doctor/clinic/embryologist/ICSI cost $12900 -- meds $5000 --PGS $5500 Frozen Transfer Cycle cost with meds - $4000

For the first transfer, Dr. Kim would only do 1 embryo. it was the safest option and we agreed. No success. For the 2nd transfer, we did 2 embryos at Dr. Kim's recommendation. No success. For the 3rd transfer, we did a different FET protocol and transferred our last 2 genetically normal embryos, and it resulted in a singleton pregnancy.

I appreciated Dr. Kim’s explanation on procedures and how he told me what to expect. He did my egg retrieval and embryo transfer as well as an SIS in office and everything went well. I especially liked how he told me what was going on during embryo transfer.

I would absolutely advise them to go see him.

With my IUIs, we started with Clomid and I showed no follicle growth so that cycle was cancelled and we tried injectables. My dose of Gonal F was fairly high. I responded well to Gonal F and triggered with Ovidrel all three times but did not conceive. After that and an extended break secondary to finances, I moved on to IVF with PGS. I was on Gonal-F and Menopur and added Cetrotide about five days in. After PGS, I had one normal embryo and I prepped for FET by using an estrogen patch I changed every three days and three estrogen pills and then progesterone in oil injections.

IVF was about $25K including meds. Each IUI was around $5K with meds except my first round without injections initially was lower; maybe $3K.

Dr. Kim was such an amazing doctor. We had gone through several years of infertility, a surgery, and 7 IUI’s prior to meeting with him. By the time we had our appointment with him I had little hope left at conceiving. When I met with him I instantly felt hope. He was so easy to talk to and explained everything in a way that we were able to understand. He was honest through the entire process and always took the time at every single appointment to sit down with us and discuss our treatment. He went above and beyond to ensure that everything went as planned. I honestly cannot say enough wonderful things about him. We now have a healthy little boy as a result of IVF as his patient and we just took him to meet the dr that helped us conceive our little miracle.

Put all of your other fertility experiences in the past and go into your appointment with an open mind. I am so thankful I did not give up before finding Dr. Kim

Dr. Kim found that I had a thryroid issue so I was put on thyroid medication before beginning my cycle. I also did injections and progesterone

Our total cost for IVF, freezing embryos, and the transfer was around $20,000.

I was appreciative that Dr. Kim knew what my body was able to handle in regards to medication and doing a frozen cycle.

Dr. Kim is very personable and very knowledgeable in his field. He practices evidence-based medicine based on our many discussions about recent fertility advancements. I appreciated his realistic statistics which helped me shape realistic expectations. His bedside manner is very gentle and genuine. I wish that he could continue to be my OB/Gyn throughout my entire pregnancy. He wanted to personally participate in my IVF procedures and even did the implantation on a Saturday because that was when my body was ready. He listened to my concerns and needs every step of the way. It was important to me to transfer only one embryo, as I am personally fearful of twins. Our first singleton transfer was a success! I could tell he really enjoyed sharing listening to the first heartbeats with us. It was special to him, not just the 1000th time for him.

Feel free to ask your questions. Bring as much prior fertility workup information with you to your consultation so that he can review it with you and start the ground running from there.

My issue is PCOS and anovulation. So we first tried a clomid cycle, confirmed that 2 follicles were ready, triggered their release, and had intercourse for 3 days as directed. This was a cheaper option than starting with IVF, although he projected a success rate of about 9%. Thus, we were not especially let down when we had a negative pregnancy test, but we were happy that we had started with the easiest and cheapest option. We then tried a different hormone (can't remember the name), found that 1 follicle was ready, triggered ovulation, and did IUI twice (on 2 consecutive days). We knew again that our projected success rate was still low, and we had a negative pregnancy test. At this point Dr. Kim had a discussion with us. We could choose to increase the aggressiveness of the hormones and try IUI again or we could proceed to IVF. Dr. Kim mentioned that trying the more aggressive IUI cycle had a higher risk of multiples and a much lower success rate than IVF. We decided to proceed with IVF. I underwent the egg retrieval process. I produced 50+ follicles since I had such a high ovarian reserve (PCOS). He harvested 29 and then inactivated the others (because who needs that many eggs?). I never had to take any pain medication afterwards. He was very careful to make sure that I did not experience ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) by changing to a lupron trigger shot. After the retrieval, I was concerned that I could be developing OHSS, so I called his office and he had me come in immediately. He examined my right away (I don't think I even finished signing in at the front) and found that I was doing okay and gave me some directions. I recovered quickly. Back to the eggs. 29 eggs were harvested, 19 fertilized, and 12 reached the 5 day blastocyst stage. We did genetic testing. 6 had normal chromosomes. We were very glad we did the genetic testing. The nonviable embryos would have likely resulted in miscarriages and disappointment. So even though the genetic testing was expensive, we felt we probably saved money, time, and heartache by avoiding futile IVF cycles. We waited a month for my body to recover from the retrieval, and then we implanted a single genetically normal 5-day blastocyst. Dr. Kim showed us our first baby photo - a picture of our embryo hatching - before the procedure. He came in on a Saturday to do the implantation, as that was the best day for my body. He showed how he was placing the embryo on the ultrasound and took a photo for us. We felt that he made the process special for us. We did the bed rest thing for 3 days and then the waiting game began. Dr. Kim told me when I could cheat with a home urine pregnancy test if I wanted. So I did cheat and it was positive! But of course, I waited to get excited until the official blood test was done. Dr. Kim monitored our very early pregnancy up until we were 10 weeks along. I did an estrogen patch, estrogen sublingual pills, and IM progesterone shots up until 10 weeks. Everything progressed as usual. Hearing our daughter's heartbeat for the first time was so special for all of us in the room, including Dr. Kim. He was genuinely excited for us. We can't wait to send him our birth announcement in the future! I have recommended Dr. Kim to all friends having fertility issues. As a physician myself, I have also recommended him to my patients as well.

The cost was comparable to other fertility locations.

Some may not like his style of communication. He is VERY fast talker and will even admit it himself but all you ever have to do is say wait slow down I don't get this and he will immediately do so or explain in a different way with drawings or other helpful things. He is so warm and caring and when you are truly struggling he is there. My last round my follicles were not responding to the HEAVY drugs we were using. (previously I used Bravelle and Menopur and got 7 eggs). This time we only had 3 follicles. I was at my ultimate lowest and just cried and said I felt like a failure. Dr Kim NEVER rushed me out but instead was there saying you are definitely NOT a failure and that WE will figure this out together! He cancelled the expensive IVF procedure planned as we would then get our clinical fees credited for our next attempt at IVF and also went out of his way to find some free drugs for us to help us with the costs. So that failed cycle really has only cost us the price for drugs. He's very direct but also very optimistic person and makes you feel like you are more than just another patient!

If you think he is talking too fast at any point just straight up tell him or if you don't understand something ask him. He knows he's a fast talker and in his first consult with that this was his advice to us! Also I find taking notes when he talks sometimes helps as when he does talk fast I can forget what he told me after.

We have unexplained infertility that over the last year is also turning into a diminished egg reserve. Since we didn't know what was wrong we started at the bottom and worked our way up. 1st Treatment - Clomid and IUI - BFN (Big Fat Negative) 2nd Treatment - Injections and IUI - BFN 3rd Treatment - Injections but started bleeding - Cancelled IUI 4th Treatment - Injections and IVF - 7 eggs, 6 embryos, 4-5 day embryos. Transferred 1 with BFN. Froze other 3. 5th Treatment - Frozen Embryo Transfer - Endometrin but started bleeding - Cancelled cycle and saved eggs. 6th Treatment - FET - Projesterone in Sesame Oil - Transferred 2 frozen - Chemical pregnancy. 7th Treatment - IVF - Injections resulted in low follicle stimulation - Timed Intercourse - BFN 8th Treatment - TBD :) Still have one snowflake baby but want to transfer at least 2 so will try IVF again after a month or two off for our sanity, my body to relax and our wallets to refill.

We had insurance that covered most of the costs through the IVF procedure the first time. The total cycles probably cost us about $10-12K for the 3 IUI's and the 1 IVF. The FET was $2500 max. This last round of IVF (which was cancelled)was $6600 for dr's fees which are credited back to us. $11K for Facility Fees (which we hadn't paid for yet) and then another $5500 for Genetic Testing (optional) and finally our actual out of pocket expenses for Meds were $7500. The meds were higher due to high stimulation amount and # of days I was on. Previous IVF cost us about $3-4K in meds. Due to these steep costs we have been given drugs donated by mom's who don't need them anymore to help combat the costs for this next attempt. :) They are there to help you have a baby not go bankrupt! :)

Please show more compassion and understand that patients are already going through a lot. Spend more time answering their questions. Staff needs more training in dealing with patients

I would not recommend

Drugs - $7-8K Facility Costs - $8K Insurance Covered Costs - > $13k

I ended up having an ectopic pregnancy with Dr. Kim. He was very attentive to me and would call me on a regular basis to make sure everything was okay. It was my first attempt and I was really hoping it would turn out okay. At the end, we had to terminate the pregnancy which was dangerous. I appreaciated that Dr. Kim was trying to compromise and let me wait a few more days to make sure no baby could come out of the situation.

Dr. Kim was wonderful. However, maybe he was a little too optimistic. After the ectopic, I have a normal pregnancy (which ended up in a loss at 15weeks). I realized what normal pregnancy meant from an hormone point of view and I felt that Dr. Kim could have more clearly told me that my ectopic was not normal since the first blood test.

We did a normal IUI with trigger shot.

1400$ for a natural cycle. And additional costs for drugs and pre cycle treatments.

Dr. Kim was a perfect doctor for me. He was sincere, listened and genuinely cared about our goal to get pregnant. I feel like he treated us successfully and wasn't just looking for statistics or money. We will definitely return to him for baby #2.

Dr. Kim is knowledgeable and honest and you are in good hands.

Cycle 1: Clomid (BFN) Cycle 2: IUI with gonal (converted to IVF) with two frozen poor quality embryos Cylcle 3: IVF with gonal and menopauir with PGS. Resulted in 4 excellent quality embryos. We did two FETs (one chemical and one mmc at 9.5 weeks)

Dr. Kim was very nice, but I do not think he communicated effectively during my treatment. As a younger patient, I was confused and did not understand why the treatments were not working. He seems to take a laid back approach, and I feel that with fertility treatments there should be a sense of urgency. Also, I feel like the clinic treated this more as my problem and not a joint problem for both myself and my husband. They did not run any extra tests on my husband except the initial semen analysis that my Gyn had asked for. Of course that does not include the analysis from samples for the IUI's.

It would be nice to have him explain in more detail each step of treatment.

He did not recommend a specific protocol or treatment. He just suggested clomid use for the first IUI cycle and I did not respond like I should have. So for the second cycle, I pushed for the injections, otherwise he would have continued with just clomid.

It was very expensive, and all we got in the form of help was info on how to take out loans.

We have mixed feelings because our embryo transfers have not worked and we really don’t have an answer as to why. We have an idea but nothing really confirmed. We have one more frozen embryo that we need to transfer but Dr Kim will need to do a minor surgery on me before we transfer our last embryo.

Ask lots of questions.

I was placed on lots of estrogen and progesterone. We believe that the estrogen caused the fluid in my tubes.

We have spent about $30,000

I’m fine with his approach to only transferring one at a time but I just don’t understand why our transfers still haven’t work.

Dr. Kim was an amazing doctor and truly explained the details of everything to us. He was always positive, yet realistic. He never made me feel rushed and he always took the time at any appointment to answer every question. He also did weekly monitoring, which as someone struggling with infertility knows this is seriously an amazing thing.

Dr. Kim is a fantastic doctor. He is knowledgeable, explains everything, cares very much and always has a friendly demeanor and positive outlook.

Doctor was good as far as sending us for test and doing the consult. Once test were done and results were on the table we felt he didn't want to do anything to help us if we weren't going to do IVF right off the bat.

Stand your ground on treatment if your wanting to start with Clomid or IUI. Don't let him tell you to go back to your OBGYN for the medicine.