Kindbody - Los Angeles

Majority of my visits with Dr. Kathiresan was done virtually. It did feel a little distant in the beginning but throughout the course of our journey, I was assured that even though our visits are virtual, she is attentive and was able to assess my situation based on my blood work and ultrasounds. She is empathetic, compassionate, and personable during our phone calls and virtual visits- which I appreciate. I did 3 egg retrievals with Kindbody and all 3 was performed by the doctor who was operating that day. During my 3rd retrieval, we noticed that my right ovary is hard to get to and they noted it in my chart. Prior to the retrieval, Dr. K assured me that it is noted in my chart and the Dr. operating that day is well aware. That retrieval was the one that got the most eggs- so I do believe the doctors talk amongst each other to prep each other. Prior to the FET, she suspected that my uterus has a uterine polyp after viewing one of my ultrasounds during the egg retrieval process. I saw Dr. Kathiresan in person for my saline sonogram procedure and she is the same in person- personable, attentive, kind, and reassuring. I'm so glad that she did my saline sonogram because it was like a mock FET transfer; during the saline sonogram, we realized my cervix dips down and it makes it hard for the catheter to get to the uterus. She suggested that we add a stitch to my crevix so during the FET, she can tug on the stitch to make my cervix straighter and for the catheter to easily go in. She patiently went through all our options for the FET (adding a stitch or some patients are put under general anesthesia), discussed the FET process in detail, answered all my questions and addressed all my concerns. Adding the stitch to the cervix is something new that we've never heard and she explained that she learned this while practicing in Texas. It was common at the last clinic she practiced at and less so here. She also said she's done it quite a bit which is reassuring. We decided to add a stitch to my cervix during my hysteroscopy surgery. For my FET, the clinic unfortunately had a water leak and we could not perform the FET at the clinic but rather at a 3rd party clinic. That sent my anxiety through the roof. Dr. Kathiresan called me and reassured me that the whole team (her, the nurse, and embryologist) will be there and make sure the clinic has everything they need and set up properly. I was still nervous because it is a different environment for the team and there is sooo much room for human error but the FET went smoothly and I can't thank Dr. K enough for reassuring me and making sure everything was under control. Dr. K was calm the whole time and that calmed me down as well.

I understand Dr. Kathiresan has a lot of patients and sometimes, I have to remind Dr. Kathiresan of our last conversation. She does double check my chart during our conversations just to be sure.

My first protocol was a follicular phase protocol with estrogen priming. The estrogen priming gave me really bad migraines for days and it was debilitating. Dr. K explained that it is common as it's the same hormone that causes headaches during your period. If you're likely to experience headaches or migraines during your period, you'll most likely experience the same during estrogen priming. The migraine went away after day 3. I started with 150u menopur, Gonal-F 225u then increased to 300u on day 5, Omnitrope 35u, Ganirelix, and triggered with Lurpon and Novarel. 7 eggs retrieved, 3 fertilized, 2 blasts, and 1 PGT-A Euploid. I wanted to go into the 2nd ER right away so Dr. K suggested we do a Luteal Phase protocol (this is after I ovulate). I was on Clomid 10mg for 5 days, Provera 5mg for 10 days, Menopur 150u, Omnitrope 35u, Gonal-F 300u, and triggered with Lupron & Novarel. During my monitoring, we noticed my right ovary was hard to get to and we retrieved 4 eggs, all 4 fertilized, 3 blasts and 3 PGT-A eupoids. For the 3rd ER, we decided to go with the same protocol as the 2nd ER yieled the best results. We kept everything the same and we retrieved 13 eggs, 9 fertilized, 7 blasts, and 1 PGT-A euploid. Unfortunately, the 3rd ER yielded the worst results out of the 3 even though we copied the 2nd ER protocol exactly. This is when we realized science is never 100% and it really does differ each time.

Our fertility benefits through our insurance covered up to 20k, which was 2 cycles of ER. We paid $13,100 for a 3rd ER cycle+ 2 FET. Genetic Testing was $2880 each cycle (so multiply by 3 since we did 3 ER). All lab work and diagonstic (ultrasound, blood work, consults) was covered by insurance after we met our deductible and out-of-pocket max.

Dr. Brower was knowledgeable and patient with me. I tried three IUIs with kindbody that were not successful and when IVF was suggested my partner and I were not ready. When we were, Dr Brower answered our questions and gave us the time and information we needed to move forward in a way that was comfortable for us and our plan was of the utmost importance to Dr Brower because it was important to us. She was wonderful to work with

Share your concerns and ask your questions! No question is too small and no concern is too silly for Dr Brower to go over with you

I cannot recall too many specifics but I remember responding really quickly to folistim injections during our IVF cycle and Dr Brower made a quick adjustment. She was always ready with alternate meds and protocol tweaks which made me feel so well taken care of!

They were very upfront about costs beforehand, but my insurance has a special fertility benefit so I believe I paid a much smaller amount after insurance was billed than a traditional out of pocket patient

Dr. Brower is brilliant, cautious, thorough, warm, attentive, and thoughtful. I couldn’t have asked for more in a doctor. As someone who often feels anxiety in doctors offices, I never felt anxious around her and found her presence so comforting. We had a surgical procedure performed and she was the perfect balance of professional and compassionate and was so sweet to me when I was coming out of my anesthesia. We were so sad to leave her!

Get in now before she fills up!

Wasn't able to see her at every visit (my issue, not hers, because I had to come super-early for work) and she called me every afternoon to talk about results. Was wonderful about being to able to both make her own recommendations on how I should proceed but also give me the space to make my own decisions. So warm and reassuring during ER process (my first time getting any kind of procedure). Staff is also so organized and professional; communication was top-notch. Ann, her nurse, is amazing. Felt very well cared for. Oh and office is beautiful.

Go see her for a consultation at the very least. Is both very honest and doesn't give false hope, but also warm and open. A great combo.

lupron gonal-f menopur hcg trigger

$6500 procedure + approximately $4000 meds

Coming completely out of left field, at twenty-nine I found out I have a genetic problem that might affect my own fertility as well as the health of my future children. Feeling apprehensive, my fiancé and I began creating embryos under the supervision of Dr. Mehr. Emotionally she gave me exactly what I needed providing hopeful optimism without giving me unrealistic expectations for success. She demonstrated patience with my steep learning curve, taking the time to explain complicated concepts and my options. Also, she paid attention to my individual reactions to the medications. This meant that even though I enjoyed more success in the first round than anticipated, Dr. Mehr adjusted her protocol for the second round and doubled the number of blastocytes that successfully grew to day 5! I cannot recommend her enough.

I’d leave the advising yo Dr. Mehr

Dr Armstrong was honestly the perfect doctor for this situation. It can be very daunting to go through the process of egg freezing and she was extremely professional, showing a slide show presentation on pathophysiology which was so helpful. I work in the medical field and I appreciated that she gave me all the information I needed in a clear, succinct way.

Stick with her! My only issue was location since I live 45 minutes away and logically it would have been difficult to coordinate the process with work. She’s incredible.

Not applicable. I had a virtual consult.

Dr Kathiresan is a very gentle person.Our experience with her was outstanding.The feeling that I got after my first meeting with her was of positivity and I somehow felt that we were in the company of the right person to go through with our IVF journey. Deep down I felt that this was going to result in what we intended to start. The doctor would listen to us patiently and answer all our questions with positive intent .She would explain the risk and reward for every process that she followed. Overall great experience !!!

Listen to what she says and follow it diligently

we paid 13000 for the inf process excluding ivf transfer

Dr. Armstrong is one of the best doctors I've ever worked with. This whole process is scary and she keeps an eye out and adjusts your plan as needed the entire way through. Her bed side manner is amazing and she makes you feel so safe. She communicates thoroughly and you'll always understand next steps.

None, you're in good hands! Dr. A will be your advice giver.

Dr Brower is a massive blessing and a master at what she does. She consistently made me feel understood, my concerns were always treated with importance and respect. She was incredibly caring and knew exactly what to say and how to say it, through every stage of my journey. When there were setbacks, I always believed I could trust her revised plan. I am now almost 10 weeks pregnant with a PGT tested, healthy baby. We had only one embryo, and are so grateful to be at this stage. We wouldn’t be here without Dr Brower

Trust her. Be vocal with any and all concerns.

Egg retrieval, PGT testing, FET.

Dr Brower has a very warm bedside manner. She is thorough, extremely smart, empathetic, kind, and careful. She always put me at ease and patiently answered my many questions every step of the process.

You can feel confident you’re working with a warm, extremely kind, experienced, highly skilled doctor

The only reason I saw another doctor outside Dr. Armstrong was because she was on maternity leave for a period of time. 1 of my failed attempts was with Dr. Armstrong and she was compassionate, caring and empathic to my feelings of loss. I truly felt like she knew the best next steps for my care. No 2 of my attempts had the same protocol, which made me feel like my concerns and pre-existing conditions were taken in to consideration. It was reassuring to me that we adapted to what may not have worked the prior time. I am luckily now pregnant, I felt like Dr. Armstrong was as happy as I was with the news. It was really refreshing to feel so cared for by a doctor.

Dr. Armstrong will keep you well informed at all stages. For me it really helped being upfront about my pre-existing conditions (I have an auto-immune disorder), this helped Dr. Armstrong come up with the best protocols for me. There was an anomaly found during the course of my tries, I was comforted that Dr. Armstrong consulted her peers for full confirmation on the best path forward. Know that she will have your best interest at heart and do everything to help you whatever outcome you are hoping for. She will always be honest with you.

I don't remember the specifics of each, but I know after the culmination of the initial 3 failed attempts we found a protocol that worked really well for me, that suited my emotional stability and managed my pre-existing conditions to end the best possible outcome. One of the rounds was the butt injections, these did not suit me at all and made me quite emotional. For the three other tries we stuck to meds not shots.

It was hit and miss depending on the day. There was definitely a spike in how busy it was after the Century City branch closed down. Some days it could be anywhere up to 30-40min wait other days you could be seen pretty much immediately

Obviously this is not a cheap process to undertake. Some bills were sent to me in error where I had already pre-paid. Prior to signing contracts I would advise reviewing all add-ons that you are opting in to. Ask for clear communication as to which additional labs are being leveraged that you can expect additional billing from. For the most part everything made sense and was well described but there were a few times I was unsure.

I opted for descending order of the "best" quality embryos, so I don't think this applies to me.

Dr. Armstrong always provided me with the best care and information when I would visit or message her. I never felt scared to ask questions as it was also a learning process for me and my body. She definitely made the egg freezing process less nerve racking for me and made me feel confident about my decision overall. I would have never thought of wanting or needing to do this process if I never initially met with her!

Ask as many questions as you want because it can be a lot of medical information to take, so asking away will only benefit you throughout the process and most importantly just trust the process! It can be a lot at once so taking everything one step at a time and know that it is most definitely worth it in the end. Each and every employee truly cares for you and your well being, it almost felt like my second home during the process! (in a good way)

It was very helpful to receive messages everyday in the Kindbody portal with video instructions for each dosage/medication and detailed instructions for each day. I also was required to take a blood thinners throughout the process and Dr. Armstrong would check in with me to make sure I wasn't having any reactions. They cared for me very closely which I greatly appreciated!

My treatment cost was very low due to my company's partnership with Kindbody!

Some of the strengths Dr.Brower showed early on was the understanding of what we wanted and the timeline we wanted it to happen on. She never tried to make it seem as though we "weren't needing to be in a rush" or that we were moving to slow. She was always approachable, always made it seem like we mattered to her, and always checked in on how we were feeling which is so important. There are no weaknesses with Dr.Brower. We did a total of 3 transfers and 1 egg retrieval. She did one of the IUI's and the IVF transfer. She made sure we had the same physician do our second IUI and our egg retrieval since she couldn't be there. We loved everything about how she handled our care!

I would just tell them to not be nervous to ask questions! Dr.Brower always gave us as much time as we needed, no matter how many questions we had.

Our first IUI was unmedicated. Our second IUI was a bit more complicated because the follicle growth was happening slower than it had the previous month, so she put me on some meds to help stimulate, and was conservative about how much she gave to not overdo it. When they didn't work immediately, we upped the dosage and got where we needed to be. Unfortunately, neither IUI transfer worked, and it was my partner and I that elected to move to IVF (Dr.Brower did not make that determination for us) and so we were on the regular course of meds needed for a successful transfer...and it worked!

Our insurance did not cover any fertility treatment so our IUI was around $3500 each cycle and our IVF was around $24,000 which includes 2 transfers. Our first transfer worked so we would use the second transfer for the second go around!

Dr. Mehr is an empathetic physician who takes the time to clearly explain everything in detail. Any questions I had were promptly answered, she was willing to listen and adjust treatment to my needs. I had quite a bit of anxiety because of prior chemical pregnancies. She allowed me to come into more scans to ease my anxiety and answered any questions I had in regards to treatment.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. Dr. Mehr is generous with her time and will clearly explain everything to you.

2 Egg Retrievals, Modified Natural Transfer

Covered by insurance

Doctor Kathiresan met with me via Zoom to walk me through egg retrieval. I know she was probably tired that day or has done this speech a lot so her energy level was low but to be expected. I did not meet her at the clinic during my visits but we communicated on the portal often during my treatment. She always provided prompt updates after every cycle visit which I appreciated. And always walked me through changes. For example, I did 13 days of stimulation drugs versus the standard 8-10 and needed to reorder medication multiple times.

She's a portal queen! Message her on the portal and she'll get back to you quickly. Never sit in doubt. Always send a message.

I did 13 days of stimulation drugs versus the standard 8-10 days which meant I had to reorder my stimulation drugs twice during the procedure. In those 13 days, my dosage changed multiple times for each medication. Dr. Kathiresan walked me through all these changes. I also had worried about having PCOS since I had an Ovarian cyst in high school that burst and during one of my cycle visits they thought they observed a cyst and thought ultimately it was a dominant follicle but during the egg retriveal procedure the doctor said it was in fact a cyst. Dr. Kathiresan walked me through a typical PCOS diagnosis has three parts and I really only showed 2 of the 3 signs because I had normal periods. It was helpful to understand for my fertility health.

My company covered my egg retrieval process which I think was 20,000. I paid out of pocket for things not covered by my company 1,500.

N/A

Dr. Kathiresan spent a lot of extra time explaining the IVF Journey and all of the procedures that I would go through from Retrieval to FET. She was very patient with the fact that I was uncomfortable with needles and took extra time to explain the injections to my husband. Dr. Kathiresan was always available to connect in person in the clinic, on virtual calls or via the Kindbody app.

Bring a list of questions on your phone or written down. You'll feel frazzled when you get into the clinic so it's helpful to have questions to run through.

Due to my age (41) and the fact that we only had 1 healthy embryo viable for FET, Dr. Kathiresan advised a daily Lovenox shot until 6 weeks of pregnancy and Progesterone in Oil every other day until 10 weeks of pregnancy. She also advised Estradiol (oral am/vaginal pm) and Endometrin (vaginal - 3x) daily until 10 weeks of pregnancy. The Progesterone in Oil was incredibly painful for the first few weeks but it really helped to warm the shot under an armpit or in a warm hand prior to injection. Firmly massaging the injection spot was also very effective in spreading out the medication. This course of treatment resulted in a confirmed pregnancy, now over 12 weeks.

IVF Freeze all with PGTa $16,000 IVF Medications prior to retrieval and after transfer cost about $7,500-$8,000 Fetal Embryo Transfer $4,400 There were also $25 office visit costs for the Ultrasounds and Blood Draws

My employer fertility benefits through Carrot only covers single embryo transfer for the safety of the patient. Dr. Kathiresan and I never had to discuss her approach to eSET because it was never my intention to transfer more than 1 embryo.

Dr. Kathiresan was very knowledgeable and made a complicated process very easy to follow. She was patient and understanding. It’s honestly fascinating how little women know about their own cycles including myself and Dr. Kathiresan literally filled in those gaps to provide a better understanding of the process. I was very grateful to have her as my doctor.

I would say, write down your questions head of the appointments so that you don’t forget because the time is valuable.

We ended up going with a luteal phase egg freezing after a few months of delaying the procedure due to lower than baseline follicle counts. This ended up being 100% the right move for me because I was less emotional and my count was higher.

Everyone was cognizant that I am bisexual and not partnered, so people were respectful and not assuming of my situation with I appreciated

Dr. K was great. She met with me several times during my cycles. During the last cycle she was actually there for my retrieval. She went through everything thoroughly and ensured I understood everything. She also continually checked in on me to make sure I was okay.

First protocol was Luteal and that didn't garner great results for me, I had 11 eggs retrieved and 3 were mature. The last cycle we did estrogen priming and I was hyper stimulated and we got 27 eggs and 19 were mature.

My company paid for my kindcycles. I think my out of pocket expenses were roughly 1200 for the first round and 895 for the second.

My partner and I worked with Dr Mehr for more than a year. During that time we undertook sperm analysis, two IUIs, and two rounds of IVF, the second of which resulted in a pregnancy. Throughout this experience it felt like Dr Mehr was on our side completely, offering excellent advice gleaned from her vast knowledge of the fertility world, but without ever pressuring us about what steps to take next. She provided reassurance and emotional support when the road got tough, particularly after a chemical pregnancy during our first round of IVF, and always reminded us there was a path forward and reasons to be hopeful. She was proactive about changing things up and pushing for better results, and I know we wouldn’t be where we are today without her brilliance. I would absolutely recommend trusting her with your care.

Ask her to explain all your options - even the ones you aren't considering yet. We came into this process unsure if we were going to do IVF; Dr Mehr explained everything in such a clear and accessible way early on that it made the choice to do IVF feel much less daunting when we got there.

Dr. Mehr is kind and thoughtful. She doesn’t pull any punches and tells you how it is. I appreciated her friendliness and genuine demeanor. I definitely trust her expertise. From the first consultation where she walked us through everything to expect and what we would find out at each stage. She checked in with us along the way after PGT testing and was in our corner at each turn.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions! Dr. Mehr never made me feel silly for asking questions however big or small they were. She would give me information and often more information that helped me feel informed.

The only protocol I could comment on is the estrogen dose before transfer. I think Dr. Mehr tried something a little different than her normal process due to some new research and it didn’t have the results expected. It wasn’t a blocker it was just a different timeframe then expected but either way we got a successful lining thickness and were able to do the transfer soon after

Unsure, we were lucky to have full insurance coverage. Minor co-pays applied ($65/appointment, $20 for medications)

Definitely appreciated the eSET approach (it was our only option but still)! I would have been more concerned about multiple embryos for sure.

Dr. Abigail Armstrong has been so supportive through my fertility journey. From my initial appointment through the time I became pregnant, Dr. Armstrong offered me great support as I navigated through this journey. Her kindness, knowledge and commitment to her patients shine through in all aspects of her work.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions that are lingering in your mind! Dr. Armstrong will take the time to answer them.

Costs were reasonable.

I wish every woman could work with Dr. Armstrong and would refer my best friends to her in a heartbeat. She was thorough, thoughtful, and caring. She turned a stressful situation into a manageable (and ultimately happy!) one with her warmth and clear communication. I trust her completely.

Work with her! She will take care of your heart and your health.

Dr. Armstrong helped me evaluate a potential ectopic pregnancy with ultrasounds and repeat bloodwork. It ultimately turned out to be intrauterine but I was so grateful for her cautious approach balancing my health with my desire to have a second child.

My care was covered by my company's excellent benefits.