Marsha Baker

As I am an older patient, Dr. Baker was compassionate in explaining to me the risks I face with my egg reserve. In no way did she ever make me feel bad for waiting so long to try for a baby. She has such a beautiful manner, almost like if we have known each other for ever.

Keep in mind the game plan can always change. Be open to those changes.

Dr. Baker is a warm caring person. She explains the plan and or options in a very understandable way. She is awesome.

My 2 IUIs had similar protocols using Menopur. The 1st one, my dosage started high and was lowered as I got close to the procedure. My 2nd one, my dosage remained the same until the procedure. I responded very well to the medication both times. Unfortunately my IUIs didn’t work. I was warned in advance that they probably weren’t the best choice for me but I still wanted to start there. For IVF, I did 2 bottles Menopur and 300 iu Follistim for 4 days only. That resulted in 2 huge follicles & lots of little ones. Dr decided to have me trigger and my IVF was officially cancelled. On my follow up visit afterwards, ultrasound sound I had a cyst on my overy. I am about to go back on Sep 26 and see if the cyst has gone away so that I can start Stims hopefully soon.

Everyone is so friendly at my clinic. Even though we go in very early, no one is ever in a crappy mood.

They have a big waiting room with coffee, tea and magazines. Inside, there are plenty of exam rooms that have more magazines, a mirror, wipes, etc. Anything we could possibly need to get ready after the examination.

For the IUIs, my insurance covered 25% minus medications and I paid the rest out of pocket, in total about $2000 for each IUI. For the IVF, so far I’ve paid $2900 in medications alone.

My clinic will do single or multiple.

Dr. Marsha Baker is intelligent, well spoken, knowledgeable, warm, compassionate, and has an amazing bedside manner. She is a rockstar in her field and definitely the best RE I have encountered. She has always answered my questions honestly, intelligently, and kindly. She treats me like a human with actual emotions and needs. She keeps me in the loop and takes into account what I want/need when deciding on protocol. She also doesn’t stick with the same protocol over and over. When we don’t get results, she switches meds or dosage. I always feel like Dr. Baker genuinely has my best interest in mind when making decision, even when I don’t like it (a cancelled cycle for example). I have never felt like she makes a decision “just because.” There is always sound reasoning and she’s always willing to explain it to me. I wouldn’t want any other RE treating me.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions! She’s not intimidating and she will answer, either directly or through staff. I’ve never had a question go unanswered.

Dr. Baker always takes the time to either answer my inquiries directly, or to have her nurse contact me and it’s always timely. She’s always answered my questions kindly and honestly and adjusts the cycle protocol according to my needs and feedback in addition to what she thinks would be the best protocol. She takes into consideration my busy schedule and her office always does it’s best to accommodate me, even during busy times. Her and her office staff have always referred to me by my name and most of them have obviously read my file and taken the time to get to know my case.

My first two IUI cycles were unmedicated except for the trigger (ovidrel). Dr. baker, my partner, and I came to the agreement that it was the best place to start since I was only 28 at the time and had all the infertility testing done with a clean bill of reproductive health. We thought this would be a “one and done” deal. We used donor sperm. I triggered when I had a single mature follicle and had the IUI done 36 hours post trigger both cycles. Negative pregnancy test followed both. 3rd cycle I did clomid CD4-8. I didn’t respond as well as we had hoped (I only had one very mature follicle @ 26mm). We triggered and did IUI the next day. Negative beta 2 weeks later. We then moved on to menopur. First cycle of menopur I did 1.5 vials for 5 days, triggered, IUI 36 hr later. Negative. For the next cycle we did back to back iuis with 4 days at 2.5 vials of menopur and 2 days at 1.5. Then trigger. I had 3 mature follicles. IUI was 12 and 36 hours post trigger. Also negative beta. The cycle after that I hyperstimulated and the cycle was cancelled. I did 6 days of menopur on 2.5 vials, and 2 nights on a single vial and my e2 levels went from 700 to 1861 in only 36 hours, something that was very unexpected for all of us. My body just over responded, and it would have been too risky to do an IUI (higher order multiples were extremely likely). Dr. Baker put me on birth control to calm everything down before moving on to the next IUI cycle. For our next cycle we plan to try to find the happy medium medication-wise between the cancelled cycle and the cycle preceding it. This will be my 7th and hopefully last IUI.

The staff have been great. An occasional nurse here or there lacks the same “gentle” hand that Dr. Baker has. But overall I don’t have any complaints thus far.

I haven’t been with the clinic long enough to establish a good opinion of their strengths and weaknesses unfortunately. I followed Dr. Baker over from Kaiser Permanente Infertility clinic as Kaiser doesn’t do IVF (only IUI) and we are moving on to IVF.

I haven’t started the cycle yet. But I was quoted $15,200 for everything except meds. This quote includes 100% icsi and pgs testing, all lab fees, physician fees, freezing, etc..

Dr. Baker plans to transfer only a single pgs tested frozen embryo if I move on to IVF. This is due to my age and the fact that I don’t really want multiples.

Extremely caring and honest. Dr. Baker was and has been very upfront with us about the odds and the risks of what we are trying for. She has been kind and patient with us, especially given our lack of knowledge on the subject of infertility. She has treated us like people and has always taken care to make sure we felt like the most important people on her caseload.

Bring questions when you meet with her. She will answer them all, and will do so in a very honest manner.

My wife and I felt like she was genuinely pulling for us to get pregnant. She went out of her way to inform us and follow up with us, even after the most "basic" treatment or consultation. We could (and can) tell how genuine a person she is.

I honestly don't remember the details. It's a difficult thing for me to have to go through - especially knowing the slim chances of it working - and anticipating the disappointment. I mostly listen and let my wife be the expert.

Like Dr. Baker, the nursing staff was incredible. I know that places like Kaiser have a bad reputation because of how large they are, but honestly, my wife and I never felt like we were being treated like numbers even by the nursing staff. We always felt cared for and we always felt like we were the most important people in the hospital.

Kaiser is thorough, efficient, and flexible in their hours.

At first, before we took on double coverage, we were paying about $145 per visit, and over $800-1000 for medication. Once we added double coverage, our IUI treatments we basically fully covered.

I completely back her approach (multiple). She understands my wife's situation and has recommended we be as aggressive as possible.

She is thorough and talks to me like a smart human being. She will draw diagrams and pull up our data to help us interpret it.

Dr. Baker is great. I wish all my interactions were just with her. Unfortunately, it's mostly with RNs. She's only available for consults or irregular procedures.

She was very thorough in explaining treatment and very warm. Her receptionist, Alma, was not. Most of my anxiety/negative experiences are with the receptionist, who does not smile, does not explain things clearly, and makes me feel like a number, not a human.

All the tests came out fine, so the plan was to start with Clomid. Clomid only lasted for 2 months because it only yielded 1 and then 2 good-sized follicles, respectively. Then we moved onto injectables (Menopur). I got a good response 3-4 follicles. For this next cycle, she'll increase the dosage of Menopur.

it's frustrating to see a different nurse each time. Some did a good job of explaining the ultrasound every time (whether we're looking at the uterus, how many follicles there are, etc). Others, I had to ask things like the size of the follicles. I wish they would share that information in the after-visit summary. Instead, I have to take out my phone to take notes during visits.

This is at Kaiser, so you have to have Kaiser insurance. Dr. Baker also works at USC. Strengths: - Dr. Baker is wonderful. Weakness: - I rarely see my doctor; the NPs are the ones who do ultrasounds and prescribe meds - No consistent NP. - wish the after visit summary would include more data (number & size of follicles) - Receptionist, though efficient, is not pleasant. - Payment, though transparent, is obtuse. When you visit, you pay for the time AND the ultrasound. It should just be combined in 1. - Sometimes payment is required before services are rendered (lab tests, pregnancy test) whereas others are after.

I have 50% insurance coverage, which covers most things except for IVF. The annoying this is even if you just go for an ultrasound, the charge you for their time (15 mins). ultrasound (including time)- 119 blood estradiol test - 24.5 suppositories (projesterone)-102.73 ovidrel Shot- 61 needles and shit- 2.33 10 Menopur shots- 322.5 IUI- 69 Sperm wash - 12.5 10 min visit - 50 Preg test - 13.5

Dr Baker reviewed my many years of medical records, she adjusted my course of treatment each cycle and she did a saline ultrasound after my miscarriage which led to a procedure to remove something she found that I think helped me avoid another miscarriage.

Take notes and be sure to be clear about your course of treatment so you can follow and ask all your questions.

They knew who I was and remembered me.

1. Clomid and a trigger shot (ovidrel). First cycle and I had Pcos and my husband tested mostly in the normal range - so the focus was on developing fully grown eggs and releasing them. Pregnancy then miscarriage at 6 weeks. 2. Clomid and no response and holidays prevented shots. No trigger because I didn't respond to the clomid. 3. Letrozole + menopur shots + ovidrel trigger. Because I didn't respond to clomid. Negative pregnancy test. 4. Letrozole + shots + trigger + IUI because timed intercourse was not successful. Negative pregnancy test. 5 and 6. Same as 4 but with adjustment to the shots 7. Similar protocol to 4 but adjusted shots and amounts. Live birth - single

They were very nice and Dr Baker's primary nurse remembered me and how we were doing. They were all so happy when we graduated. The nurse that called with certain test results once told me to increase my medication which was not what Dr Baker had said so I pushed back and the nurse went back to Dr Baker and then called me back to confirm the orignal plan.

It was very busy and almost always full. Especially on days for IUI. The waits could run very long and once my pregnancy blood test was not called in stat. I have nothing more to add but this requires 200 characters.

The costs were covered by insurance except for a $10 co-pay each visit

She was very friendly and did most of my procedures. for monitoring appointments I mostly saw nurses but they would refer to her about adjustments in medicines if needed. also, she was able to get me the meds I needed through my insurance when they didn't want to cover a specific medicine but that was the only one I responded to so she knew it was worth getting for me.

be patient because it can take a bit of time to start treatment. I was hoping to start treatment within the first month of seeing Dr. Baker but she wanted to get my body ready for doing a treatment cycle so I didn't start meds until 7-8 months after my consultation with her. Again, that was also partly due to the way Kaiser works and it took a bit of time to get surgery booked.

She was very proactive to get me the surgeries needed to correct my uterine abnormalities so I would be able to carry a baby to term. The only downside was that when I emailed her, her nurse or a nurse in the office would get back to me which I think was more of Kaisers policy rather than her just not returning my message.

we did clomid 150 mg with trigger and timed intercourse, clomid 150 mg with trigger and IUI, menopur 75 IU with trigger and IUI, follistim 75 IU with trigger and IUI, Gonal F 100 IU with trigger and IUI, follistim 75 IU and femara with trigger and timed intercourse.

they we're good and always answered my questions and got back with me quickly after they got my blood test results.

because it's kaiser, it's in a building with other offices...more specifically the OBGYN offices which stinks seeing pregnant women or newborns while TTCing. the good thing though is that the clinic, laboratory and pharmacy are all in the same building. downside is that the clinic is open M-F but only open half day on Saturdays. also, I believe the lab and pharmacy are closed on Saturday but there's a lab and pharmacy in a nearby building for Saturday's. a little inconvienent but still doable.

because my insurance was through kaiser, I had a reduced rate than if I went through a private clinic and had to pay out of pocket.

IVF was not an option at my clinic =(