Northwestern Fertility & Reproductive Medicine

Dr. Kazer told my on two occasions that given my age (41), that having a child would be a long shot. He advised against IUI in favor of going straight to IVF given my age and "average fertility". To me, it seemed that he was concerned with his "hit rate" or number of successful pregnancies and that he wasn't that interested in facilitating a "geriatric" pregnancy. He was too blunt, and his bedside manner was off-putting. I requested a new doctor, started IUI and got pregnant on the very first try despite Dr. Kazer's misguided prognostication. If you are looking for someone who is uber direct and blunt, Dr. Kazer may be the doctor for you. He was not for me.

Be prepared to leave discouraged if you are an older patient

Not applicable

This review covers my experience with NW RE and Fertility Division from May 2017 -- Dec. 2017. It has taken me over a year to come to terms with my experience and feel comfortable sharing it as a warning for others. We first met with Dr. Pavone in May after two years of TTC; she was great and mild mannered but straight forward. She required months worth of tests before she would make a recommendation on any treatment moving forward. After several months of inconclusive testing, she suggested IUI. We started IUI in Sept. I never met with or heard from Dr. Pavone again. From there on out, I was passed from Nurse to ultra sound tech. The US techs are only available for a short period on weekday and weekend mornings (about 1.5 hours). There is no other time to be seen unless you raise a stink -- which by my third IUI, I was having to do. The nurses and US techs are all very angry and unhappy -- likely because overall the practice treats patients much like a fast food restaurant treats its patrons. My experience was already a poor one, and having nurses perform IUIs was starting to solidify my doubt in the practice. With no word from any doctor, I begrudgingly scheduled my third IUI and let the nurse performing the task know that I had had a difficult and painful experience with the first two. An IUI should take about 10 mins but after 40 mins of the nurse trying without success, she asked a doctor to come in and try. A man I had never met came in and roughly attempted to complete the IUI for another 30 mins, growing increasingly frustrated as I writhed in pain. It took so long that my husband had to leave to go back to work; the nurse had to hold my hand and try to calm me due to the pain. Finally, without discussing anything with me, the man opened a drawer, pulled out a pair of what looked like long scissors, and used them to hold/pry/clip open my cervix in order to fit the IUI inside. I bled for several days after this experience. After two months with no period, negative pregnancy tests and terrible, debilitating symptoms, I sought the help of my OBGYN who shared that I had severe damage to my cervix such that I was no longer able to have a period without a surgery. Meanwhile, I called the practice to meet with my doctor and discuss what had happened -- only to learn that Dr. Pavone had had a baby and was out on maternity leave. No one had ever told me she was pregnant and worse -- I had not seen her in so long that it hadn't been obvious that she was pregnant at all. The practice never bothered to follow up with a backup plan for a new doctor in her place. To say that this was a terrible and traumatizing experience is just scraping what I went through. And I would still be leaving a one star review even if the male doctor had not damaged my cervix so badly. Overall, there are way better practices that you can go to outside of Northwestern that will treat you like a human and not a number, that will respect you as a woman with rights to her body, and who will look after your individual case. Good luck to you in your fertility journey.

Please find another doctor and another practice. You are wasting your precious money, time and efforts here.

Dr. Pavone required lots of testing, all of which were normal so I was determined to be unexplained fertility. She required 3 IUIs before she would do IVF. She did not perform the IUI, did not review anything after my bloodwork. In fact after she set the initial plan, I never heard from her again and was left in the hands of a bunch of angry and frustrated nurses.

Insurance covered

I just felt like I was never seen. Once, that's all. Her words to me were "we will get you pregnant by the end of the year." Yelp, unfortunately, that did not happen. I also don't like when fertility doctors say "you are young, you shouldn't have a problem." My protocol was never changed for the complete 7 cycles. All communication was through the nurses.

Advocate for yourself. If the protocol doesn't work the first or second time, ask her (or the nurses) to switch it up.

Femara 5mg and Ovidrel trigger shot. Femara is supposed to be better than clomid especially with PCOS. Since I don't ovulate on my own, the trigger shot was there to ensure I did - if it did it's job. I unfortunately don't know if it worked because we never checked my levels after doing the trigger. After 6 cycles of timed intercourse, an IUI was ordered.

280 per ultrasound 1200 for IUI

n/a

She definitely knew what she was doing. Always very professional, and very knowledgeable. I never doubted her. I only wish she was more personable, and more warm towards us. She was never rude or anything like that, just cold. Maybe that's her personality. We plan to seek her care for our next baby next year.

She knows what she is doing, trust her. Don't let her emotionless personality steer you away.

When we didn't get pregnant the 1st time, she umped the dosage of the meds so that the egg retrieval came up with more eggs. She also upped the dosage for the fertility shots to make sure my body held on to the egg.

It was pretty in and out, the ladies were so very nice and they made me feel comfortable.

Out of pocket, for both procedures and treatments, we paid a little under 6k for both my wife and I. We do have private insurance that did cover some of the costs.

I always wondered why she chose to only do a single egg transfer opposed to a multiple egg transfer. I always thought that would give me higher chances of conceiving, but she never explained.

I went through two rounds of egg freezing (for "social reasons") and worked with Dr. Feinberg for both - the first was disappointing and the second a success. There is more below but I would heartily recommend Dr. Feinberg to others; she is a fine physician who is kind, thoughtful, and truly cares about her patients. The first round I felt like a cog in the wheel of the clinic (which has more to do with the clinic than Dr. Feinberg) and didn't feel I understood how things were progressing until the retrieval when I was informed that I only had a handful of possible eggs to retrieve (this conversation happened to be with the MD on rotation/doing procedures that day). While the nurse had been in touch with me after each of my morning blood draws/ultrasounds, I wasn't informed of the details of my progress (but also didn't know what I should be asking). I learned that I certainly needed to be far more well-informed, a stronger advocate for myself and, in response, brought these concerns to Dr. Feinberg in our follow-up meeting. She was kind, human, thoughtful, and generous in response. She heard me out and owned that things should not have transpired as they did - while they cannot guarantee any specific outcome, they can keep patients informed along the way so that patients can make informed decisions about their care. In response, Dr. Feinberg went to bat for me and the hospital subsidized a second round. I chose to work with Dr. Feinberg again and had a very good experience. Communication was fluid and consistent, the med regimen was tweaked, and the results were much improved. I was lucky to have Dr. Feinberg on rotation the day of my retrieval and we were able to celebrate a happy ending to a tough journey. She is lovely!

I think this may have more to do with the clinic set-up than Dr. Feinberg but do your homework and be the polite albeit squeaky wheel so that you get the grease. While Dr. Feinberg is excellent at explaining things in plain english, the clinic is set up in a way that directs your communication towards the nursing staff rather than the physician. I had Dr. Feinberg's email and knew I could get in touch with her as needed but didn't know enough about what information was important the first time around to do so.

Due to freezing eggs for "social reasons," this was fully out of pocket for me. The most useful people in terms of saving money were the Walgreens as well and in-house Northwestern pharmacists.

Dr. Feinberg is an excellent fertility doctor, and has gone through IVF herself, so she has a strong understanding of the process herself. I felt that her recommendations for treatment made sense and were realistic. After a few attempts at IVF and IUI, she recommended using donor eggs, which is the option we are currently pursuing. She let us take our time to get there, and was clear that this was absolutely our decision. She was patient with us as we got other opinions and wasn't pushy until we got to the place where we felt that we had exhausted all other options and were ready to move to donor egg. Dr. Feinberg reviews all donors and emphasized that she is picky about choosing a donor, so we have the best chance for success. I know Dr. Feinberg also works with women who want to freeze their eggs, and I've referred a few friends to her who are interested in this option. I've sought complementary treatment from many other professionals (acupuncturists, chiropractors, massage therapists, therapists) and all of them consistently say that Dr. Feinberg is the best. I'm hopeful that we will have success with donor eggs in the next few months with her.

Dr. Feinberg books up far in advance, so I recommend making a follow up appointment around when you know your next cycle will end, so you can meet with her to discuss a plan if pregnancy does not occur.

We did protocols for diminished ovarian reserve (DOR), using estrogen pill or patch priming and then microdose lupron. She gave me the highest dose of Menopur and Follistim, but I only produced a few eggs at 2 retrievals. We tried for a third round of IVF, but I wasn't responding, so we converted to IUI. Dr. Feinberg made it clear that IVF/IUI are not necessarily the best treatment for DOR, and trying on our own was a fine option and that treatment may not be help. I appreciated this perspective.

In 2016, we did an IVF cycle out of pocket (roughly $18,000), In 2017 our round of IVF and a few IUIs were covered by insurance- thank god! It's ridiculously expensive.

For our first transfer, we only had one egg to transfer. For the second transfer, we had 2 and we transferred both. Looking back, I think we should have frozen them and transferred one at a time in following months after my body had calmed down a bit. I was ok with possibly having twins, but with the perspective I have now, transferring one at a time is best for the baby and the mother. Dr. Feinberg has written about this here: http://garnetnews.com/2017/03/12/twins-not-necessarily-double-blessing/

I felt like Dr. Robins was accessible, friendly, and extremely knowledgeable. he answered all our questions and never made us feel like they were stupid questions. he was genuinely excited for our success when it occurred and did all our post-implantation ultrasounds before we graduated to the regular OB. shared data in frank, accessible ways and made me feel confident that his goal was the same as ours. When asked about things like acupuncture, he said "look, we want you to get pregnant as soon as possible. if there was any evidence that anything improves those odds, we'd make (strongly advise, provide in the clinic) you do it - of course because we want you to be successful, but also because our success as a practice relies on our success rates, so we're going to do whatever it takes for our own self-interest as well." that made me feel really confident that he was being open and honest with us, as well as knowing that we were both invested in our success. It's great for a doctor to want you to be happy, but I liked knowing that he felt like he had a professional stake in it as well.

don't be afraid to ask all your questions - he'll give you the research behind why he's choosing a certain protocol

I was 34 at the time and we had male factor, with no indications/diagnosis that I should have any trouble. we did 5 total IUIs, 3 unmedicated and 2 on clomid. I wish he'd recommended just going to IVF earlier. none resulted in a positive pregnancy test. for the retrieval cycle, he used a long lupron protocol, which is his standard for a presumably healthy woman under 35. I used lupron, menopur, and follistim, at lower doses than a friend of mine who had diminished ovarian reserve but was also on the long lupron protocol. he did ICSI for the embryos, because of the low sperm count and motility. 13 eggs retrieved, 8 mature, 7 fertilized, 5 embryos (grade 1, which was the best) fresh transfer of a single embryo resulted in a negative pregnancy test frozen transfer of a single embryo (after sitting out a cycle to get my estrogen down) resulted in a live birth.

monitoring was between 7-8:30. you were given a timeslot, but then were called to phlebotomy and ultrasound probably in the order of arrival, but not everyone arrived at once. weekends were more of a cattle call

He strongly recommended a single transfer due to my age and the quality of our embryos, since multiple pregnancies are riskier for both mom and babies. he told me "statistically, the embryos you have are going to be the number of babies they are going to be. if you transfer them in multiples vs single, it just speeds up the answer, but doesn't change it"

Dr. Bernardi is an excellent doctor. She has very strong communication skills and she is always giving you all your options. She does research and it is obvious she thinks of you as a patient and human being, rather than just another number that comes in. Dr. Bernardi is always patient with me as I ask her lots of questions and have plenty of anxiety around my situation. She is always upbeat and remains positive. She checks in on me when i'm not expecting it. When she says she will call or email, she always does. I don't have a negative thing to say about her. I can't express how happy I am that I switched to her after my 2nd miscarriage. She is very empathetic and caring.

Don't be afraid to ask her anything. She is so nice and professional at the same time. I don't think she has a shock feature. She is very responsive to all your questions and concerns.

When I first met Dr. Bernardi, I had recently gone through my 2nd miscarriage. My original doctor wanted me to start IVF treatment as soon as my period came back. I wasn't comfortable with this so we asked for a 2nd opinion. After looking at my history Dr. Bernardi offered to do a recurrent loss panel. She told us that it wasn't necessary but she was curious if there could be a potential reason for the 2nd loss. It was her that figured out that I have APS. With this new diagnosis she thought since I got pregnant 2x already with just IUI that it could happen again. We agreed that my tolerance for IUI would be a 3 cycle limit. We tried 3 more IUI's and I didn't get pregnant. She was willing to do as many more as I wanted but I said I was done and wanted to move onto IVF. I'm young, only 31 so we thought I'd have a good response. I also have PCOS, so our first round she was very cautious about my medicine. I was on the lowest dosage of everything. We retrieved 11 eggs, 7 fertilized and only 3 made it to blast. Before we had the genetic results back, we talked with her and decided to do 1 more retrieval to get some back up embryos incase it didn't work, and also for our future since we wanted more than 1 kid. Our 2nd retrieval went extremely well, and Dr. Bernardi upped my meds just a little bit from 75, to 150. (She was still cautious). The 2nd time around we got 25 eggs, 22 mature, and 19 fertilized. 11 of them made it to blastocyst! Today we did a "fresh" transfer, but used a frozen embryo from our first cycle. I can't tell you if it worked or not yet, but I feel great about our potential!

The monitoring appointments are like a well oiled machine. They are efficient and are conscious that the women have to get to work. They started opening their doors as early at 6:45am to accommodate the morning rush.

I don't really know everything. Our IUI's usually cost us about $30 because insurance covered it. Our first IVF cycle things were covered. Our IVF meds cost about $400 with insurance. PGS testing was done outside of our clinic so it cost 1795. There was also a $890 freezing fee. The 2nd round was 1/2 out of pocket since we maxed out our insurance. The egg retrieval was ~$5000. The transfer was ~$3500. The iVf meds were around ~$3000. Plus, the $890 freezing fee again.

We agreed that we would only do a single embryo transfer because of my age, and risk of doing multiple embryos. I already will have a high risk pregnancy due to having APS, so it didn't seem worth it put me at even more risk.

While I like Dr. Kazer, there are many physicians at this practice, and so decisions regarding my treatment plan have not always been made by him. I'm not confident that they reviewed my chart prior to making their recommendations.

He has a dry sense of humor

So far we are doing medicated IUI cycles.

IUI's are $585 Parking is $11 Psych Consult was $375 HSG was $1092 Each ultrasound is $286 Each day of labs are $$251

unknown

Dr. Kazer is very factual and does not mince words. He does show compassion, but he isn't a "warm and fuzzy" doctor. In my opinion, I really like that he is straightforward and factual. He says what needs to be said and lets you digest the information. He is happy to explain and answer questions and will not sugar-coat information. I trust him to provide me with the best fertility care.

If you need warm and fuzzy, you probably are best seeking out someone else.

We got pregnant with twins initially with our first round of IUI with Clomid and Ovidrell. After we lost the babies, we tried IUI again for 4 rounds unsuccessfully. We are now about to start IVF.

Most people in IL are able to get multiple rounds of IVF paid for, but unfortunately because I work for small company, I was not as luck. We have to pay $10,000 for the IVF treatment coming up. For each IUI, it was approximately $780. Medication is a separate cost which is about $4,500 for IVF and $150 for IUI.

We will only do single embryo transfer because of my history of a thinning cervix with twins. I completely agree with his strategy.

Even though we miraculously got pregnant naturally between failed IUIs and planned IVF, I give Dr. Boots a ton of credit. She was always extremely warm, seemed sympathetic that we even had to be there in the first place, and explained things in a way that didn't make it seem so scary. I always felt like she took time and care with us and never felt rushed. She's a dream doctor all around.

Just to go to her in the first place!

Because my husband and I are both young (28, 30) and all of our test results came back normal (HSG, semen analysis, FSH, prolactin, thyroid, AMH levels etc) we were diagnosed with unexplained infertility. Dr. Boots recommended that we try medicated IUIs first but also explained IVF as well. She acknowledged that for some people, budget is a definite consideration and that because IVF has a higher success rate, some people like to jump straight to that. I liked that she considered treatment from all angles - emotional, health, and budget. She recommended medicated (Clomid) because she felt like it would give us potential the highest chance of success and we also used a trigger shot which I liked so I didn't have to stress over when I ovulated. She did mention that her recommendation was 3 cycles and that the success rate over 3 cycles was about 30%. We did 3 back to back IUI cycles and unfortunately none were successful b. After that point we had a detailed meeting with her to discuss next steps and everybody was on board that IVF was next. I personally couldn't continue to do the same things over and over and was ready for something with a higher success rate. Dr Boots again walked through the IVF process. She did not recommend that we use birth control before which I liked. But otherwise we would have followed a pretty normal atoms for 7-10 days, trigger, and egg retrieval process. Thankfully we had a natural miracle positive test before we could even begin! That was after 20 months of actively trying to conceive

I don't remember exactly but I want to say that the overall costs for our IUIs were close to $2K with the actual procedure and ultrasounds creating the bulk of it. Bloodwork was $25 and Clomid was $5

Dr. Boots' and Northwestern have a one embryo transfer policy under the age of 35. She said the only time they'd put multiple embryos back would be if I was over 35 or if they decided to transfer Day 3 embryos that maybe weren't looking so great. At first this bugged me because the more the merrier right? But she explained to me the risks of multiples for me and the potential babies and seeing as she's a twin mom herself, she reassured me that was the right call.

He was very patient, took time to explain and to sit with us as we processed information he gave us - which we very much appreciated. He was "fatherly" - not a chatter bug, so sometimes communication was overly "clinical" instead of "warm" - but a consummate professional. He made you feel like you were in good hands, which was reassuring.

He won't be "warm", but you will feel safe with him.

My wife and I had tried "at home" for 6 months "turkey baster method" - then we tried IUI's for 6 months, with my eggs. Then we tried 4 IVF cycles with my eggs. Then we tried 3 IVF cycles with my wife's eggs - which resulted in two pregnancies, but two miscarriages.

The window of hours was "do-able". It didn't feel like a cattle call - but certainly it was noticeable that a lot of women were having fertility issues - which I found depressing (but I'm sure, some people must find that comforting to know they are not alone). I very much appreciated when they separated the fertility dept. from the obstetrics - talk about depressing, seeing pregnant women, or women pregnant and with kids - as you struggle.

I have no independent recollection of how much any procedure cost. We were fortunate enough to have wonderful insurance coverage through Blue Cross and Blue Shield. We had primary and secondary coverage for most of the treatment time.

Dr. Feinberg came highly recommended by a close friend and we were thrilled to get the chance to work with her. I found her to be less than creative in her protocols, even when it meant I wouldn't be able to fit a cycle in before the lab closed for cleaning, she wouldn't adjust or change the protocol to allow me a chance. Luckily, I had already decided to move to another physician in the practice, who was willing to try a different approach. We're currently 10 weeks pregnant from that cycle!

She's brilliant and goes by the books. Don't expect a ton of compassion or creativity.

I was started on an antagonist protocol and moderately high dosage due to my low ovarian reserve. When I didn't respond well (only one follicle growing on day 5 of stims), Dr. Feinberg cancelled the cycle and encouraged us to try naturally until I got my period. She wasn't willing to convert to IUI or give another day or two to see if other follicles caught up.

Dr. Feinberg has a wonderful bedside manor. She is the perfect combination of being realistic while staying upbeat and encouraging. She was always available to take our calls when we had questions or wanted to discuss next steps in more detail. She never rushed our conversations. She handled very well mine and my husband's tendencies to need to know all the technical details regarding my treatment and to discuss studies and research that we had done on our own that might have conflicted with her suggestions. I was very confident in her abilities.

Speak up if you have questions or concerns.

I did two stimulation rounds with menapur and folistim. We froze all resulting 5 day embryos and did PGS testing. The first stimulation round only resulted in 1 mature egg that was not genetically normal. The second stimulation round resulted in 17 mature eggs, 9 of which fertilized, 8 of which made it to day 5 and 5 of which were genetically normal.

Very efficient. If you go 15 min before the monitoring window, you will be out by 7:20 am. It may take longer if you get there after 7:15 am. It also takes longer if you need to speak to a nurse following your monitoring.

My insurance covered most of the standard IUI and IVF drugs and procedures. However, we paid for egg freezing and PGS testing. I don't recall the amounts.

Not really applicable to us because we did PGS testing and only considered eSET.

I originally sought out Dr. Milad because of his experience in gynecological surgery, specifically fibroids. It was through this experience that we learned of our infertility issues. He did extensive diagnostic testing and then met with my husband and me to go over all of the results and explain their implications and our options. We always felt that we were in the driver's seat. Dr. Milad recommended we do IVF right away, but we weren't ready so we pursued IUI's and chlomid. Dr. Milad did an amazing job on my open myomectomy when I finally had to have one, and then oversaw every cycle of IVF. Before each cycle and after we would discuss what went well and what we thought should be changed. He entertained my many questions, and personally responded to my messages. When we thought we may be having immunological issues, Dr. Milad laid out the scientific evidence on treatment options - including nonconventional options that had some scientific support (the endometrial scratch, acupuncture, baby aspirin, etc.) After our miscarriage, Dr. Milad met with us to not only discuss options, but console us. My husband and I trust him implicitly, and really feel as if he cares about us.

Patients that desire significant information on the treatment plans and options would be an excellent fit for Dr. Milad. if you need gynecological surgery - he is the best in the midwest.

IVF #1 - 300 gonal f/150 menopur - 7 retrieved/6 mature/4 fertilized with ICSI/transferred two 7-cell 3-day embies - BFN, none to freeze IVF #2 - 225 gonal f/150 menopur - 20 retrieved/11 mature/10 fertilized with ICSI/transferred two 10-cell embies on day 3 - froze 5 blasts, M/C FET #1 - transferred one 5-day blast - BFN FET #2 - had scratch done, baby aspirin - transferred two 5-day blasts - BFP

Scans are done in the morning between 630-800am. I found them efficient. The techs are professional and friendly. They aren't suppose to discuss the results, but mine always indicated whether things looked good or if there was an area for concern. If I wanted, instead of waiting for a callback later that day, a nurse would see me immediately after and go over the scan and talk about potential changes to treatment.

For two fresh cycles, and two frozen embryo transfers, we've probably spent $2K with our insurance, including $1K for the cost of freezing embryos. There is a financial counselor at the office that walks through all coverage points and prices.

Dr. Milad recommended two, 3-day embryos transferred and advised of trade-offs. He recommended one, 5-day embryo transfer because of his concern around the risks of carrying multiples. It was only after two failed fresh transfers and one failed frozen transfer that her recommended transferring two 5-day embryos.

She is a wonderful dr. Being that she also has gone though infertility she can related to her patients. She is a good listener and always has a plan of how to move forward. She treated me on the spot for one of my apts. that was not even scheduled.

Ask her anything and she will have an answer or get you one, she's great!

I had been treated at a different dr for over a year and was not getting any results that were helpful. Dr. Fineburg was positive that she could get more then 8 /9 eggs retrieved (at my prior dr office in which only 4 out of both cycles made it and none resulted in pregnancy) and she did! I got 22 in which 8 made it. I did a fresh transfer and still was not pregnant. I am currently waiting on my ERA results to see if my implanting window needs to be adjusted.

$900 for ERA $1,500 for hystroscope $1,600 for retrieval

This is a conversation we had together and Dr. Fineburg listen and ultimately let my husband and I choose.

Dr. Barnes was great for our initial and IVF consults. He answered our questions clearly (and there were a lot!) and was prompt with follow-up questions I sent through the patient portal. I wish he'd talked with us more during our failed IUIs to see if we could change the protocols, but ultimately I think we would have ended up doing IVF anyway.

Advocate for yourself! Ask questions and make sure you are clear on answers.

For our IUIs we used clomid with an Ovidrel trigger. The first month we did 50mg of clomid on days 3-7, the second 100mg days 5-9, an the third 100mg days 3-7. Once we decided to move to IVF I started birth control for 21 days. On day 15 I added 10 units of Lupron, which I stayed on through my stimulation phase. I began 150 units of Follistim and 150 units of Menopur on day 2 of my cycle. From there I stayed on the same dose for 13 days, along with the 10 units of Follistim. On day 13 I decreased the Lupron to 5 units and added the Ovidrel trigger. Egg retrieval was scheduled for day 15. 12 eggs were retrieved, with 11 being mature. 8 fertilized normally with ICSI. On day 3 we went in for transfer and still had 8 growing. We transferred two 8-cell embryos and on day 6 two were still growing and were then frozen. I tested positive 7 days after my transfer and had my beta 10 days post transfer. A week and a half after my positive beta I went in for an ultrasound where we saw one gestational sac; a week later we saw one fetus and the heartbeat. Our daughter was born in February 2017 at full term.

Monitoring appointments take place between 7-7:45AM on weekdays and 8-8:30AM on weekends. Only once was there a line out the door in the five months I worked with this clinic. The other mornings it was a breeze to check in, wait to be called for lab/ultrasound, meet with nurse (for IUI only), and then make a new appointment or head to work to wait for more information pending lab results (IVF). It's a well oiled machine.

I don't remember the exact numbers, but I think our meds were around $2700 (with insurance) and most of our procedures were covered by insurance. In the end I think we spent around $2K toward procedures, including embryo freezing, which was not covered by my insurance.

Dr. Barnes pushed SET and advised against transferring multiple embryos. We felt more comfortable with two and we were OK with the possibility of multiples. He was out of the office the day of the transfer and his chief, Dr. Jared Robins, did our transfer with one of the fellows (Dr. Okeigwe). Dr. Robins suggested transferring two embryos based on quality and my age. Be advised that Dr. Barnes will try to push you toward SET.

She was not at all compassionate and didn't care about me as a person or my situation. However, she got us the results we wanted. She answered our questions, but sometimes it felt like we were annoying her by asking questions. We took it upon ourselves to understand our situation and I will say that she was willing to answer our questions. We also didn't really see her often - I can only remember 2 appointments before we got pregnant, and one appointment after to check-in before she released us to an OBGYN. This was through 4 rounds of IVF, so it seemed like we didn't really know her or she us.

She is blunt, expect that. Come with questions if you care about the intricate details of your treatment.

I don't remember.

It was kind of like a cattle call, but I actually liked how efficient it was.

My insurance paid for it.

She told us about SET and seemed to want us to choose that. We didn't, and she didn't seem to care. Although she didn't really seem to care about us, so it isn't that surprising.

Dr. Barnes did not seem interested in actually seeing me as a patient or making sure that I was taken care of. I only saw him for the initial consultation and then once I was finally pregnant (before miscarrying). Once he determined that I was likely miscarrying and could potentially have a tubal pregnancy, he fell off the radar and left me hanging without confirming if I did or did not have a tubal pregnancy.

I am unsure of how Dr. Barnes is as an IVF doctor, but if you are going to see him for anything less, I would be prepared to see very little of him.

In my initial consultation, Dr. Barnes' assistant doctor diagnosed me with PCOS based on my ultrasound. (I had gone a significant amount of time without menstruating). I then met with Dr. Barnes and he determined that I should start on letrozole to encourage follicle growth, then once I had sufficient follicles, I would take a trigger shot to induce ovulation. I was able to get pregnant twice, but miscarried both times. I do believe that the treatment strategy was effective an appropriate.

He was very Matter of fact and didn't sugar coat anything. He just told us the treatment and odds. My husband liked this quality about him, but I prefer more compassion and listening and individual attention. He was good at answering my questions, but I had to prompt him. He didn't offer a lot of information up front. Most of my interaction with the clinic was through the RNs and APNs and sometimes I didn't feel like they were communicating all my questions or concerns to him. Overall, I knew he had a lot of experience and I trusted his expertise, I just wish he was better at communicating his thoughts and reasonings with us.

Come with lots of questions ready.

We have unexplained infertility and got pregnant the first IUI + 50 mg clomid + trigger shot cycle. When we returned 3 years later, we tried this again twice. Then after no success, we tried same protocol with 100 mg clomid (to increase the follicles) for 2 more times. No luck so far. We are currently deciding whether or not to do one final IUI or proceed to IVF.

Covered by insurance, so I am not sure of the costs (paid deductible).

Dr. Pavone is very intelligent and knows that data behind the most recent theories in fertility care. In being on this road for as long as we have, unfortunately, I've done a lot of reading and gotten A LOT of 'advice' from people who really think they understand fertility better than specialists. No matter what crazy thing I brought to Dr. Pavone, she always took time to discuss peer-reviewed literature and why something made sense or didn't make sense.

Because of diminished ovarian reserve, typically we've used max doses of gonadotropins and I've actually responded fairly well for what would be expected. I've also tried DHEA, Co-Q 10, various other supplements, herbal remedies, acupuncture - have pretty much tried it all. Dr. Pavone always discussed these with me and most importantly went over the benefits and risks.

I felt like this clinic is a well-oiled machine in the mornings. There are certainly some patients who complain a lot about having to do any waiting but I felt that if you got there somewhat early, you would get in and out in good time.

Fortunately, our insurance has covered all of our procedures. We've only had to pay copays for procedures and medications.

Dr. Pavone is very intelligent and does everything by the book. I met her during my initial visit and then did not see her again, however, we did speak on the phone. Dr. Pavone seems to be socially awkward. Like she wants to say something but then censors herself and reverts to only using clinical language to answer a question. She does not think outside of the box and would only consider one approach with my case. When I had asked for additional bloodwork or supplements to take her response was "sure, if you want to". I really just wanted her opinion based on her experience rather than what a study said. She may have too many patients or just not enough experience.

Do your own research and don't expect her to find creative solutions. Always ask to talk to her over the phone -- she is very short over email.

During my first appointment, Dr. Pavone quickly diagnosed me with PCOS based on one ultrasound and 3 long cycles. This diagnosis took me by surprise as I have never had any hormonal issues. She quickly moved forward with her plan. 3 cycles of letrozole (better for women with PCOS) and timed intercourse, 3 cycles of letrozole and IUI, and if those were unsuccessful, move on to IVF. I ended up doing 5 rounds of letrzole and timed intercourse because I missed ovulation (I ovulated before day 14) twice. Despite not ever trying IUI, she said she would advise only one cycle of IUI then moving to IVF. At this point, being only 30 and feeling like it was moving too quickly, I sought out a 2nd opinion.

Insurance covered just about everything. For 10+ ultrasounds, HSG test, 10+ bloodwork panels, I've paid about $150.

I felt Dr. Robins was very candid and honest with me, which I appreciated. He felt our prognosis was good, which made me feel hopeful. Though I did not see him as often as I saw other providers in his clinic, he always responded to calls promptly when I wanted to speak with him and made me feel cared for.

The way the clinic is run, you will not see Dr. Robins too often, but he is overseeing your care. He is blunt but honest and will work to get you the results you desire. He has a huge knowledge base and always makes you feel as if you are in good hands.

First did workup, established that I had PCOS and my husband had a low sperm count. Once we had these results, immediately started me on femara for ovulation regulation, and started IUIs to increase the chances of husband's sperm getting to egg. Unfortunately we had no pregnancies after 3 IUIs. Once we had tried IUI 3 times we advanced to IVF (which Dr. Robins said we would likely need from the get-go, though he was pleased w/ my response to femara and my husbands counts so he felt several trials of IUI were appropriate). For IVF I was started on Menopur and Cetrotide, which I responded well to. Used ovidrel once the eggs were ready. Also as Dr. Robins predicted, I responded very well to low doses of these medications. We became pregnant with a single embryo fresh transfer at 5 days. We still have 3 frozen embryos in the clinic.

It was a bit of a cattle call experience, though there are so many u/s techs that generally the wait was pretty short.

Costs were minimal, was largely covered by insurance, with copays. Overall I think we spent under $2000 (several things werent covered, ie embryo freezing)

Dr. Robins is very knowledgable and blunt with his opinions. He only uses methods that have a lot of supportive data, which is ok but also seems rigid when what we have tried did not work. He returns my calls and welcomes me to call him on his cell phone. I wish he was more decisive with what approach to take instead of me having to do my own research and then ask him if we can try different methods. I want Dr. Robins to be more of a leader in my care and not be closed off to other methods as long as there is no harm to myself or my pregnancy.

Be clear and direct because he can ramble off his thoughts when answering your questions and the you leave the coversation feeling like you never got an answer

My main issue was scar tissue in the uterine cavity and developing a thick uterine lining. Dr. Robins put me on Lupron and estrogen patches leading up to transfer and the results were good each cycle.

Donor cycle was roughly $16,000 IUI was covered by insurance. Frozen embryo transfers were between $5-$6k hysteroscopies laparoscopy HSG MRI were all covered by insurance.

I actually liked Dr. Pavone initially quite a bit and found her good at accepting suggestions and letting me pursue some more testing that a second opinion doctor had given me when we weren't making progress. She was open to trying knew things, up to a point, but we finally had to move on when she refused to try any other protocols and was convinced we should be moving onto DE (donor egg). I have DOR and was responding poorly to her protocols----she tried EPP with high doses of follistim/menopur and threw in ganirelix at the end, and when two rounds of that yielded very low follicles, she then tried clomid, followed by follistim/menopur/ganirelix when I commented on how I seemed to respond much better to clomid than I did all the expensive injectables. I did better on the clomid, but still not that great, yet she wouldn't try anything else, not even a micro-dose lupron protocol. If we wanted to proceed with her, it would have to be with the clomid protocol, which could only be done a few times due to limits on clomid exposure, and even then, she was pushing us to consider DE or adoption, which we had told her wasn't an option for us at this time. I do think that compared to the other docs at NW, she's one of the best and she's the most liberal (besides Dr. Marsh) and aggressive. She just gave up on my quicker than I think she should have, especially since I am only 37 (young for IVF, I keep being told).

Be proactive and keep doing your own research. She is not going to give lots of suggestions or think outside the box for you, but is open to trying things if you want to (ie, she let me have a laparoscopy after my 3rd failed attempt at ER when I asked about it and also did a huge panel of immunology testing at my request even though I hadn't had recurring miscarriages---I wanted testing b/c I wanted information preemptively in case it could prevent a miscarriage should we ever get pregnant).

for IUIs---clomid CDs 2-6 and then ovidrel trigger, used ultrasound monitoring. IVFs---1st and 2nd attempts, did estrogen priming then started follistim/menopur once menses started, then added in ganirelix towards the end. Pavone felt this was the best approach for women with DOR. Both of these cycles yielded very low follicle development; 2 mature eggs the first round, and then the second was converted to IUI (and only then b/c I insisted I wasn't wasting an insurance-covered ER on 1-2 follicles). First round had nothing to transfer. Obviously BFNs both those rounds 3rd and 4th IVF attempts: clomid 150mg CD 2-5, then added on follistim/menopur/saizen/ganirelix. Better follicle recruitment, 3rd round poor egg quality, but 4th round, finally with 3 perfect embryos to transfer. For the 4th attempt, it should be noted that I had started to use a ton of antioxidant supplements recommended by a 2nd opinion RE and had also started seeing a chinese medicine practitioner and was using chinese herbs and acupuncture weekly). BFNs both those rounds. Pavone like the response to clomid and didn't want to change anything up if we proceeded with her.

See earlier comment about the clinic. Monitoring hours are 7a-7:45 M-F and 8a-8:30 on Sat/Sun. If you weren't there before 7 and standing in line, it could take up to an hour to get out, but it's faster than trying to get monitoring done at FCI.

IUIs were about $1200 each with the ultrasounds, meds, and actual insemination. IVFs were covered under insurance once I changed plans, but would've been 8-9K for the package, not including medicine costs. Office visits were $250-350 and the labs were expensive, too, since they were through Northwestern.