Natalie A. Cekleniak

Dr. Cekleniak was extremely warm and compassionate. She took the time to explain everything to me, and was happy to answer every question and repeat it for me. She was honest and I felt looked out for my best interest. One time when I asked for her to call me, she called back within 20 minutes. When we needed time to make a decision, she let us have it and did not pressure us on what to do- she only gave us her recommendation. I did not see her often during monitoring, but she assured me that she was the one reviewing my charts every day.

If you are looking with good bedside manner who is kind, warm and compassionate- she is the right choice for you.

The clinic is extremely large, and when you go for monitoring so often, you feel like a number. But as you start to go more often, the doctors (and staff) become more familiar with you and start to know your name or specifics on your body/case.

We tried three medicated IUIs at first, with increasing dosage of Gonal F. We then moved on to an IVF cycle with the maximum dose (300) of Gonal F with cetrotide. Unfortunately, I only created 2 follicles. So the next time, we moved on to Gonal F with microdose lupron twice a day and that resulted in 10 follicles, with 7 eggs retrieved, 5 of which were mature.

Almost all of the time they responded to me quickly and took the time to give me all of the answers I needed. The only time I was frustrated was after my retrieval, I didn't hear from them for 2 days.

For the most part, they are fast- but when it gets really crowded- you might wait for a long time. In the course of 6 months, there were 3 mornings where I had to wait over an hour because the doctor was late.

It depends on the day. Most days it was a well oiled machine and I was able to get out quickly. There were at least three times within 6 months where the dr was so late, I was there for over an hour and a half.

IVF is $12,000 at this clinic

No comments

She is honest and didn't judge me or decide on a treatment based on what categories (age, weight, etc.) I fit into. She doesn't see infertility as a box that we must fit in, rather as an individual who needs individual attention. She calls personally when there is an update good or bad and returns every phone call herself (and quickly!) she is truly vested in my success, health and happiness.

Be in honest about every experience you had before, every fear, concern, worry, etc. Let her see the real you and she will treat you for you. Leave any baggage from previous experiences at the door!

I began my journey with Dr. Cykleniak in February and are about to begin our first IVF cycle in a few weeks. She is AMAZING. I had a horrible experience at a different clinic and was skeptical about trying a new doctor but we hit it off from the first moment. She is warm, sensitive, humble and interested in getting to know me. She listened and understood my concerns and spoke to me person to person. I have never been so positive or excited about my fertility issues as I am now...and it is all because she sees me as a person, not a statistic, not a file, me.

I am 39 and after years of not conceiving and PCOS/Insulin resistance, she recommended IVF. She ran every diagnostic test beforehand to make sure her data was up to date which in turn discovered a new male fertility issue in my husband. She sent him to a Urologist and assured us that with ICSI we will still be able to move forward, just perhaps a month late.

They are all warm and wonderful extensions of my team! They make every call, every appointment easy and as stress free as possible.

All female- truly understand my experience and offer a safe and nurturing environment. Convenient- part of Saint Barnabas Hospital making it easy to connect with all my doctors. Unique approach- each patient is viewed and treated individually. There is no one size fits all.

Everything is covered by my insurance except embryo genetic testing! AMAZING!

We haven't gotten that far yet but during our initial conversation it was brought up with regards to quality of embryos and our desire to have twins vs. wait based on my age.

Dr Ceklieniak is lovely and very knowledgeable, however the clinic takes on too many patients, to the point that you feel as though you are just a number (or co-pay). I did not receive the level of support that I needed during these cycles and was often confused about the next steps and what the results were stating. I spoke with a different doctor each time and sometimes the information conflicted each other. I needed someone to help me to understand exactly what was occurring each step of the way and this was unfortunately missing. Some women may not require the same level as support as I did, but

Determine how much support and information you need from your doctor and make sure that you are receiving that every step of the way.

IRMS in Livingston takes on many patients, when visiting them each morning for monitoring you will be seated with 20-30 women at any one time, who are also called through for U/S and BW. Each time you go you will see a different doctor depending on who is on roster for that day. In the beginning of the treatment you are provided a dedicated RE, nurse, coordinator and financial officer. However, I only saw my doctor at the beginning of the cycle and at the very end (when things did not turn out as expected). Many times I called my nurse and she was out of the office and other nurses would call back. During my second cycle I specifically asked for my support, more information on what was going on and how the results were looking. I was told to call/email any time, however these calls/emails were always transferred on to another doctor to manage. I did not speak with my doctor through the cycles and this made it very frustrating trying to attempt to understand all that was occurring.

I completed two cycles of IVF before I was told that I was DOR, which I actually asked rather than being provided with the information. I was on the max dosage of ivf injectables and did not generate many eggs, the first cycle resulted in 4 eggs and the second 7. Neither cycle resulted in strong development of the embryo and I was unable to complete a transfer either time.

Nurse Anne was my designated nurse and was very knowledgeable, however was out of the office quite often which meant that I had to rely on other nurses, in which I did not have a relationship and sometimes the information was conflicting.

The clinic has a good reputation and is part of St Barnabas, which is a highly recommended hospital in the area. All doctors are extremely knowledgeable, however I felt as though they took on too many clients and as such, are unable to provide the level of support and one-on-one attention needed during such a stressful time in a women's life.

Dr Cekleniak is kind, patient, and sympathetic. She has all the time in the world for questions and concerns and responds to emails almost immediately. She also does her best to make the cycle work- for instance, I wasn’t going to be available the day that I was supposed to do IUI. Dr Cekleniak worked with me to come up with a plan that would enable me to do an IUI the day before and the day after, to cover my bases. Also, I was constantly frustrated by my diagnosis of unexplained infertility so I sought a second opinion who suggested a laparoscopy given that I previously had a D&C. I brought this suggestion to Dr Cekleniak who didn’t think it was necessary but at my insistent, did it anyway (she was right-it found nothing but gave me peace of mind). As I was going under, she held my hand and was sweet and caring the entire time. She was always positive and optimistic, and honest. She always understood my fears/hesitance to IVF and didn’t pressure me. She was always available via email, although getting an appointment face to face could sometimes be tricky when you’re working full time. I absolutely love Dr Cekleniak, and all of the doctors at IRMS. I saw many of them for monitoring and IUI and each one was helpful and caring.

The financial staff (Nadine) and registration staff (Pam) were also always helpful. There are just 2 things that I wish would improve but Ive heard this a lot about many fertility clinics. Firstly, at my first consult with Dr Cekleniak, I was overwhelmed because I had no idea what to expect and they were already talking abtou IVF. I didn’t even have blood work done yet. I was expecting her to prescribe clomid, not talk about IUI and if it doesn’t work, move to IVF. I would suggest reading up on infertility etc prior to the consult so patients aren’t overwhelmed and scared. Secondly, I had no idea what to expect and wasn’t really given much information along the way. No one sat me down and said this is the plan. Id go in for monitoring the first time, and they said “ok take this injection and come back in 2 days”. I had no idea what they were monitoring, how, how long this would go on for, or what would happen next. There was no education or information about the process. I didn’t find the nurses to be available or helpful either. I wish someone sat me down and told me about the process of IUI. They make you watch a tutorial about the injections but it doesn’t help with the “what to expect” process which would’ve helped ease anxiety. I definitely would recommend IRMS to others but wish the nurses were more helpful and provided information/education in the beginning phase.

Dr. Cekleniak is one of the most caring people I have ever met. She honestly took the time to listen to everything my husband and I were feeling. She explained every step of the process and made sure we felt comfortable with the plan of action. Anytime we had a question she answered it and made sure that understood what was going on.

She is very nurturing and care. If you are looking for an aggressive doctor who only has to be goal, she isn’t for you. She takes care of you as a whole person, emotionally and physically.

The staff always addresses me by name and knew where I was in the cycle. When I had a negative pregnancy test the nurse was so supportive on the phone and always offered to have Dr. Cekleniak call me if I had any questions.

I did 3 Clomid IUI cycles (per my insurance); 3 Follistim IUI cycles; then got pregnant on my first IVF cycle. I used Follistim and Menopur.

I was not a fan of my nurse. I felt kind of lost in the shuffle. I actually changed offices and began to go to the Livingston location to get a different nurse.

I wish that they opened earlier. Otherwise they were great. The staff was always friendly and everything was clean. I thought the fact that they have multiple offices was great, so depending on work it was very easy to change offices.

I had really good insurance so I had a $10 co pay for MD visits and morning monitoring. Co pay for the medications.

Not applicable to my experience.

She is very empathetic and even when she delivers hard news, she doesn't shrink away from it.

Stick it out. Her staff is horrible, but she herself is great.

Dr C took time to listen and acknowledged my human need.

Still going thru.

A bit flippant and cold.

Office is a little "exposed" so if you're trying to be discrete you may have some difficulty.