Rafael Cabrera

It took a few visits for Dr. Cabrera to "warm up", but through the stim process I realized how invested he was in our success. He is a man of few words, unless you engage and ask questions. If you speak up he is more than willing to spend the time explaining.

Engage him and he will respond!

My protocol first called for 225 units of Gonal-F and 20 units of hCG daily. Through the course of stims we lowered the Gonal-F to 175 units and ultimately raised it again to 250 units. Dr. Cabrera closely monitored my US's and bloodwork and made adjustments as necessary. Ovidrel was used as my trigger shot. I was on 12 days of stims, triggered on day 13 and retrieval took place on day 15.

We paid $8995 for our first IVF cycle, that did not include the trial transfer ($300), anesthesia ($300) for the egg retrieval or the first round of medications ($4500). In total we paid $14,095. Since we weren't able to do a fresh transfer we have to pay $1000 for the FET conversion and $500 for additional medications. In total we will have spent $15,595. This includes one year of storage fees for our frozen embryos. We did not do PGS/PGD testing.

Brown Fertility highly recommends single embryo transfer, especially for a fresh transfer and anyone 30 or younger. They do allow two embryo transfers during a FET or patients over 35.

Dr. Cabrera is very good and professional I wished all clinic would change my meds according to how I respond each cycle instead of keep using same meds. He does all the Ultrasound and all visit except egg retrieval or transfer. Depend on who’s on call that time. I wished he would do all my retrieval and transfer since he know me when I visit for blood works and ultrasound

I wished he would explained what he saw on ultrasound and how big my follicles or how many I have

My protocol is Gonal F and Hcg with centrotide for all cycles Not sure what’s the rationale but HCg help my egg to mature

I get all my time I request. Scheduling is good

Retrieval cost about $11000 and medicines is about $4000-8000

Dr. Cabrera was kind and warm, but the consummate professional. He was straightforward, didn't sugarcoat anything, but always positive and encouraging. He is incredibly knowledgeable, and always knew how to convey the knowledge in a way that we understood what was going on.

Ask a lot of questions and take your time when you're in the office. There are no silly questions.

May 2017 - initial consultation with Dr. Cabrera to discuss health history, and what Brown Fertility does. They briefly reviewed the IVF process. June 2017 - Blood test done to ascertain AMH and other various levels. HSG done to investigate the condition of my tubes and uterus (blockages and such). My husband also underwent blood testing as well as a semen sample. My right tube was found to be almost completely blocked (I did not have a left tube at that point, as a result of a left salpingectomy), and my right ovary was scarred to my uterus. My endometriosis was determined to be a level 4 throughout. The inside of my uterus looked clean and clear, however. My husband was the epitome of child-bearing health. Due to the severity of my endometriosis, I was determined not to be a candidate for IUI, but the perfect candidate for IVF. My AMH was incredibly high, so that couple with my husband's stellar sperm, Dr. Cabrera anticipated a successful oocyst retrieval and hopefully a number of healthy embryos as a result. July 2017 - we took the month off to relax and let my body rest before starting the IVF process. August 2017 - Took birth control and baby aspirin for two weeks in order to regulate my cycle and shut down my reproductive system. A trial transfer was performed to ensure there would be no surprises during the actual transfer. Everything went smoothly. September 2017 - I started initial injections on September 2, and continued through September 9. Meds varied, but typical day looked like this: Gonal-F (150 units) // Lo Dose hCG (20 units) // Cetrotide // Aspirin 81 mg. I did one trigger shot of Ovidrel on September 10, in preparation for our September 12 retrieval. I was directed to take doxycycline from September 11-16, for prevention against risk of bacterial infections. Cabergoline was prescribed for September 12-19, to reduce incidence of OHSS. Oocyte retrieval went smoothly, with a total of 23 eggs retrieved. With that many eggs, however, I was diagnosed with OHSS, so we ended up doing a freeze all cycle. Our eggs were fertilized using ICSI, and we ended up with 13, day 5 blastocysts. October 2017 - Once my body recovered from OHSS, I resumed birth control and baby aspirin, in order to continue regulating and normalizing my menstrual cycle. Once I completed two weeks of birth control, and my reproductive system was quiet and under control, we began preparations for our November frozen embryo transfer. I took a pregnancy test on October 14, as a precaution prior to beginning next phase of meds. Upon negative result, we added Leuprolide (Lupron) 10 units daily. Birth control discontinued on October 20, Lupron continued at 10 units. Baseline ultrasound conducted to ensure no reproductive activity was occurring. When that was confirmed, Estradiol was added to daily regimen - twice daily, increasing over time until November 9. November 9, Lupron was discontinued, and progesterone added. November 16, we transferred two little embryos. Estradiol continued until mid-December. A two-week blood pregnancy test was done on November 27, and came back POSITIVE! A second round of bloodwork was done to confirm increasing HCG, and was positive. Progesterone continued until 10 weeks. July 23, 2018 - At 38 weeks and 2 days, we gave birth via c-section to fraternal boy/girl twins. Both were healthy, and required no NICU stay. They are 21 months old as of today!

Our IVF cycle included all visits required to prepare, HSG, all necessary baseline ultrasounds, oocyte retrieval and frozen embryo transfer, and cost approximately $10,370 (not including medications).

Our doctor initially recommended transferring one embryo, because of my age and the intention of doing a fresh cycle. Upon deciding to do frozen transfer, they suggested two embryos to increase our chances. We were adequately educated on the chances, risks, and possible outcomes of transferring one or two.

Doctor Cabrera performed a polypectomy on me and I am currently undergoing treatment with a medicated cycle. We are still early in our treatment but Doctor Cabrera is thoughtful and kind and will explain everything until it is understood fully. He is helpful and compassionate, while also being knowledgeable and empathetic.

My only advice would be to make an appointment that is after work or during a day you can take off from work. The clinic tends to run late appointment times.

He is a very straight forward doctor but he is very knowledgeable, I asked to try on my own without intervention after my laparascopy before moving to IVF and he was open to it. I appreciated that is also a surgeon and was able to perform my laparascopy and unblock my tubes.

Be open to honesty. He will not take on cases he thinks are not likely to be successful.

I did most of my initial testing with my gynecologist who misdiagnosed me with PCOS. They did not perform an HSG. Dr Cabrera caught this and redid my testing where he found a blocked tube. After he scheduled and completed laparoscopy on me in which he unblocked my tube. I became pregnant a few months later. It did turn out to be a chemical pregnancy but it gives me hope that I am more fertile now.

I'm very lucky to have insurance to cover most costs. My first cycle will be about 4000$ mostly due to my deductible. They do have financial assistance available.

He will not recommend multiple transfers to women under 35. You can sign a waiver to allow him to so multiple transfers.

Dr. Cabrera is absolutely amazing! He is very thorough and explained everything so that my husband and I would fully understand where we stood. Through treatments and procedure we knew what to expect because Dr. Cabrera took the time to explain to us the process.

Dr. Cabrera truly has your best interest so trust him and his course of action.

I did two cycles of clocks and timed intercourses as my ovules were growing and seemed to be releasing. After two cycles not working, we did iui so that we could assist the sperm along into the uterus. Due to financial reasons we could not continue after the first negative with iui

Amazing cannot complain even if I wanted. He explained everything in details. He went through my family and medical history and based my visit off of this. He explained my husband process and procedures. He explained what to expect.

Take a notebook and list all your concerns and questions. He is more than happy to look it over and answer each question to details.

My experience with Dr. Cabrera is a bit different since I was originally under the care of a nurse practitioner that is no longer with the clinic. This made me anxious about staying with the clinic when she left but I am extremely happy that I chose to stay. Dr. Cabrera has assured me that I am in good hands and has taken the time to understand my history.

Don't be afraid to ask him to speak slower.

My insurance has paid for diagnostic care so we only paid a $45.00 co pay when having regular visits. We pay out of pocket for IUI but we haven't finished that so we don't have a full number.

Dr. Cabrera told us that the goal is 1 healthy baby at at time. That is what we want to be looking for, not multiples.