Jennifer Brown

I found Dr. Brown to be competent and sympathetic for the most part, but I experienced quite a bit of shaming around my weight from her. As in, the day that my third loss in a year was confirmed, she mentioned that maybe I should take some time off to get "the best possible environment" for transferring my last embryos as everything seemed fine except I keep miscarrying. By which she meant "lose weight" because she believes that high BMI can cause implantation problems--and she's pretty blunt about that in a "that's the science" way. That same day, she told me that if my insurance was maxed out and wouldn't cover a transfer of my final remaining embryos, they'd do it anyway. So, it's a mixed bag having her as your fertility doctor. I found her generally sympathetic and likable, and she really seems personally to want me to leave their clinic with a baby, but she has the ability to hit that sore spot (whether it's justified and true or not, being told that you being fat might be why you keep losing your pregnancies is really painful). She also sometimes seemed not to remember my exact history/background and I would have to reminder her "we decided not to do that because X, Y, Z...." Honestly, I was always happy when I was seeing Dr. Murray, her partner, instead, as I felt she was just as competent, but more sympathetic.

Honestly, if they're at all heavy, I'd suggest they specifically ask for Dr. Murray instead. You'll see all three doctors anyway, but I think she's a better option personally (not clinically, where I'd say any of the three clinic docs are similar) for anyone who's sensitive about conversations about their weight.

4 rounds of IVF, all antagonist protocol (Gonal-F and Menopur stims, Cetrotide to block ovulation, Lupron+HCG trigger) with two freeze all cycles (due to PCOS and OHSS risk).

I had insurance (I've now met my lifetime max), but insurance paid: $7,800-$9,900 for each round of IVF, depending on whether it was freeze all or fresh transfer cycle and whether they did ICSI or the embryos went to blastocyst before transfer/freeze. ~$2,300 for each FET (not including monitoring (2-3 visits for ~$300/visit) or beta testing (~$500 for HCG, progesterone, and estrogen))

I advocated for eSET in my initial transfers--my doctor was open to transferring multiples because of my age, but went with my choice for two rounds before deciding to move to DET.

Dr Brown was the best with her explanations of treatments and setting my expectations. Before we started injections for egg retrieval she made it very clear to me that we would need to freeze all the embryos we created because I was likely at risk for OHSS. When we got to that day and my estrogen was sky high and I was emotional, it saved me the disappointment of not being able to try a fresh transfer. I knew what to expect and that was key for me. Dr Brown is incredibly competent and knowledgeable. Honestly the only weakness may be that she is more on the matter of fact side of treatment. I felt very supported and understood but if you're looking for someone extremely touchy feely and warm and fuzzy she may not be for you. For me she was exactly what I needed- honest and straight forward while clearly empathetic

You'll be well taken care of by Dr Brown, even when she's not directly talking with you she's making sure the treatment plan for you is the best fit

In my initial workup we found my LH to be high and my FSH to be on the lower end, much like in PCOS but I had no other signs/symptoms of it so we called it "poor ovulation" and tried 6 cycles medicated with timed intercourse that did not result in pregnancy but I ovulated quite well. We considered trying 1 IUI but given my husband's great semen analysis we all decided IVF made more sense. My protocol was an antagonist protocol. 2 weeks of birth control, a baseline US then Gonal F and Menopur for 5 days and then a follicle scan. After that scan we added ganirelix for 4 days until the next scan. After the second scan we triggered with leuprolide and very low dose HCG. We did the mixed trigger because of my high follicle count and risk for OHSS. They mentioned doing just a leuprolide trigger but decided on low dose HCG to try to maximize the number of mature eggs from the follicles. We ended up with 29 eggs, 23 mature. We split them into 2 groups for fertilization- half traditional IVF and half ICSI. Then the next day the traditional IVF eggs that did not fertilize were added to the ICSI group. Overall we ended up with 9 mature day 5 embryos to freeze.

The clinic was great at managing costs- my insurance covered diagnostics but not treatment so they made sure to bill all our initial workup and monitoring that way so it coukd be covered. They also counseled me on how to manage my PCP in order to qualify me for reduced cost medications which was incredibly helpful. The egg retrieval and first frozen transfer were $7,000 and anesthesia costs were $500. Our second frozen transfer was $2,000.

We all agreed that single embryo transfers were best for us. I am younger so our predicted success rates were pretty good, and I am also a small person and the thought of a multiple pregnancy was not worth the risk vs having multiple transfers

Dr Brown was very kind and explained everything/step in detail and what the plan was. She felt pretty positive about me conceiving. She had personally called me to let me know the transfer didn't work.

To make sure you ask all questions and have a clear understanding of what would come next if the cycle didn’t work.

Started taking birth control on CD2 for 16 days. Had a uterine fibroid removed on day 17. Day 18 started stims taking 225 Gonal F and 150 Menopur mixed. That mixture was taken for 7 days. On day 8 of stims Ganirelix was added for 6 days. On stims day 13 I had to take HCG IM shot and a dose of Lupron. Stims day 14 just Lupron and stims day 16 was egg retreival. They retrieved 16 eggs of which 12 were mature and 8 fertilized with ICSI. After transfer tried Progesterone injection but wasn't able to give myself the shot so switched to suppositories.

No issues even had Dr Casson preform an ultrasound :)

costs as when I first started. Office visits, blood work and ultrasounds were covered by insurance. IUI and IVF (including meds were not covered) semen analysis $175 injection training $125 SHG $350 IUI's $400 each IVF without monitoring $7,000 plus $530 for anesthesia

Because of my age she was concerned with transferring multiple embryos but I was still at the age where it fell under their guidelines and I was able to have 2 transferred. She was very helpful in describing the risks of a successful transfer.

Dr. Brown clearly cared about our situation and wanted to help us. I wish that she had taken the time to review our prior care in better detail before automatically letting me decide to proceed with another IVF cycle. She did not rush us through our appts with her but was not there to do the retrieval or the transfer. She did call me personally with my bloodwork results which was nice.

Dr. Brown is a very nice woman who will take the time you need to discuss concerns and help make a plan that works for you.

We did an IVF cycle with my eggs (fresh) using gonal-f and menopur as well as Lupron. We retrieved 7 eggs with only 1 mature and 3 which were matured in the lab and all were fertilized with ICSI. We did a transfer on day 3 with a day 2 and a day 3 embryo. The remaining 2 embryos were left to grow to day 5 but did not survive. We received a negative bloodwork test and were left with nothing.

the IVF procedure was 10,530. We had to do preliminary assessments due to my prior IVF being a year old. I would say overall we spent approximately 12-13,000.

Dr. Brown had a candid conversation about the risks of transferring more than 1 embryo, however, given that mine were not of great quality, it was decided that two made more sense to transfer.

Makes time to answer questions and discuss alternative options. Warm bedside manner. Draws lots of diagrams of uteruses and ovaries. Give patients options and does not force a set one size fits all treatment plan.

Dont be afraid to call with questions and ask to speak with her, she will usually make time.

Used clomid and IUI to increase odds of unexplained infertility. Was diagnosed with endometriosis and moved on to IVF. Did two months of birth control before frozen embryo transfer to help with endometriosis. Had polyps removed from uterus. Resulted in two chemical pregnancies.

I have infertility insurance coverage. However, I wished I’d known to shop around for drug prices instead of using their default pharmacy.

Very enthusiastic about our choices to do a single embryo transfer.

Dr Brown had a good bedside manner but just wasn't the right fit for me and my needs. I wanted a dr who took the whole body into account and would address my autoimmune issues in fertility treatment. She said she didn't think there was a connection between my infertility and auto-immune, and that's why I left her as a patient. In addition, I had to have 3 septum surgeries and she was not great at communicating the risk before having the first that I would have to have more than one due to the length of the septum. This led to a big let down after the first surgery - to find out I needed another and then another...

Ask for clarity about any risks/potential next steps before a surgery. Also, if you have other health issues that YOU believe are connected to infertility, I don't think she will be a good fit for you!

She is incredibly intelligent. I have done a lot of research on ivf and come to her with many questions that she always answers. I trust her to help me make decisions, and she always takes my thoughts in to account. She is very positive and confident in my treatment.

Don’t hold back, make sure to share everything you are feeling.

I wish I remembered more! After all the failed transfers, I try to forgot. Two rounds of egg retrieval, 1 fresh transfer and 2 frozen. I have severe endometriosis so a frozen transfer allowed for the ability to take birth control to decrease inflammation. We used icsi for all embryos.

I paid out of pocket, our saving plus. I knew my insurance didn’t cover any of this, but went to her anyways.

We have done both, and I prefer single.

We only tried letrozole for 3 cycles, which unfortunately was not effective. We have paused on any further treatment because of the costs, as our insurance does not cover it and also my husband and I decided that we need to work on "us" and our health before giving conception another shot.

Ask questions, be open.

Started with a workup, Dr Brown asking questions about fertility history. Next bloodwork. Finally a course of action.

Our insurance covers diagnostic costs only. Any procedures that were done would need to be covered by my husband and myself.

She preformed surgery and our initial conversation. We did not see her other then that. We did speak to one of the other doctors there one more time but other then that we saw mostly the nurses. She did do wonderful with my surgery and make me feel very secure.

Clomid for iui. The amounts stayed the same each time. I wish they tried different ways after the first 3 didn’t work.

750 for iui 350 sperm retrieval

Jennifer Brown Is extremely knowledgeable and very compassionate. She will often take extra time with you if needed. Jennifer Brown is invested in the outcome of patients and has excellent bedside manner.

To expect that communication between doctors and nurses to be confusing

IUIs- clomid, ovidrel (4 negative) IVF- ortho-cyclen, Menapur, gonal f, ganirelix, lupron, pregnyl (current)

Approximately $10,000

So far: She came off as a caring person that did not talk down to me or act judgemental. She was professional. Being that the first meeting was over the internet we had to adjust for sound quality and she was great about communicating what needed to be discussed.

Its too soon to give advice as we have only talked once.

I was to call back with the first day of my cycle. The office was closed and the answering service said to call back next month. I was upset by the manner of this cold service because I thought we were still going to at least try IVF even though there was a hold because I am very close to going into menopause and aging out of the ability to have IVF. I wanted to at least know for sure what was going to happen and there are no answers. No response to email.

20 dollar copay. I am insured at this time but will age out of my insurance next month so it will be completely on me to continue trying after that.