Laura Smith

From our first visit, she explained everything in detail but in a way that I understood. There is massive amounts of information given these visits, and it can me overwhelming and emotional, but I have never left feeling like I did not know what was going on. My favorite thing about her is the way she tells you every step of the procedure she is performing when you cannot see exactly what she is doing. It makes me feel more comfortable.

Laura Smith, and the rest of the physicians and clinic staff as well, remember every detail about me. All the way down to what I do for a living. I can tell they take the time to review my history before entering the clinic room. The nurses and other staff always remember my name, I never have to formally check in I just give them a wave.

Jumped right in with IUI from the first cycle (I had done clomid a few times already) with letrozole and trigger shots. My husbands sperm analysis showed a few issues. I did this for two cycles and have been unsuccessful so far.

So compassionate! They ask how you are doing always and really listen. They explain every detail so well and are incredibly helpful. I truly believe they go above and beyond.

Strengths - Excellent bedside manner. So compassionate. I feel confident in all the physician's care, even though we have not yet had success, they are consistently altering my treatment plan and explaining every detail. The clinic is so helpful with the financial aspect of treatment as well. Weaknesses - The clinic decor/environment is a little cold. At my first visit when I walked in I initially felt uncomfortable and un-welcomed. This of course changed when I met the staff, but I think it would put people at ease to change up the decor a bit.

I am so incredibly fortunate to have health insurance coverage for fertility treatments.

Dr. Smith is very knowledgeable regarding her area. She explains everything in detail and make sure we know our options. She frequently reaches out if we need anything, and makes herself available even on Sundays, if need be.

Make sure you communicate your expectations and fears. Dr. Smith takes the time to listen to you.

She's very attentive, warm, and detailed in her explanation regarding our situation. She takes her time explaining to us what we need to do and our options.

I have had three rounds of pills + injectables (Follistim +HCG). She adjusts the dosage as needed. However, I am very sensitive to the hormones, and had to cancel a cycle.

Nursing staff follows the same approach as Dr. Smith. They are compassionate and understanding, as this is a very emotional time for a woman. I have called them with numerous questions, and they always make themselves available to answer them.

Clinic is well organized, and staff is very friendly. They are easy to reach, and work with you in scheduling appointments. They provide all information, and make sure you know about your options within the first visit. They review your medical records, and take the time to sit down with you to discuss which approach to take. It seems like it is a decision you make together (patient+client+doctor). We did all blood work in the same visit, and were able to start treatment in the following cycle.

some exams were covered by insurance, such as consultation, ultrasonography. The medication varies according to your needs (dosage). With injectables, we have spent around 350-500 a cycle +350 for UIU (Not sure regarding these numbers).

She is great. She was very good about tailoring treatment to me/us, and explained fully how with my reserve we would probably only get 1-2 viable blasts and she was right - we have one. She was thorough in our initial consult and did not at all seem inconvenience that we were there for a second opinion prior to starting an ivf cycle and had already gotten a protocol plan from another doctor. She explained why the clinic does freeze all cycles and I left our initial consult feeling very confident in her clinic and feeling comfortable about moving forward. When I’ve seen her since for monitoring & retrieval same thing.

You will see her partners as well for monitoring and even potentially retrieval/transfer, although Dr. Williams was doing retrievals the day I was set for mine and she did come and do mine specifically which was nice. Also the clinic recommends freeze all cycles.

She read over all my results at a previous clinic and tailored my ivf cycle to me specifically instead of going with a predetermined protocol. She also made sure we repeated testing that looked off previously but wasn’t addressed. She was realistic but kind and compassionate.

She recommended against priming with birth control or estrogen as she suspected I might get oversuppressed. We did a natural start cycle. She put me on 450iu follistim/menopur (she explained that doses above this haven’t been proven any more successful) & cetrotide for 3 days near the end to stop ovulation on my own. Lupron plus hcg trigger. Once my period started I began 2 weeks of birth control for the FET and went on lupron injections. Once I have monitoring we will begin PIO injections as they have found 8% increase in pregnancy rates with this. They recommend freeze all cycles (they do fresh as well but many fewer) due to their success rates being about 15% higher with freeze all (65%, nonPGS tested embryos).

Stephanie is excellent. I can’t imagine how organized she has to be to keep track of so many women’s cycles at once. She always has made me feel like I am only one of a few patients rather than one of many. She is so patient and explains everything completely. I’ve never waited more than 24 hours for a return call even when it was for a stupid question. Laura is still learning but is pleasant and kind as well.

This is a smaller clinic which could be viewed as a strength or a weakness. The main location in Charlottesville is easily accessible. I’ve been comfortable there. My husband liked that the “sperm room” is discrete. Friendly receptionist, adequate room in the waiting area.

Nothing is covered by insurance. Compared to the large clinic I started with the prices at RMSCVA are better. Our freeze all cycle was $10,500 (we did not do PGS or ICSI). Medications were a few thousand. HSG and blood work about $200, ultrasound $140 or similar. My husband ended up owing $50 for blood work and sperm analysis I think.

Ultimately she said it would be up to us but recommended no more than 2. We ended up having 1 so it is a non issue.

She is straightforward and matter-of-fact. I had confidence in her medical understanding but did not feel any special personal connection. I am not sure I would recognize her on the street, or she me.

Fertility consultations usually come with some emotion, because we are seeking help for something that is not coming "naturally." This practice will definitely answer your medical questions with kindness and politeness, but you want to get your emotional support elsewhere. I collected information from my doctors, and then went home to talk to people close to me to make decisions.

Everyone in the practice is nice, friendly, but also business-like and to-the-point. I liked working with the IVF nurse *very much*, and she became my primary point of contact for most of my communications. So I never felt like a number, but I did feel like everyone was always busy and didn't have any more time to spend with me than what was necessary. The IVF nurse was clearly very busy, but I also felt that she cared.

I used donor egg IVF. The hormones are not fun at all, but it was successful.

She was busy and seemed to have a caseload that was too much for one person. But she was also kind and compassionate.

There aren't any other options nearby. But that said, the clinic is well-run and the doctors and staff are informed and experienced. It's busy, but it's a small practice, so it doesn't feel like a train station ... staff did come to know my name. The offices and procedure rooms are all comfortable.

The decision was mine to make. I felt they gave me all the information I needed to make an informed decision.

Fertility is stressful but I appreciated Dr. Smiths honesty, professionalism, and so extremely detailed oriented. I never left having questions and always felt confident in our decisions we made together. I have a low ovarian reserve and with her protocol and expertise we beat the odds.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions and/or to have them elaborate. Dr. Smith really loves what she does and you can tell by the way she talks to you.

Dr. Smith is the prime example of detailed oriented and thorough at its best but so incredibly patient, brilliant and skilled with her bedside manners.

We had an agressive retrieval plan due to my low reserve. We were able to retrieve 3, 2 fertilized and 1 came back pgs normal. We froze and waited 5-6 weeks for my body to heal and be exactly where it needed for transfer. All went extremely smooth and I had an easy pregnancy. They really are amazing at what they do! The odds were against us and they are miracle workers.

The BEST! So incredibly kind, theyre honest, sooooooo many hugs! Professionally they were on point with exact times, expectations, simplifying instructions and so gentle.

Strengths they are very well respected, incredibly knowledgeable and genuily love what they do. The staff are treated very well by the team and you can tell they all work very well together. No weaknesses.... even as an lgbt and military memebwr they went over and beyond for discounts, and respectful our our lifestyle. We are older first time parents and the Best team for our circumstances. Baby #2 will be there for sure!

We had a 10% military discount and for the retrieval/transfer it was $12000. We paid separately for meds and pgs testings with other companies they recommended. We were very happy with the process and discount

we only had one embryo to transfer so it wasn’t ever approached

Dr. Smith was a very well rounded doctor. She was compassionate, understanding and very patient. She also always admitted when she was wrong which I loved. Doctor's, just like us are always learning new things especially when it comes to infertility. In a lot of cases we are learning together. For example, upon seeing my husband and I, Dr. Smith asked if I ovulated on my own. I told her no because my OBGYN had run progesterone tests and discovered that I did not. She then asked if my had a period every month to which I replied yes. She then told me that I was in fact ovulating if I was getting a period, that I just must be missing it. After a cycle of running tests and starting my period, at my follow-up visit, she admitted that she had told me wrong and that I had anovulation. To admit when you are wrong shows just how amazing you are both as a person and as a doctor. Dr. Smith was always encouraging and always did her best to uplift us.

Do not be afraid to ask questions if you do not understand or if you have concerns. Dr. Smith is willing and welcomes all questions. She wants you to understand your treatment and your options.

Dr. Smith was very personable and very relatable. She took her time to ensure we understood exactly what our options were and to explain in detail any questions we had. She also told us that it was up to us how aggressive we wanted our treatment to be. She was compassionate and understood what we were going through. She always took the time to encourage us even if we didn't get the results we wants. Dr. Smith was phenomenal and definitely treated myself and my husband as a human.

During my first medicated cycle with Dr. Smith, She prescribed me letrozole (the average dosage) and it didn't work. This was to help me ovulate as she figured out the previous unmedicated cycle that I was experiencing anovulation with a normal AMH. The next cycle she in partner with Dr. Bateman at the same clinic increased my dosage and had me take it for 10 days instead of 5. I ovulated too quickly to do IUI. She recommended IUI because of anovulation and because of the increased dosage of letrozole and because 4 medicated timed intercourse cycles previously resulted in no pregnancy. The third cycle Dr. Smith partnered with Dr. Williams and had me take the same dosage of letrozole just for 7 days instead of 10 and had me trigger with HCG. This time we were able to due IUI with two beautiful follicles however, it failed. During the IUI, after the sperm wash was when my husband was diagnosed with male factor infertility due to low count and motility. We were told if the IUI didn't result in pregnancy that IVF would be our best next option.

They always helped and ensured that we had everything we needed. For example, I am hard stick and only one nurse would ever be able to stick me. She made herself available to me every single time to ensure I wouldn't have to travel elsewhere to get blood drawn. They always answered questions and returned phone calls quickly. They were always smiling and ensuring that you had a smile on your face even on the hardest days.

This clinic cares about their patients. They have an open mind and are willing to listen to the patient. They understand that sometimes the patient knows their bodies best and are willing to work with them to get the expected outcome. From the time you step in the waiting room, you feel welcome. Everyone is smiling, willing to help and compassionate. The only weakness that I feel that they have is that they do turn patients away for IVF if your BMI isn't under 40 and that the treatment for IVF is so expensive. They also require that your previous surgery be paid in full before proceeding on to the next which can be rather inconvenient if your paying towards your bill monthly.

My IUI procedure with out monitoring and meds was about $700. Monitoring varied depending on if blood work was ordered but was usually about $150 a visit.

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Dr. Smith is great at what she does. She made sure I always understood what she talked about and always answered my questions. She stayed confident even when I was not. She was quick to make any changes when the results were not going as planned, which made me feel better.

Don't be afraid to ask questions.

Dr. Smith was always nice and reassuring. She made sure to answer all of my questions and made sure I understood what we were doing. She stayed confident even when I was not.

We started by initially running blood work to check for the most common reasons for my infertility. Then we did a test to check for blockage in my Fallopian tubes. We tried several rounds of Clomid to make me ovulate regularly and then a round of Femera because we had no success with Clomid. Femera offered even less of a result so we then tried IUI beginning with injections to produce follicles. We had an IUI after the injections, but that also failed.

The nursing staff was very compassionate and well informed. They always answered my questions.

I had a great experience with this clinic. Everyone was always so nice and reassuring. No one judged me or made me uncomfortable.

The costs seemed to be about average. One great thing was that they offer discount programs for IVF.

Dr. Smith was patient and took the time to explain things in detail and cover any questions I had. She made sure I understood what each step consisted of and what the next step was. I never left her office confused or with questions. She was very compassionate with my husband and I taking time to reassure us and explain things in language we understood.

Be prepared for a lot of information. Bring a notebook!

She, the other doctors and the nurses took the time to explain things in detail. Answered all concerns and questions promptly and would return calls the same day!

I took a round of several injections and did one trigger shot right before the retrieval.

The nurses at the clinic were very thorough and took the time to explain how to do each injection and even when to do it. We had issues with my insurance covering the medications and they worked with me in order to get it covered.

The clinic is extremely warm and inviting. They make you feel comfortable during a time that is stressful and emotional. Everyone there is so sweet and understanding. Compassion is key for them!

We paid around $18,000 for everything except medication

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