Washington University School of Medicine

She takes the time to answer all your questions and address all your concerns. If we got home and forgot questions or concerns she was an email away and always got back to us quickly either same day or next day if we emailed at night. She worked with us as far as timing for our IUIs. We drove 2 hrs to see her. She always made us feel more like family instead of a patient!!

Definitely be prepared to hear a lot of information. She covers everything and is very thorough! Take paper with you to jot down notes if you’d like.

Given we had no fertility coverage, we were always made aware of the out of pocket costs for everything. There was never any cost surprises. They made sure we had and knew all our options in regards to the cost and financing.

I’m 38 and she was comfortable with a 2 embryo transfer. It was more up to me to decide after considering risks and benefits.

Dr. Keller is very knowledgeable and an expert in her field. I've never felt she has pushed us into spending more money than we absolutely have to. She has not recommended PGS testing for our second IVF cycle, citing that it does not improve birth rates. She never rushes us out of the office and takes the time to answer all questions thoroughly. She often seems flustered or nervous and for that reason I would recommend other doctors in this practice over her.

Do your research. Ask questions. Tell her what's bothering you. Trust her plan of care.

In 2016 I did 3 clomid IUIs without trigger shot. None were successful and I was disappointed that no Ultrasound or hCG blood levels were obtained during any of the cycles. I didn't see Dr. Keller at all during this time and really felt like nobody cared if they were successful or not. Cycle 1 IVF was better. I do not have ovulatory dysfunction so Keller recommend an agonist protocol for my first IVF cycle. In retrospect I responded quickly to the medications, maybe too quickly because we got 10 eggs and only 2 5-day embryos. Our fresh transfer resulted in a chemical pregnancy and our FET resulted in a miscarriage at 7 weeks. Dr. Keller said that a quick stimulation can result in poorer egg quality. For cycle two she is doing a long antagonist which will hopefully allow slower development of my follicles and give better egg quality.

The line to check in can get long some days but once checked in blood draws and Ultrasounds are done quickly.

I think IUIs were around $350 each plus the copay for Clomid. For one egg retrieval/IVF with ICSI, a frozen transfer and fresh transfer we paid almost $13k and my insurance covered $4k.

Dr. Keller was open to both single and double embryo transfer for us. We elected single transfer to avoid a twin or triplet pregnancy.

I love have Dr. Rattes for a doctor. I wish a cycle would have worked, but she continues to look for ways to adjust the cycle. She is a caring human being would will have the difficult conversations when needed.

You will not see her for ever visit during an actual treatment cycle. The doctors work on rotation so any of the doctors could be doing the retrieval and transfer. I always fell on a different doctors rotation and absolutely loved them all.

My first cycle was a fresh 3 day transfer. I went in for many visits to monitor egg growth and lining checks. Once I had the retrieval, I was called in for a 3 day transfer to transfer 2 embryos. They gave us the option for 1, but we chose 2 on the doctors recommendations. The cycle failed. The next cycle was a frozen transfer. Not all our embryos made it to day 5. We had 1 left. Cycle was much easier. Took estradiol before and then progesterone after transfer. The cycle also failed. I did a second retrieval, 3rd transfer (2nd fresh). Cycle was much like the First only the stemmed harder to try for more eggs. More eggs were immature and didn’t get to be fertilized. 2 embryos transferred on fresh cycle day 3. Failed. No embryos survived to 5 days.

Costs for IVF range from 12-15,000 for a retrieval and fresh transfer. I went through a place in CA to finance and provide cost for 1 fresh, 1 frozen for less than in office. The second fresh, frozen we purchased I lost out on some of the $ I had paid in due to not having any embryos survive to 5 days for a frozen transfer. The clinic had the money but since it was contractually linked to the fresh cycle, it is not allowed to be applied to future cycles.

Dr. Omurtag is a very helpful and compassionate doctor. He helped us navigate through a very frustrating and disappointing time in our life, which ended up resulting in the birth of our son. He was very informative and straightforward, but also listened to our concerns and reservations. I can’t recommend Dr. Omurtag and his staff enough!!

Trust the process and try to be patient. Also, don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself and ask questions.

First we tried a medicated cycle with injections and an IUI. I over responded to the injections and had to wait 2 months for my ovaries to go down. Didn’t get to the IUI that time. We tried again, this time with less dosage and an IUI, by resulted in a negative pregnancy test. After that, we were ready to move forward with IVF. I used injections for 4-5 days (Gonal F, Menopur, and Lupron). My egg retrieval resulted in 32 eggs, 19 were mature, and we decided, as a personal decision to only fertilize 10. We did a fresh transfer with one of our day 5 embryos and ended up freezing the remaining four embryos we had for future use.

Insurance covered our IVF treatment so I’m not sure. Medications cost us $3,000 out of pocket, and we had to put $600 (if I remember correctly) down to be financially clear.

Being a nurse, I have learned about effective communication. Having effective communication with physicians is always key to experience excellent care. After my husband and I miscarried our baby boy at 17 weeks, I learned to be an advocate for my care even more. I did not have complications after my D&C surgery after miscarriage. I however was diagnosed with an uterine arterial venous malformation which is very rare. I was under my general OBGYN at the time I was diagnosed and Dr. Keller which is my infertility specialist. Many doctors were consulted to see if they had an idea of how to treat the AVM in my uterus. A month or so after my diagnosis, I was told it would not be in my best interest to carry children for my safety and health. Dr. Keller was my main physician who helped me through my time of this diagnosis. She understood how hard this time was because we have never had any children and I was only 26 years old at the time. Every time I was seen by her, I felt as if she was fighting for answers for my husband and I, seeing everything in our best interest. Time went by and I ended up hemorrhaging, which is a complication of the uterine AVM, and admitted to the hospital multiple times in a months span. While the bleeding would start and stop, the doctors were trying to figure out how to save my fertility without doing anything to drastic. After failed attempts to do so, I ultimately had to make the decision to get a hysterectomy for my health and safety. Dr. Keller was always there, one call away, to answer all my questions and concerns. I wanted to make sure that this was the best decision for myself and that there weren't any other options available. I trusted her decision, as did my husband. Now, fast forward to a little over a year later, and were are about to do an IVF cycle to ultimately have a surrogate carry our baby. After a couple of months of trying to heal mentally and physically, my husband and I are ready for our next steps into starting our family. The first appointment we had with Dr. Keller to meet to chat about IVF was one I will never forget. After sitting with her, discussing all that is involved with IVF, Dr. Keller looked at us and said, "I want you to get your baby! That is my goal here!". It made me feel as if I wasn't alone and I felt as if my husband and I are in the best hands. She always asks how I am doing when I meet with her, how I am healing, and just how I feel overall. My experiences that I have gone through in the past year and half are something I never expected. I never dreamt of not being able to carry our children. It sure does make it easier having Dr. Keller sincerely care about my husband and I and our ultimate goal which is to start our family. There is nothing bad I could say about Dr. Keller!

That she is trustworthy and will fight for the best care for you. She will always listen and respect your decisions. Effective communication!

I am about 3 weeks away from our very first round of IVF.

I will know a more detailed cost estimate soon. Since we are just beginning our first IVF cycle, I am not sure of the overall costs. I estimate it being close to $20,000.

Dr. Keller has discussed her approach to both because of us needing to use a surrogate since I cannot carry. The decision mainly depends on the surrogate and what they agree too, but she does mention it is best to not do a multiple embryo transfer for surrogate to carry. It costs more and many more risks involve is my understanding.

Strengths- she knew our history and us as people. She was open to sugggestions of next steps in treatment and was very knowledgeable in statistics of different procedures like scratch test, assisted hatching, ICSI, etc and she explained procedures and set up expectations for us. She truly cared about us as a couple. She even talked us through next steps on another cycle right after her father passed away. She is selfless. The weakness- because of her compassion I think she was less direct than we needed about my diagnosis of diminished ovarian reserve. She expressed the panel of docs at clinic would advocate for donor eggs but said we could continue to try. In hindsight I feel it would have been better to be more blunt about our chances with own eggs so we could have moved forward with donor eggs sooner. Overall, I think we had to come to that acceptance before anything. I’m glad she introduced the topic to us and moved ahead with lightening speed thereafter

Be proactive and know what you want. She will be there to support your treatment plan and advocate for you.

With DOR- we tried femara cycle day 5-9 plus follistim but had to convert to IUI. We did 2 antagonist cycles with gonal-f (225) and menopur (225) with one cycle doing an estrogen prime. Last cycle we did estrogen prime plus micro dose Lupron flare anatagonist

We had help with insurance. The largest out of pocket cost was donor reimbursement fees which were $5000 plus adminustrative costs which were $3000

She showed us her statistics at the clinic and discussed risks, benefits and chances with eSET & multiple transfers but left the decision up to us ultimately

Dr. Jungheim was very friendly and explained everything to me in terms I could understand. She even drew pictures to explain various steps. Before meeting with her, she reviewed my file very thoroughly and didn't offer any procedure she didn't think I would need considering I had been through so much before going to this specific clinic.

Know that you work with all doctors and not with just the one you see the first time. A different doctor did my retrieval and transfer because they work as a team. She is very understanding and will answer any of your questions without reservation.

I was on the long agonist protocol. I started Dec. 24 with my first shot and triggered Jan. 14. I started taking all 3 shots by Dec. 31 I believe. I felt bloated at times and had one headache, but overall I wasn't miserable. I am currently in the TWW so I don't have results.

It was efficient and I loved that they were first thing in the morning so I could still make it to work on time.

$325 just for the initial appointment consultation. $130 for the trial embryo transfer.... Those are the only two bills I remember the amounts of.

I felt rushed in this decision. We were thinking initially that it would be a single embryo, and when I went in for my egg retrieval and saw a different doctor, he said he was worried there is a cause other than my endometriosis and would recommend ICSI just to increase our chances of being successful this first round. At transfer and showed me two embryos and said the 3 wasn't looking good and probably wouldn't freeze. He said of the two was was a really good 7 cell and the other was a 6 cell but it appeared the cells were starting to merge so he wasn't as sure of it. Using the amendment logic he had with retrieval, and not wanting to live with regrets, we went with 2.

He was very straight forward during our tele conference. He was very friendly and seemed postive that we would have success without any issues. That was the only time we met Dr. Odem. Our phsycial visits to the office, which is a 3 hour drive, was always pleasant however we never met Dr. Odem face to face.

I was frustrated that because I have had a postive pregnancy in the past, that Dr. Odem and other doctor's I have seen, thought it would be easy for me to get pregnant, even after having multiple unsuccessful attempts.

The only treatment startegies we tried after my miscarriage were to try Clomid. Although I have always ovulated every month, we thought this might give the sperm an extra target. However, after several unsuccessful months of IUIs, Dr. Odem was unwilling to further evaluations because I have had a positive pregnancy.

There was a fee for our teleconference with Dr Odem, although I do not remember exactly how much, maybe around $100. The IUI itself was more expensive around $450.

He was very knowledgeable, answered any questions we had. He was upfront that he would manage and oversee our cycle but explained that the doctors in the practice rotate IVF weeks and I may not have him for all my procedures. He was honest and again, while very knowledgeable did not make me feel like I was wasting his time with questions or concerns.

Ask questions. and be aware that he may not be the doctor to do your procedures, that’s important to know, but all the doctors in the practice are great.

We did IVF. I started meds to “quiet” my ovaries which worked great. Then we started Stims at low doses and increased. I was not responding well enough at first and we talked about canceling the cycle and starting over with another protocol. I was able to come in an extra time for monitoring and finally started responding. Dr. Omurtag called me himself to talk about it since he knew they “scared” me with talk of canceling. Once we were where we needed to be we did egg retrieval and got 8 eggs, which was exactly what I expected per the last monitoring appointment we had. We ended up with 6 embryos. We went in for a day 5 fresh transfer and found out we had two picture perfect embryos but the others did not meet the criteria to freeze. We transferred one embryo and froze the other. Our fresh transfer did not work. We waited one cycle and jumped in to our frozen cycle. The one frozen embryo we had stuck like a champ and our IVF miracle baby was born January 2018. We are very happy with our results. :)

Fresh transfer was in the $11,000’s. I cannot remember the exact number right now. Medication was anywhere between $3-5k.

We had two “perfect” embryos. I wanted to transfer both but the doctor suggested only doing one. She said they don’t offer only doing one to everyone but that I was young, healthy and the embryo was “perfect.” I cried but agreed to only transfer one. I know it doesn’t always go how we want it to but I am glad I only did the one. I still had one frozen after the fresh transfer didn’t work. I would have been very upset and frustrated if we had walked away with nothing.

Dr. Keller is very candid which I appreciate. She gets right to the point. She doesn't sugar coat. I feel that she absolutely has my best interests at heart. I know she has a lot of other patients but I don’t really feel like “just a number” to her. I wish I could see Dr. Keller at every procedure but Washington University rotates doctors doing procedure. However, I think there are many pros to this system. I have had egg retrievals and transfers on holidays, weekends, even Sunday. I appreciate that they have a large group of doctors for this reason. And they meet every week to discuss cases and bounce ideas off of each other.

I would just warn them that they might feel overwhelmed at first or feel like “just a number” but Dr. Keller really cares.

Dr. K switched my to an antagonist for my second retrieval. Therefore I could do a Lupron trigger since the first egg retrieval resulted in mild OHSS. Antagonist with the Lupron trigger was soooo much easier on my body. She also suggested freezing my embryos at 2PN (right after fertilization) rather than grow them to blast and then freeze. I didn’t have luck getting embryos to blast stage during the first IVF. So this way I can still do a frozen transfer (let my body calm down for a couple months) and still have the option of a 3 day transfer if necessary.

For my first cycle (monitoring, retrieval, and transfer), insurance was billed $21,000. This was MORE than I was originally told. Meds were $3,800. Luckily I have fairly good insurance. For my second cycle (monitoring and retrieval - no transfer yet), insurance has been billed $17,862. Meds were about the same.

I've done one transfer so far. We transferred 2 embryos at her suggestion. This was because it was day 5 and they were not quite blasts yet so she thought 2 would be better than 1.

Extremely patient, Kind and compassionate. He even took the time to tell us how much he really enjoyed working with LGBTQ patients. He tells you exactly what is going on even if the news is not good. My partner and I really appreciated his straightforwardness. He is very goal oriented and does not waste any time- that was exactly what we wanted when searching for a fertility doctor.

Know that the techs and nurses might not have the best bedside manner or be super kind to you-BUT Dr. Omurtag is the one in charge of your treatment and each step along the way.

After 3 failed IUI at another clinic-We started with a natural IUI cycle. Then an IUI with Clomid and finally the 3rd IUI with Clomid, estrogen, and progesterone. We are now moving onto reciprocal IVF.

At this point, we have spent around $4,500.00. For three IUI's, medication, ultrasounds, medication, (2) meetings with Omertag and Sperm.

Dr Keller is exceptional. She is very compassionate and thorough. She takes into consideration the whole picture when coming up with a plan. She went over both mine and my husbands issues. She made sure you understood before you left her office. She gave options instead of trying to dictate every move. She is highly recommended.

Go see her sooner than you think you should. You will not be disappointed in her care.

I had previously had two egg retrievals at a different place with poor results. I went to Dr Keller for a second opinion. My diagnosis was basically unexplained infertility. She gave me the option to try less expensive treatments with IUI plus clinic first because I have a strong family history of breast cancer and the less hormones the better for me. She said sometimes if it is an issues with egg quality the less you mess with the eggs the better off you are. IUI plus Clomid resulted in a pregnancy the 3rd try, however it was an ectopic pregnancy. After 3 more attempts she recommended IVF which we are currently planning to do soon. The last IUI I took Femara instead of Clomid she wanted to see if it might work better for me.

IUI 383 per cycle.

She has recommended two embryos (maximum) transfer when the time comes if possible.

Dr. Odem is an amazing person and a wonderful physician. I honestly don't have any weakness or negatives to say regarding Dr. Odem. I have many positive things to say in our time spend at the clinic with Dr Odem. From our visit, we could tell that he loves what he does, and he truly wants the best outcome for his patients. One specific visit was very very difficult for us, when we experienced an ectopic pregnancy. He was very calm and caring, and he was gentle and gave us plenty of time to grieve and then decide what our next step was. I cannot explain how much that meant to us during a very hard time. He took excellent care of us, and that was just very encouraging.

Ask lots of questions.

The first cycle we just used Clomid with no success. The 2nd cycle we used Clomid and IUI together, and we did have success with a pregnancy. At 6 weeks, it failed with an ectopic pregnancy. The next 4 cycles we did Clomid and IUI with no success. Our last visit consisted of an IVF discussion.

Office visits with Dr Odem himself costed anywhere from $130-250. IUI ranged $100-$300. I had to have surgery at Barnes for ectopic pregnancy which was around $15,000.

We did feel sufficiently educated on the IVF process. He strongly recommended a single embryo transfer in our case. He did explain why he recommended a single transfer versus multiple--examples: higher risk pregnancy, higher risk of premature births and higher risk of losing a pregnancy.

She is concise, but explained my conditions in full detail, even provided drawings if that helped us understand why some things did/did not work. She always walks us through each procedure at least once, if not twice. She is thorough in understanding my body and our treatment. We are returning patients and she loves to hear about our son, who was conceived with her help. The first round we had some miscommunication that caused some confusion, but it was easily fixed and she made sure it did not happen again.

She will cover everything and she is very knowledgable in her field. If it doesn't make sense at first, ask questions and she will be happy to explain and help in any way she can.

Because of my diagnosis we went straight to IVF treatments. I had other procedures, but do not recall exact names or reasons. I received hormones orally and injected. She adjusted my thyroid medicine as my blood work results were obtained. I had a fresh transfer which resulted in a chemical pregnancy and frozen transfer which resulted in a live birth. Because of my previous results, she is following the same course of treatment this round.

I am unsure about total clinic costs. Copays are $40 and my insurance has always covered 80% of expenses. I know the medication cost about $1,500.

Dr Omurtag is a compassionate, trustworthy doctor. I now consider him a friend. He has been there for my fiancé and I through this tough experience and has not let us feel as though we are "alone on an island" once, just like he promised in the beginning! We ended up with an ectopic pregnancy and had to have two doses of methotrexate, this all occurred over the holidays. You could feel the compassion when in his office and see the pain he had for us in his eyes. I could likely go elsewhere for less money but he is worth every extra penny, even if we didn't get to our end result just yet!

Go to your first meeting with your questions and with your past experiences and information! He will help guide you the rest of the way!

Our first round was a long agonist with gonal-f protocol. The lupron that was used gave me terrible headaches and some stiffness in my neck but overall I did great with the protocol. We ended up transferring two healthy embryos and we had an ectopic pregnancy. We just now started an antagonist with OCPs protocol for round 2. He chose this so he can be more aggressive with the stimulation and therefore have more embryos hopefully to choose from in the end.

It was close to $18,00 including meds. Our insurance didn't cover a penny so we were out of pocket patients.

The doctors in this practice choose based on the embryos and their development. Their goal is for you to have one healthy and happy baby...they come with their reasoning on how many they feel you should transfer and together you make a decision.

Dr Cooper is the most compassionate and empathetic physician I have ever had. Her knowledge and expertise on infertility related disease states are well shown through the research and studies she partakes in within the reproductive/endocrinology field. She treats each patient like a person and not as a statistic that will increase/decrease her facilities success rates. She never rushes you and thoroughly answers all questions during all phone and in person interactions.

Make an in person consultation ASAP to see for yourself what a wonderful physician she is. You will leave feeling loved, cared about, and that your best interest is her number one priority.

After being diagnosed with premature ovarian insiffiency, I wanted to know that I tried everything I could before opting for donor eggs. I tried high doses of gonadotropins such as follistim and menopur, but still did not produce follicles of sufficient size to proceed to a trigger and a retrieval. I tried this 2 different times, both times with the same results. I am currently in the process of persueing donor eggs.

After my deductible is met, insurance picks up a majority of my visit cost. Prior to my deductible being met, a consultation was around $250, all of which was being applied to my deductible.

Again, I appreciate the time she took to explain treatments to me. She came to the appointments prepared. I also appreciated that she called me after my 3rd IUI (I wasn't even home yet) to touch base.

I would tell them to recognize that this is a practice and not a single doctor clinic. You may not see Dr. Jungheim for the procedures but they want to do things on each patient's time table and not the doctor's.

We started with ultrasounds, HSG, and blood work. After that it was determined I wasn't ovulating consistently. (I had also previously had surgery to remove cyst, ovary, and Fallopian tube. I had also previously been diagnosed with endometriosis). We did 3 rounds of Letrozole and IUI. All 3 resulted in negative pregnancy tests. We are now in the process of beginning IVF.

IUIs have ran around $500. The IVF quote including medicine is roughly $14,000

Dr. Omurtag is very kind, knowledgable, and patient. We left our consultation with him feeling like our questions were answered. He also tried to make us feel hopeful, and we could tell that he wanted us to be successful. We also felt that he was very comfortable and competant in working with the LGBT community.

I would have no reservations referring someone to Dr. Omurtag. He is very nice and makes you feel at ease. He explains things in an understandable way. My only word of caution would be that WashU does see a lot of patients and the majority of your interactions will not be with Dr. Omurtag.

I did 3 IUIs, two with Clomid and one natural. I did day 12 ultrasounds to monitor follicles for the second and third cycles. For one cycle it was determined that the clomid diminished my lining so I was given estradoil and a trigger shot. IUI's were typically done the day after the positive LH surge. They were done by the nurse.

IUIs were $385, and ultrasounds were $345. IVF is going to be approximately $11,500 (before meds).

We are just beginning the IVF process, but during our IVF consultation he informed us that they recommend transfering only one embryo.

Dr. Omurtag was very patient and kind, very understanding. He does the initial consult, but works with a team of doctors to decide treatments. He was very responsive when there was a problem. He didn't seem to have a sense of urgency with the situation, and did not suggest any supplements or outside procedures that have shown to maybe contribute to success, just the basic medical IVF treatment.

Definitely do your own research into any supplemental treatments, vitamins, etc. that might provide some benefit. This clinic is much more of a hospital setting than some other clinics.

Long agonist protocol, a month of birth control, 2 weeks of lupron treatment before the stimulation phase began. Wgg retrieval is very much in a hospital surgical room setting. No change after the 1st failed cycle except increase dosages of gonal F and menopure. No planned change after 2nd failed cycle.

Monitoring is done in the very early morning and usually can be accomplished within 10 to 30 min, depending on if you are having bloodwork or a scan as well. It is very efficent but they do not make you feel like it is an assembly at all.

A long agonist cycle with transfer and medication cost about 15,000$. ICSI was around another 1000$.

Dr. Omurtag was fine with transfering 2 untested embryos and after age 35 and previously failed cycles would transfer 3 untested embryos.

Dr. Keller was very kind and compassionate while still being honest about our chances. We have unexplained infertility which is very frustrating and she did her best to balance between looking for answers to why we couldn’t get pregnant and getting pregnant itself. She let us decide how long we would spend doing diagnostics because she knew we didn’t want to wait too much longer to try to get pregnant. She spent as long as we needed during consultations to ensure we got all of our questions answered. She seemed genuinely thrilled for us when our embryo transfer was successful.

Be aware that you will not always see dr. Keller for all treatments.

They were able to schedule early morning to avoid missing work which was great. I never waited more than 20ish minutes for these appts

We had insurance that covered some of our costs but I think for retrieval and transfer (not including meds) cash price was around 13k (without insurance)

We were told that because we had one embryo of good quality on day 5 and one that was lagging slightly behind, our best chances were to transfer both as this would increase our chances of getting pregnant. We were told if we did not transfer our embryo that was slightly behind, it would likely not make it to freeze so we decided to transfer both.

He is very thorough, understanding and determined. He listened to my concerns and even when he didn’t think things were necessary, he ran tests to give me peace of mind. He gave us our twins and we couldn’t be more grateful!

He can be cut and dry when it gets to the medical side of things. He will tell you like it is, but you can’t take it to heart.

He did the basic ivf routine each time, when I did find out I was pregnant, he had me take baby aspirin and shots of progesterone and lovenox due to MTHFR and PI1.

We were lucky enough to have fertility coverage with our insurance. We ran out of funds just before our final transfer so we paid out of pocket for that. I believe it was $1,000. In total, we spent $16k

We transferred 1 resulting in a chemical pregnancy. Next we transferred 2 resulting in a neg. Finally we transferred 2 again and now have twins! It’s a choice you have to make for yourself I feel. Be prepared for each embryo to stick. There’s always a possibility!

Dr. Omurtag is an outstanding physician! He's a warm and friendly person who makes you feel welcome during a doctor visit, especially with how difficult or delicate the situation is at hand. As an example, I felt uncomfortable with an SHG and trial transfer that we allowed a Fellow perform under his guidance, and Dr. Omurtag distracted me with talking about everyday things, like baseball, which I enjoy.

The advice I would give a prospective patient of Dr. Omurtag would be to speak up and ask questions - even if you feel it's a dumb question - there are NO dumb questions to him! He's very knowledgeable, so use that to help you make an informed decision about your fertility journey.

I was diagnosed with unexplained infertility and Dr. Omurtag put me on the Long GnRH Agonist regimen. It went over 2 menstrual cycles, utilizing birth control pills beginning on CD4 (preventing pregnancy) until all active pills were taken. On CD 21, I started 20 units of Lupron ( to block ovulation) for 21 days. I started my period around this time, beginning the second cycle of the long regimen. I had an ultrasound and estradiol check to confirm suppression. Then in cycle 2, I used varying doses of Gonal F and Menopur (to stimulate my ovaries to make follicles.) Gonal F started on CD6 at 225iu, then decreased to 150iu on CD9 until last dose on CD15. I started 75iu of Menopur on CD9 through CD12. One day of 150iu of Menopur on CD13, then 75iu CD14 through CD15. I stopped all meds on CD16 for my retrieval on CD18. At my retrieval, they extracted 15 follicles, of which 12 were good to fertilize. Four out of six fertilized with the conventional method and five of the other six with ICSI.

My global self-pay package was about $12,600, not including medication, for IVF (fresh cycle). It included pre-IVF procedure, IVF retrieval plus ICSI, IVF transfer, and post-IVF procedure. For me, my meds ranged from $3,000 to $4,000. I also sought out rebates, coupons, etc, to help off-set those medicine costs.

Dr Omurtag seemed okay with my decision to transfer 2 embryos, informing me of the risks/benefits and not trying to persuade me either way. He was quite supportive. However, on the day of the transfer, another doctor (Dr. Randal Odem) performed it because he was being on call that week. He double checked with me and my decision to do two, informing me one last time of benefits/risks of transferring two, but I backed out and only had them transfer one embryo. I went on to have a successful singleton pregnancy and live birth of this fresh cycle.

Dr. Jungheim has the exact bedside manner that I love. She is warm, friendly, compassionate, and deeply caring. Also, as a scientist, I wanted to know the research that exists about treatment options, and Dr. Jungheim was honest and forthright about the research that is out there and the research that has yet to be done. She approaches treatment from an evidence based perspective, which is important to me. And she was honest. If I asked a question to which there wasn't any good research out there to provide an answer, she would tell me so. When there was truly no way to know the biological reason our first IVF cycle didn't work, she was honest about that and told me so. I hear stories of other doctors telling patients guesses as to why things worked a certain way, when there is actually no real way for them to know. Some patients find comfort in that, but that is not what I want. I want a doctor who does not have inflated confidence about what they know, and is informed about the actual research to give me that information. She even pointed me to the original research articles, so I could read them myself. Dr. Jungheim is fantastic. If I move away from St. Louis and need to do IVF again, I plan to go back to her!

Don't be afraid to ask a lot of questions. She will take the time for you.

We have unexplained infertility, which led us to start with IUI. When that didn't work, we moved on to IVF. My first cycle was an antagonist protocol, which was chosen for several reasons. One is that it is one of the most successful protocols for unexplained infertility in my age group at this clinic. Another is that I had a huge needle phobia, and this protocol involves fewer injections compared to the other option she would consider. We also did what they call "partial" ICSI. Since there were no known male factor issues or egg quality issues for us, the clinic used ICSI on half of my eggs in order to test the fertilization rate for ICSI vs. not. It turned out that the fertilization rate was equal, so it didn't seem that ICSI was truly necessary for us. Many clinics automatically do ICSI no matter what, however, there are some small risks of doing ICSI if you don't need to. So, this partial ICSI approach is like an experiment to see if I needed it, which would be useful for future decisions if this cycle didn't work. Then, the clinic watches the embryos and makes a decision on day 3 as to whether to do a day 3 or day 5 transfer of 1 or 2 embryos. They have certain criteria that they want to meet in order to push the transfer to day 5. I did not meet that criteria, so we transferred 2 embryos on day 3. Unfortunately, this cycle failed. The second cycle chosen was a long agonist protocol with Lupron. I also inquired about an endometrial scratch test. Dr. Jungheim told me that the evidence for the scratch is strictly correlational right now, but promising. In fact, the clinic was conducting a clinical trial to test the efficacy of the scratch at that time. Dr. Jungheim told me that if I wanted to do the scratch, I certainly could. So, I did. Ouchie. Then, we did not use ICSI this cycle given the fertilization rate of the previous cycle. And we had the same rate of fertilization. Again, the embryos did not meet criteria for a day 5 transfer, so we transferred 2 embryos on day 3. This cycle worked!!! We now have a 7.5 month old son, who is the light of our lives.

I conveniently could do monitoring appointments right before work. It operated well. Sometimes I wouldn't have to wait at all, sometimes I'd have to wait 10 minutes. The techs who did the monitoring were great.

Each IUI cost $400, and each round of IVF cost ~$15,000

The Washington University clinic as a whole wants to avoid multiples while maximizing live births. So they make decisions about the number of embryos to transfer based on each individual case, and I think they make very good decisions. We transferred 2 embryos and ended up with a singleton pregnancy, so I am very glad we didn't transfer 1.

He is fabulous at making sure you fully understand everything that is going on. He is friendly, but professional at the same time. The most important thing, he knows what he is doing. I never felt like he was unsure about the plan.

Trust him.

Our first cycle was a Long Agonist protocol. We started with birth control and then used 10IU Lupron for 13 days. Then, we lessened the Lupron to 5IU and added 300IU Gonal F for three days. After that, we eliminated the Lupron, lessened Gonal F to 150IU, and added Menopur in at 150IU for four days. I did not respond well, which was surprising. We retrieved 7 eggs, 4 were mature, and 1 fertilized into an embryo. We did full ICSI. We did not conceive. On our second round, we did a Luteal Estradiol Antagonist protocol, eliminating birth control and Lupron completely. We eliminated supressants because I didn't respond well to the first cycle. I took ovulation tests until I ovulated, then a week later, I started estrogen for 5 days to prime my ovaries. At the start of my period, took 150IU of Menopur, and 225IU Gonal F for seven days. Then added in 250IU of Cetrotide for an additional three days. We retrieved 11 eggs, 7 were mature, and 2 fertilized into embryos with full ICSI again. We conceived and are currently pregnant.

We were fortunate enough to have 2 rounds mostly covered by insurance. We just had to pay for the more expensive of the medications. A round including medications does cost about $20,000 usually.

I believe his approach was correct with our results.

We really enjoyed working with Dr. Omurtag. After evaluating our histories and testing, he was very confident that we would be successful, either via IUI or IVF. We did not see Dr. Omurtag at every visit, but it was made clear to us that we could schedule an appointment to meet with him any time we needed. We had an initial meeting with him where we discussed our past pregnancy history and overall health. At this meeting, he went over our initial plan to obtain a diagnosis, including all of the testing he was ordering and when/where these procedures would be performed. Once this testing was completed, we met with him again to discuss our treatment course, which turned out to be IUI. We underwent four unsuccessful IUI cycles and then reconvened with Dr. Omurtag, who recommended proceeding with IVF. Because this was such a costly step, we asked to continue the IUI for two more cycles while we saved up the money for IVF, and he agreed. These cycles were also unsuccessful, so we met with Dr. Omurtag once again after our IVF financing was in place. At this meeting, he explained the IVF process and all of the procedures associated with it. At this practice, all IVF cases for the month are handled by a single physician on a rotating basis. This is the reason that Dr. Omurtag did not handle all of our procedures himself. However, we had a good experience with the other two physicians in the practice with whom we worked. Once we received a positive pregnancy blood work up after the fresh IVF cycle, we met with Dr. Omurtag again after our first ultrasound at 7 weeks. The baby was slightly undersized, but not alarmingly so, and Dr. Omurtag asked us to return in a week to check on the fetal growth. At that point, he felt comfortable turning us over to our OB for the remainder of the pregnancy, but encouraged us to call at any time if we had concerns, especially during the time before our first OB appointment. When I miscarried at nearly 11 weeks, Dr. Omurtag happened to be at the hospital and stopped to see us after we got the bad news. He was very compassionate, but also made sure to express his confidence that our treatment plan was good and would result in a viable pregnancy. This was very reassuring to hear on what was the worst day of our lives. When we were ready, we scheduled another meeting to discuss conducting a frozen cycle with our remaining embryo. Dr. Omurtag also performed a saline sonohysterogram to make sure that there were no issues that had not been visible on my HSG or other ultrasounds. He explained the differences between the fresh and frozen cycles and we proceeded (again, a different doctor performed the embryo transfer, but he was great as well). We were once again successful and transferred to the care of our OB at 8 weeks. This second pregnancy resulted in our son, born in August 2016. During all of our appointments, Dr. Omurtag was very comprehensive and understandable in all of his explanations. We were encouraged to ask questions and interrupt him for further explanation. He made us feel very comfortable and definitely made an effort to get to know us as people. He still remembers details about us and our family, even after going 8 months without seeing us. He asked us to keep the practice posted on the outcome of the pregnancy and suggested we visit after our son was born in August 2016. Before that visit, we found out that our son is a carrier for a fatal genetic condition, and Dr. Omurtag was able to give us the basics on how we would proceed if we decide to have a third child.

Trust in the process. It might seem like you are going to endless appointments, tests, scans and blood draws, but they are all necessary. Remind yourself that reproduction is incredibly inefficient and accept that you may never know the exact reason for your infertility without going through multiple cycles of medication, IUI and/or IVF. There are so many factors that it may be very difficult for the docs to pinpoint the exact cause, especially in cases of secondary infertility like ours. It was a two year process, but Dr. Omurtag was a great guide and we ended up with a child, which was the goal of the exercise.

See my response from the experience question. We came to Dr. Omurtag with secondary infertility after 6 months of ovulation testing and two cycles of Clomid performed by my OB. Treatment began with an HSG and ultrasounds and bloodwork for me and a semen analysis for my husband. I was diagnosed PCO due to a slightly elevated testosterone level and high ovarian reserve. However, I don't experience any other symptoms and all other testing was normal. Because my cycles were regular and I was ovulating, and because we had successfully conceived and carried to term on our own in the past, we decided to start with IUI. Dr. Omurtag recommended four cycles, because success rates drop off sharply after four IUIs. We ended up doing six cycles, but the last two were done to increase our slim chances of conceiving while we saved up the funds and waited for IVF availability (they only accept a certain number of IVF patients each month). I was prescribed Lupron to aid in the IUI cycles. It's been a while, so I don't remember the exact procedures and tests involved with each cycle, other than coming in for a mid-cycle ultrasound to check on follicle ripeness. When the scan was favorable, we scheduled a morning appointment for the IUI. My husband arrived early to provide a semen sample, which was analyzed and prepared and then transferred via a catheter by one of the nurses about an hour later. When IUI proved unsuccessful, we turned to IVF. Dr. Omurtag determined that Long GnRH agonist protocol was the best fit for us. We were required to secure financing and attend a very helpful IVF orientation before proceeding. After completing the drug regimen (which included OCP, Leuprolide, FSH, and hCG trigger), we harvested 23 eggs, 19 of which were viable. Because my husband's sperm count had varied during the IUI cycles, Dr. Omurtag decided to fertilize 10 of the eggs conventionally and 9 of them with ICSI. Only one of the eggs fertilized conventionally, but all 9 of the ICSI were successful. After 3 days of growth, we had several promising embryos, so Dr. Omurtag settled on a day 5 transfer. At that point, there were three exceptionally good transfer candidates. The decision of how many (1 or 2) to transfer was left to us. We chose 2 and one of those successfully implanted. After our miscarriage, we did a frozen cycle with our remaining embryo. Dr. Omurtag performed a saline sonohysterogram to ensure that there were no underlying physical issues with carrying a pregnancy that we might have missed previously (and to ensure that the products of the miscarriage had all been expelled). I'm unable to locate all of my paperwork from this cycle for some reason, but I know that the drug regimen was much less intense and there were fewer injectables. The frozen embryo transfer was again successful and this time I carried to term.

I believe each IUI cycle cost around $600. We financed the IVF cycles through ARC, where we paid $15,000 to cover a fresh and a frozen cycle. Medications were an additional expenses, but a relatively low cost with my insurance. All diagnostic testing was covered under our insurance.