Meredith Brower

Fertility is a highly sensitive and exhaustive journey and as a medical professional myself, it was important for me to find a provider who is not only knowledgable but an expert in her field and up to date on the most recent research. I found this in Dr. Brower and trusted her completely throughout our journey. On top of being highly competent and professional, Dr. Brower has a genuinely kind demeanor and is very compassionate and empathetic. She is organized with a high attention to detail and writes down notes and lists for you. Logistically, she and her staff are also also very accessible and accommodating with scheduling, thereby decreasing any potential additional stress about missing work with the many ultrasounds and blood draws needed with fertility treatments. Overall, she made a sensitive and exhaustive journey less stressful. It can be hard to find someone who is great at what they do and have amazing bedside manner, but you absolutely get that with Dr. Brower.

don't look elsewhere

IVF: Gonal F 300U, Menopur 2 vials, Cetrotide 0.25mg, Ovidrel x1 Omnitrope 33u - only used in the second IVG cycle for egg quality.

After reviewing risks of multiple embryo transfer and multiple gestation thoroughly with Dr. Brower, we elected for single embryo transfer only.

I could not have had a better experience. Dr. Brower was honest and open throughout my egg freezing experience. She outlined all the possible outcomes, pros, cons, what I should expect and also admitted that they -- the fertility treatment community -- don't have all the answers yet because things in the field are always evolving. I love that honesty! She also has wonderful bedside manner, I feel like she cared a lot about me as a person, in addition to having an investment in a successful outcome from my treatment.

I cannot recommend her enough -- you will feel safe, secure, informed and respected.

Oh wow, I'm admittedly not great with nitty gritty details but I'll do my best. I went through basic(?) treatment for egg retrieval. 11 days of shots/injections and then my retrieval -- or "harvest" as I like to call it -- was on day 13. I'm one of the lucky ones who responded really well to all stages of the process and had lots of healthy, growing follicles. So much so that my trigger shot was reduced at the end because Dr. Brower worried I'd be overstimulated.

So far, I've only spent about $3,000 out of pocket for medications. Waiting for my final bills BUT I was/am very lucky to have coverage via Progyny. A miracle of a company that works with my company's insurance to help cover fertility and family planning treatments. Progyny is a godsend and half the reason I was able to go through with my egg freezing this year.

N/A for me on this. I just did egg freezing.

In addition to my prior feedback, I feel that I could not asked for a better fertility doctor than Dr. Brower. Her bedside manner and her relationship to her patients is unparalleled and so well-suited to helping women/couples during this difficult time in life.

Without hesitation, go see Dr. Brower!

I do not remember the specifics of the treatment strategies, but at the time, she explained everything in depth and provided explanations for why we were doing a certain protocol and how it would change if we were to do another retrieval cycle.

I was fortunate to have insurance coverage, so my costs were around $6000 out of pocket in co-pays, deductibles, prescriptions, and out of network surgical facility fees

We definitely discussed the number of frozen embryos to transfer and given my age and the likelihood of success, she strongly recommended starting with one.

Dr. Brower is a rockstar. We came to her so desperate, confused, and with multiple issues. She instantly became our North star. She was so wonderful at explaining the process and such an expert while guiding us through it. I felt safe and in skilled hands the entire time. IVF is a strange and lonely experience and what I appreciate most about Dr. Brower is that through her approach -- she made me feel brave.

Don't be afraid to reach out. She is communicative and compassionate and will answer any question you have, no matter how silly you think it might be.

Antagonist protocol with HGH.

I can't remember.

Dr. Brower's approach was always realistic and rooted in the best outcome for my health. I really appreciate the single embryo transfer approach.

Dr. Brower is one of the best doctors I have ever seen. I cried the day she graduated me to my regular OB. She was always understanding and sympathetic to our needs and wants. At the same time she provided her expertise and experience in a way that gave us the opportunity to make the best decisions for our situation. She is simply the BEST!

Trust her and trust the process. She knows what she's doing!

On day 1 Dr. Brower outlined the different stages and steps to fertility treatments. She went over the pros and cons of each treatment based on our situation (a previous ectopic pregnancy requiring removal of right Fallopian tube). She gave us the option of starting with more conservative treatments, which we did, and gave us full decision making authority to decide when we wanted to move on to the next stage of treatments. Although she let my husband and I decide how quickly we wanted to go to IVF, she provided her recommendations and insight along the way which was just what we needed to make smart, informed decisions. The balance between letting us decide for ourselves and guiding us in the right directions was perfect!

Our insurance covered most of the treatments. I generally paid a $40 co-pay per visit

Based on my medical history and the reasons behind our infertility treatments, Dr. Brower felt that a single embryo transfer would likely be successful and we would get pregnant without the need for multiple embryo transfers. She was right!

Dr. Brower is so warm and kind. She took the time to know my husband and I, our life circumstances, work and our personalities. I made mistakes with my medications (just 2) and she made me feel like it wasn't the end of the world and had adjustments for me to make. Despite all of that I had a successful transfer and so far 1st trimester.

Know that she's got you! Allow her to do the worrying for you. Relax and trust that she is excellent at what she does. The process is already stressful with cost and fear of the unknown. If you can do this, your experience will be as good as it can get given the circumstance. Try not to think to far into the future and focus on what's happening right now, get past that and then onto the next hurdle.

I don't remember the specifics, I tried to just do what she recommended. Trying to get the dosage and timing right of the drug administration. I don't recall anything being out of the ordinary from a protcol standpoint. I did messing up the estrogen patch and orally taking a vaginal medication. OMG! :) but I'm pregnant

The costs for us were out of pocket. Approx $7500 for the drugs to facilitate egg production, $1000 for egg retrival and $2500 for embryo transfer. Approx $200 weekly ultrasound visits. Plus medication for post embryo transfer approx $1000.

We did 3 IVF cycles with Dr. Brower at UCLA Santa Monica. She started the 3rd cycle and setup the protocol, and left for maternity leave during the cycle. Dr. Rodi did the egg retrieval on the 3rd cycle. We were initially referred to Dr. Brower by my husbands urologist, and they communicated with each other during the process. We did a few tests in the beginning, such as a genetics test, blood work, urine analysis, and tested my husbands sperm motility. That was it, and we began stimulation. Each time we tried a different injection recipe with similar results. We were told there was no way to test the quality of the sperm and eggs. We both have physical complications and a little more testing would have been beneficial. Instead, we were given donor options. Dr. Brower has since transferred to a new facility, and we have chosen to seek a new doctor. The new doctor performed some critical tests, that Dr. Brower did not do or recommend. These tests would have saved us a lot of trouble and money from doing the 3 unsuccessful cycles.

If you run into some complications, it doesn't hurt to get a second opinion. That goes with any medical procedure from any doctor. She is very knowledgable, but there could be something she is missing. It happens to everyone.

Cycle 1 (max dosage): Birth Control 16 days, Androgel 12 days, Androderm 5 days, Gonal F 300 u 11 days, Menopur 11 days, Cetrotide 4 days, and Ovidrel trigger. Cycle 2 (max dosage):: Androgel 18 days, Lupron 21 days, Gonal F 300 u 10 days, Menopur 10 days, and Ovidrel trigger. Cycle 3 (lower dosage): Birth Control 16 days, Menopur 11 days, Omnitrope 8 days, Cetrotide 4 days, and Ovidrel trigger.

My insurance did not cover IVF so, it was all out-of-pocket.

We only had 1 so, there was never an option.

I was referred to Dr. Brower by my ob/gyn after the loss of our first pregnancy. I consulted with her as we were coming up on six months (over the age of 35) without a successful pregnancy. My husband and I met with her after we got my initial blood work back. She was sympathetic about our loss, presented different treatment options, and was appropriately candid about the less than rosy statistics for them. We decided to proceed with IVF as it offered our best chance of success and we liked the prospect of being able to test to reduce the risk of another loss. I began priming and OCP suppression later that month. When our first retrieval cycle did not go well (objective was to get something to test), she gave us the option to repeat the same protocol or to try a different one for our second cycle. I found Dr. Brower to be appropriately communicative, candid, and caring.

Maybe not specific to Dr. Brower, but it's important to understand that infertility is a very frustrating branch of medicine that does not offer the same quality of data that others do. There are still a lot of unknowns and every patient is different.

My first cycle with Dr. Brower was antagonist - I testosterone primed with Androgel for 34 days and stimmed with 300 Gonal-F, 150 Menopur, and hgh for nine days (adding Cetrotide days 7-9), triggering with a single dose of Ovidrel on the 10th day. We retrieved 12 eggs, of which only 7 were mature and ICSI'd, of which only three fertilized. One became a morula, but the other two did not make it that far. We had no blastocysts to test and freeze as was our goal. Because that went poorly, we wanted to try a different protocol to see how that would go. The cycle after the first egg retrieval, I started OCP on CD3 preparing for another antagonist protocol. I testosterone primed with Androgel for 24 days (stopping 2-3 days before beginning stims as I ran out because it had been ordered before changing to the luteal lupron plan). We had subsequently decided on a luteal lupron protocol (without OCP), but I needed to remain on the OCP for about a week for hysteroscopy visibility. After that I had to monitor for ovulation with OPKs to ensure ovulation before starting lupron suppression (10u once daily) on CD20 for 13 days. I began stimming this time with 450 Gonal-F, hgh, and reducing the lupron to 5u for days 1-4. Beginning day 5, I reduced the Gonal-F to 300 and added 150 Menopur along with the hgh and lupron through day 10. I triggered on day 11 with a single dose of Ovidrel. We decided to try half IVF and half ICSI since all ICSI didn't work out well for us last time - we admit the human element with ICSI scares us a little bit and like the idea of some natural selection. We retrieved 10 eggs, of which 8 fertilized (5/5 IVF, 3/5 ICSI), and are currently waiting to see how they fare.

I had insurance coverage for my two IVF cycles with her. The office uses another fertility center or one of the university surgical centers for its surgeries, so bills came separately from different departments at UCLA (physician billing is different from hospital billing) or from the third party fertility center directly. Genetic testing (of me, not embryos) was also billed separately.

Dr. Brower made clear that multiples basically increase the risk of everything that can go wrong. We would probably only transfer more than one if untested.

Dr. Brower is an amazing doctor with an incredible bedside manner. I unfortunately needed the assistance of a doctor to conceive, but my husband and I were lucky enough to have Dr. Brower on our side. IVF can be an emotional and time consuming process, nevermind the financial implications if insurance doesn't cover it. However, with Dr. Brower you feel like you have another person besides your spouse and/or any family and friends to turn to. Too often you hear a doctor say he/she understands what is happening to your body or knows what you're going through and they really don't. But this is not the case with Dr. Brower. During every single little step in the process she was there. She is incredibly prompt and detailed in her response to any and all questions - day or night AND on the weekends. She is up to date on her research and studies and is willing to work with you to make your protocol personal and what you specifically need. She helps you find financial assistance, if needed. In addition to Dr. Bower, you get her wonderful team - Teri, IVF Coordinator, who knows where to get the protocol meds cheapest and gives a great injection tutorial, and Jessica, nurse, who is an incredible joy to be around even at 7:30am and can draw blood at first poke even with the tiny veins I have! It is a true blessing to graduate from Dr. Brower's care to the care of a regular OB for the remainder of your pregnancy, but trust me when I say this (as you'll be thinking/saying the same thing) - you'll wish she delivered babies too! I did not want to leaver her office at my last appointment. She invited my husband and I into her office to see if we have any final questions - I always have questions (which she is beyond happy to answer) - and I couldn't muster one, not even to stay longer. I will miss her care immensely, but am excited to work with her again in the future when we want to conceive again.

You made a great choice! Dr. Brower is patient, empathetic, sympathetic, and always available. Even if results aren't always great, you'll know that you have a support system always available.

I am not infertile, but went through fertility treatment because I have a chromosomal dominant disease that I did not want my child(ren) to have so my protocol may be different. I started off on birth control and the reason for this is to regulate your cycle, calm your ovaries, and so your doctor knows when you are most likely to ovulate. I had ten days of ovarian stimulation which included Gonal-F and Menopur and the final four days included Cetrotide so I wouldn't ovulate. I have a Lupron based trigger shot, which is great if you're a candidate for it as it helps combat the likelihood/side effects of OHSS. Post-retrieval for seven days I took Cabergoline which continues to combat the likelihood/side effects of OHSS. After starting my period, post-retrieval, I started birth control again (I wanted to do the transfer as soon as possible) so that my doctor would know when I would ovulate. I stopped birth control pills about 10-12 days in and got another period and then started a protocol of Estrogen by transdermal patches on my abdomen, which helps produce a thick uterine lining making it more likely that your embryo transfer will produce a pregnancy (thick lining=easier implantation of embryo). The Estrogen also stops ovulation. The five days leading up to the embryo transfer I started Progesterone. Dr. Brower provided a protocol of two Endometrin suppositories and a 1ml evening injection of Progesterone. She allows for Progesterone to be administered in one of three ways: three Endometrin suppositories; two Endometrin suppositories and a 1ml evening injection of Progesterone; or a 2ml evening injection of Progesterone. I started on the original protocol, but found that the injection was a breeze and the suppositories were frankly quite messy that about two days into this (three days prior to transfer) I switched over to the last option - a 2ml evening injection of Progesterone. Big plus is the progesterone by injection is MUCH less expensive than the Endometrin. The Estrogen transdermal patches and Progesterone (whichever protocol you choose) is done until you reach 12 weeks of pregnancy.

0% of IVF and related expenses are covered by my insurance so it was fully out-of-pocket. One cycle of IVF cost about $3,000 and one transfer cycle monitoring cost about $2,000 - these are both paid directly to the doctor's office at the end of the cycle

Dr. Brower is careful to be cautiously optimistic. She was very clear about my chances of getting pregnant and didn't sugar coat anything. Also, her encouragement helped my spouse and I focus on the next step and kept us from drowning in the big picture. The big picture can be very overwhelming. Dr. Brower is very thorough in her explanations and she took the time to answer all of our questions. I never felt rushed which is important because this kind of treatment is very emotional. She is very compassionate and I feel that she is very invested in the success of her patients. UCLA has a great online system where you can email the doctor, see test results, upcoming appointments, etc. Dr. Brower always answered my emails within 24 hours and often within 6 hours. I never had an inquiry go unanswered Against pretty big odds, I am happy to say that I am 12 weeks pregnant today.

I think this could be advice to anyone. Take really good notes, so when you are in an appointment you can give accurate answers about yourself and you ask every question that's on your mind.

I pursued 2 cycles of IVF. The first protocol: I prepped with bcp then I administered Gonal F, Menopur and Omnitrope. I had a poor response possibly due to the bcp over-suppressing the ovaries. For the second protocol: I prepped with testosterone gel and clomid (and an estrogen patch? I can't remember). I administered Gonal F, Menopur and Omnitrope then triggered with Ovidrel. We discussed doing something different if we needed to try another cycle, but I didn't have to!

UCLA offers a package for IVF. If your treatment is cancelled, they break down the appointments and bill the appointments individually. Dr. Brower is knowledgable about billing and insurance and was able to explain the cost with me along the way. She identified cost savings when possible. For example, I was scheduled for a polyp removal procedure. I found out I was pregnant and Dr. Brower recognized that it was ectopic. While I was in surgery for the ectopic, she removed my polyp at the same time. This saved me from a separate procedure, a lot of extra expenses and more heartache. I also qualified for a great discount for fertility medication through Compassionate Care. There was a time that I miscounted my meds and Dr. Brower was able to pull from the office supply (donations from previous patients) to cover me until I could get to the pharmacy the next day. She met me after hours and I was so grateful. The IVF coordinator, Teresa Abraham, is very good about calculating how much medication is needed, so you don't have to buy more than you need. Not a drop of my Gonal F was wasted because she was able to extract more out of the used pens to make another dose. This is a big deal considering the cost of the injection pens.

Excellent level of care. Always looking for the best options and open to answering any and all questions throughly. She is empathetic during setbacks but remains focused on working with you to find the best treatment possible to help you conceive a baby.

Ask questions and fully understand your treatment.

Antagonist protocol with Menopur, Gonal-F, and omitrope. Ovidrel trigger. She retrieved 20 eggs, but the synchronicity of maturity was off and only 9 were mature. Six fertilized, but all had arrested by Day 6. We are planning a new cycle with a different protocol to work on synchronicity and to also focus on DNA fragmentation.

Out of pocket cost for the cycle was $9500 plus the cost of medication. The retrieval procedure had some additional costs for a test and for the anesthesiologist. PGS testing for up to 8 embryos is $4500.

Dr. Brower's bedside manner is matched only by her expertise. She was so knowledgeable about every aspect of the IVF process, and took the time to break down each step in a manageable way. We had some scares early on in the pregnancy, and Dr. Brower was incredibly responsive, and regularly checked in. That Dr. Brower went through IVF is so comforting - when she makes a recommendation, you know that she understands all the context, and what you're going through. We are so glad we found Dr. Brower.

To relax - you are in great hands.

We had insurance, so I really am not sure.

Dr. Brower strongly recommended a single embryo transfer, given my age, because of the risks of multiples in a pregnancy.

I honestly couldn't recommend Dr. Brower more to anyone seeking fertility treatments. She's a brilliant, caring and kind doctor. After seeing another RE in the area, I thought all fertility doctors were similar (short, cold, felt like a number). I was so wrong. She treats her patients with respect and is thorough about all the procedures. Plus, I know now it's very rare to see your RE at nearly every appointment. But I did with Dr. Brower. She's truly the best.

Run to see her.

Dr. Meredith Brower is one of the kindest and capable healthcare professionals I have had the pleasure of working with. She is very knowledgeable while being able to explain things in a way that is easy to understand. She is nurturing, and it's so obvious how much she cares for each of her patients. We feel so fortunate that we found her!

Be honest with yourself and with your doctor about what you hope to achieve. Dr. Brower is there for you and will do everything she can to help you reach your goal, whatever that may be.

She is extremely personable and extremely meticulous and detailed in her explanations of the challenges, process and a plan for the what ifs. She has excellent bedside manner and can put an anxious patient like myself at ease even during these challenging times.

To always stay positive and to not be afraid to ask questions or for information to be repeated since Dr. Brower is so good at explaining.