Paula Brady

Dr Brady has an excellent bedside manner, and seemed committed to my process and experience. She responded to my questions quickly (usually by email which is more convenient for me due to work). I always felt well taken care of.

Mostly covered by insurance; I just paid copays

Dr. Brady is one of the best fertility doctors you can find! Both me and my husband enjoyed working with her! 1/ Evidence-based approach: Dr. Brady was our second fertility doctor. We have done two embryo freezing cycles with the previous doctor but our success rate was low. (only one healthy embryo from the two rounds). Unfortunately, our previous doctor didn’t seem interested in conducting a further investigation or modifying the protocol based on test or treatment results. On the other hand, Dr. Brady was interested in investigating the root causes to improve the results. After our first meeting, Dr. Brady had my partner do an additional test and found out that there is also a male factor to our infertility in addition to the egg quality issue from my age. Based on this result and additional input from a male fertility specialist, she was able to change the protocol and get a successful result. 2/ Communication: Dr. Brady is an excellent communicator. During our treatment, she was able to explain the treatment option and pros and cons well. Dr. Brady also responded to our emails promptly (even late at night!) and provided us with the medical and emotional support we needed. We felt like we were in good hands throughout and will definitely keep in touch with her! 3/ Results: We did one round of embryo freezing and transfer and both of them were successful. I am now 12 weeks pregnant :)

You may not see Dr. Brady in person as much but I wouldn’t worry about that too much. Other doctors did our retrieval and transfer but all the doctors at CUFC were wonderful.

1/ Sperm testing: Found higher DNA fragmentation and did a consultation and more testing with a male fertility specialist 2/ 1 round of embryo freezing: modified stimulation protocol (lower dosage of medications based on my race - eastern asian female) + the microfluidics chip to select sperm 3/ 1 round of embryo transfer using the embryo from another clinic Natural cycle, Ovidrel 250 mcg #1 PFS (trigger shot), Progesterone until week 10 of pregnancy

CUFC has very efficient operations. Check-in, wait for 5-10 mins and do blood tests and ultrasounds. I was usually out the door within 20 mins. All the staff were nice and pleasant to work with.

Our insurance didn’t offer fertility benefits so everything was out of pocket for us. embryo freezing: $18K, embryo transfer: $4.5K (not including medications)

It took only three cycles to get pregnant (my first cycle resulted in a chemical pregnancy, and second cycle resulted in a negative pregnancy test). Dr. Brady was warm, caring, and answered all of my questions during our initial consultation.

You may need to be proactive in asking questions.

Letrozole (2.5 mg, then 5 mg) for 5 days (week 1 of cycle) HCG trigger shot

My partner and I tried to conceive for seven years, enduring horrible experiences at our previous clinic. After reading glowing reviews of Dr. Brady online, we decided to book a consultation with her. She exceeded our expectations in every way. After our initial examination, we proceeded with IUI and IVF, and thanks to her outstanding care, we achieved a positive outcome with just one transfer! My only complaint is that I didn't get to see Dr. Brady in person a few times. However, she was always just one email away. She answered my messages and concerns even late at night.

I had good insurance and company benefits to support my fertility treatment financially. However, I also received a quote for out-of-pocket costs, which was surprisingly reasonable.

I read about Dr. Brady's eSET philosophy before I made my appointment with her. Given that I have some heart issues, my cardiologist also recommended that I do single embryo transfers.

Dr. Brady is clearly brilliant. She's very knowledgeable and explained in a very understandable way the probabilities and options. She has a human element that balances her clinical knowledge in the best way. The information she provided enabled me to make an informed decision with my husband. We feel very fortunate to have been under her care!

Ask all the questions you want, she's great and doesn't mind answering. I'm the type of patient who needs to understand the probability and what is happening. She was beyond patient and understanding in answering questions both live and via email (she's very responsive)!

I did a timed intercourse cycle out of pocket (no insurance coverage) which was about $2000-2100.

Dr. Brady made us feel as comfortable as possible and confident in knowing that the right decisions were being made. We never felt the need to question her suggestions and if we ever had any questions or concerns we were always able to reach her directly via email and received quick and thorough responses. This was so incredibly valuable to us in the process.

We decided to do an egg retrieval with genetic testing of the embryos because of a genetic issue in our family history. We ended up with 6 healthy embryos and did a natural cycle transfer which was wonderful. Undergoing this process without needing progesterone shots was a pleasant surprise. We transferred one embryo and resulted in pregnancy. We are now 21 weeks.

Dr. Brady did what other practitioners did not, she tried to understand what was going on that would lead us to coming to her in the first place. Other doctors my partner and I had gone to didn't bother digging and just said IVF was the only solution. We ended up indeed needing to go the IVF route, but Dr. Brady investigated, which my partner and I really appreciated, it gave us the why/context of what was going on. And that was before we even got started with treatment. Dr. Brady is warm and compassionate, she delivered hard news gently and provided next courses of action. She is very informative, which my partner and I really appreciated, when we had questions, she would provide as much detail as possible in a way that was easy to digest (for non-medical people). Whenever she was in the NYC location, she would make time to see us if we were at the clinic. She really made my partner and me feel taken care of, that we didn't have to worry about being our own advocates in a world we were unfamiliar with.

If you're in the NYC location, do not worry that you won't see her in person too much (the staff at the clinic are wonderful), you're still in a really great hands and she's available via email to answer questions.

For the first round of retrieval, Gonal F 400 IU SQ daily and Low Dose HCG 20 units per evening. This produced an abundance of eggs, but no viable embryos. So for the second round of retrieval, if I recall, the doctor was looking for slightly less aggressive stimulation. It was Letrozole 5mg daily, Gonal F 225 IU SQ daily, and Menopur 75 IU SQ daily. This produced slightly fewer eggs (though not by much), and three viable embryos.

Monitoring windows started early enough in the mornings that it never disrupted my schedule, it just meant an earlier morning than usual. The process was very efficient and was easy to follow, making for a quick visit usually, in and out in 15 minutes or so typically.

Luckily, insurance covered a lot of the expenses, but it was still quite expensive! We ended up having to genetic testing due to our specific circumstances, so that was more or less out of pocket and costed about $3,000 each time. Our copay for visits were $40. The medications also ended up piling up quite a bit, some going for $100 or so. And for us, after one year, storage for frozen embryos is charged, though I'm forgetting the amount, but I believe it's around $1000.

It was recommended not to do multiple embryo transfer due to risks of multiple pregnancy.

I really couldn't say enough about Dr. Brady. She is an extremely intelligent doctor. She was thorough and made additional workup recommendations that were outside of the norm to be certain we were covering all of our bases. Beyond her ability and skills as a doctor, her personality makes the experience so much smoother. She is kind, compassionate and empathetic. I can not emphasize more how responsive she is. I never felt left hanging or that I couldn't get in touch with her or the practice. She kept me up to speed every step of the way! Dr. Brady is truly amazing at what she does and I would recommend her to anyone struggling with infertility.

Trust the process and trust Dr. Brady's expertise. Stay as patient as possible, as it is a long journey and can not happen overnight!

We have a specialty fertility insurance called Progyny which Dr. Brady's practice accepts. We were grateful to have minimal costs associated with our care.

Dr. Brady strongly recommended eSET for me. I will be a higher risk pregnancy and she did not think it would be the safest option to have multiples. She reiterated the goal of one IVF cycle is one healthy life birth. I am very glad she recommended this.

Dr.Brady is very experienced and professional in fertility area. I had irregular ovulation problem for nearly 3 years, went to see multiple GYN doctors but didn't figure out the root cause. My partner and I had tried naturally to have a baby for a year with no success. With Dr.Brady's help, we got success at the first trial of timely intercourse, which is totally beyond our expectation. Because of the persistent ovulation problem , we were prepared for a few rounds of IUI and IVF, and didn't expect we can have problem solved with only one simple timed intercourse treatment. The surprising success is totally due to her accurate judgement on when I needed to come to the office for blood work & Sono to check the growth of the egg, and when I should get the medication. I'm now pregnant for 38+ weeks and looking forward to the baby born.

I had irregular ovulation issue with unexplained reason. Dr.Brady helped us to get pregnant successfully with one timed intercourse treatment

I came to Dr. Brady after three missed miscarriages and seeing one other RE, which ended up being a less than positive experience. She holistically and fully considered all aspects of my care—including referring me to other specialists based on concerns and test results. She took my thoughts and opinions seriously and explored new avenues in diagnostics that were not previously mentioned. Overall, she put my mind at ease because I trusted her and felt she had my best interests at heart.

I highly recommend Dr. Brady. One thing to note is that Columbia is a group practice, so you will see other physicians and technicians even though Dr. Brady manages your care.

Given my history of recurrent miscarriage, Dr. Brady closely followed my last pregnancy from the very beginning and prescribed levothyroxine when my TSH levels came back higher than ideal and later added progesterone when those numbers dropped. I was hesitant to take them, and it's hard to say if either made a difference or if those fluctuations were normal for me and my body. Dr. Brady listened and patiently explained her reasoning, which let me feel in control of and more comfortable with the decision to follow her recommendation. I am currently holding my two-month-old, so everything worked out in the end.

Overall, if you're planning to go to a fertility clinic in NYC, I feel you need to be prepared that the clinics are high volume, and many patients are there for "cautionary" procedures and not intending to have a child at this moment. I also feel you need to quickly understand and be OK with the fact that there are not answers for every single question. Many fertility issues/complications don't have a straight answer. When I first met Dr. Brady, I thought she seemed very knowledgeable and friendly. When we learned that my husband had a rare sperm count, I felt the office's delivery of that message could have used some TLC. From that point forward though, we had regular communication, very often coming directly from Dr. Brady. I always felt she had my best medical and family interests at heart. She always gave me as much information as she could and left the decision to me. It also helped me that she has been through IVF herself and could relate to my experience. I leave her practice feeling very close to her, almost a friend, and I will miss her.

No matter who you see, you must understand that the doctor will not have all the answers. No doctor will. You have to accept the unknowns and have faith in your doctor. I trusted Dr. Brady wholeheartedly.

I did 2 egg retrievals with embryo freezing and genetic testing. Resulting in 7 embryos, and an additional 1 embryo double tested. I also did 5 transfers. My first transfer used hormone injections, and my 2nd through 5th transfers followed my natural cycle, with a trigger shot. I became pregnant on my 2nd, 4th, and 5th transfers. My 4th transfer resulted in a miscarriage, and the other 2 were successful (1 still active).

Reasonable based on my fertility insurance

We only ever considered 1 embryo transfer.

Dr. Brady is extremely caring, and intelligent, and knowledgeable. She caters to your needs, never pushes you to do any test, or anything you don’t want to do, and delivers sensitive information in a caring way. Communication is so easy, and you truly feel confident that you’re in the right hands.

Don’t hesitate! Dr. Brady is the best of the best! I had consultations with other doctors who made me feel like a number, and were rigid in their methods. Dr. Brady works with you, and eases all your worries. She made my fertility journey stress free!

I was nervous about IVF daily self injections. Dr. Brady eased my worries by letting me know how tiny the needles are, and allowing me to mix my medications so that instead of two daily injections I could just do one. She suggested tests that might be beneficial to do before my transfer, and when I expressed that I didn’t want to go through another test she did not push me at all and completely understood my choice. She lets you work with her in your plan and journey, and completely puts you at ease.

Insurance covered most of it. It was easy to pay and deductible amounts on the my chart app.

Dr. Brady was really reachable throughout the entire treatment. She makes herself available even if she is not in the office and will answer any of my emails. She will always offer a call to follow up if needed. We felt really supported during the process and feel we could trust her along the way. Dr. Brady was very open in communicating expectations and next steps. She exhibits great knowledge of her area of expertise to the point that we still ask her questions for guidance during active pregnancy. We really loved her and believe we couldn't ask for a better doctor. If we decide to have a second child she will be for sure our first option. We feel like she went above and beyond for us and walk us every step of the process to a successfull outcome.

To make sure to ask all the questions they have as Dr. Brady will always have an answer and will help to manage expectations

Dr. Brady guide us through genetic studies that are important before the fertilization of the eggs. She then discussed results with us and did the fertilization of the eggs. After the eggs were grown into embryos she came back with results and details for next steps on quality review before the transfer. She allowed me to decide between hormone treatment and natural treatment for the embryo transfer, and I picked natural. She reviewed results every single visit and had her care team keep me updated on progress. She finally scheduled the embryo transfer, and personally came to take care of the procedure despite being her day off. We were beyond graceful for her taking time during her time-off to take care of us and she was very descriptive during the actual embryo transfer. Intructions were provided on next steps and then she monitor my pregnancy until week 9, keeping me updated on progress, expcectations and next steps in every visit.

My experience with Dr.Brady, was comforting, respectful, answered all my questions, responded in a timely manner and was pleasant. I saw her about 3-4 times during my treatment. She's very kind and understanding

One piece if advice I would give to a patient of Dr. Brady is to ask all the questions you've got even if you think it's stupid. Dr. Brady doesn't make you feel stupid.

I was prescribed Gonal F, Letrolzole, Cetretide, ovidrel, and menopur. Letrolzole was 2 pills every evening, gonal f 300 and menopur were self injections. Menopur burned a little but went away soon after injection. Everything else was fairly easy and simple. They provide videos with tutorials

I was able to apply to grants and programs that help cancer patients with IVF. So it was fully covered !

Dr Brady is not only very knowledgeable but also very kind, patient and caring. She takes her time to explain the process and the procedures to you. She will give you your options and involves you in decision making. She is very professional but at the same time makes you feel like a family member. She cares about her patients a lot. I failed a transferred and she personally called me and that made a difference for me, I cried over the phone and she spent 30 minutes explaining my other options, etc. She doesn't transfer embryo after embryo with no plans (which happened to me before) Her next moves are very calculated. I can't recommend her enough. My husband and I were both very happy with her approach, bedside manner and knowledge. She is rarity!

You are in great hands!!!!

she suggested a new test to check the markers of endometrium, she started me on different medications for the next cycle and she changed the cycle to natural. It worked!! She made us happy parents :)

N/A

Dr Brady is not a fan of multiple embryos which was a pleasant surprise for us. Majority of fertility providers love multiple embryo transfer and push for it. She will listen to you and gives you pros and cons of multiple transfers and ultimately let you make the decision. She never pushes you to do things that you are not comfortable with. She never orders extra tests for the sake of charging your insurance.

Dr. Brady is a wonderful provider. I always felt comfortable with the plan of care she created. My previous doctor had been very wishy-washy, often asking me what I thought we should do- which I didn’t know because I’m not a RE! Needless to sat, Dr. Brady came up with solid plans that I was comfortable with and lead to a successful pregnancy!!

Trust the process- it is grueling and time consuming but Dr. Brady is knowledgeable in her field and will do her absolute best to get the results you want!

I used 3 different subcutaneous injections (gonal-f, menopure, and cetrotide) for the stimulation meds. The trigger for my egg retrieval was lupron and ovidrel which yielded great results of 26 eggs retrieved! For my transfer, we had done an ERA test and determined I was pre-receptive and needed 1 more day of progesterone so I completed 6 days of shots prior to my transfer, in addition to oral estrogen tablets 2-3 times daily. Additionally, Dr. Brady had me repeat a HSG test because my first one showed some tubal issues and it was determined I needed to have one of my tubes removed. This, in conjunction with the extra progesterone, is why I think this 4th transfer was a success!

My insurance covered most of my treatment so there has been minimal out of cost to date. There is a bit of lag time on billing so I can’t say with certainty the out of pocket expenses but I would guess less than $10,000 total.

Dr. Brady is a proponent of single embryo transfers for both the safety of mom and baby. Having multiples carries risk for both and is better to be avoided if possible.

My initial consultations with Dr Brady were great. She went through a lot of detail and was very patient with me in answering all my questions. She was very responsive in getting back to me throughout my treatment as well. I wish I would have seen her more for my in person visits but understand that it’s very common with fertility practices to see whatever Dr is there that day. I didn’t have any major issues that needed to be addressed but feel that if I had, she would have been helpful.

Be willing to speak up and advocate for yourself if you have questions or concerns. Dr Brady was very responsive to my concerns but there were some I had to push on a little more.

I did two rounds of IUI with Dr Brady. The first time I used Clomid as after coming off birth control I hadn’t started ovulating again after a couple months. The second time I didn’t need the clomid but did a trigger shot for ovulation. The second IUI resulted in my pregnancy.

2,600 per IUI cycle I think there were some additional initial charges of a few hundred but don’t remember specifics

We can't say enough great things about Dr. Brady! She is simply the best. She was very communicative and empathetic to us as her patients. She really worked with us to achieve our goal to become parents even with our set-backs from doing many IVF cycles to in-clinic procedures to my surgery. IVF is a long road and we found Dr. Brady to be very patient and enthusiastic during our journey. I've recommended Dr. Brady to several of my friends. She's wonderful!

She's great with email. If you have a question, don't hesitate to email her. She will respond within 24-48 hours. No question is too irrelevant, she won't judge you and happy to answer anything. She tries to be there for most of your procedures but with all the doctors' rotating schedules, you'll be in good hands if isn't her.

I was diagnosed with a low egg count and later with adenomyosis. My husband had no issues. I did 5 injection cycles for IVF: 1) egg retrieval - 3 eggs retrieved, 2 embryos, 1 embryo tested normal 2) this round, I didn't produce enough eggs for a retrieval so we decided to do 3) back-to-back cycles, so 4 weeks of injections. With this egg retrieval, we only got 1 egg, 1 embryo, 0 embryo tested normal. 4) I didn't end up with enough eggs to confidently do an egg retrieval (we didn't want to use up our last retrieval covered by insurance) so we did IUI. It was unsuccessful. 5) 2 eggs, 2 embryos, 1 embryo tested normal. When all was said and done, I had 2 embryos tested normal. Dr. Brady recommends 2 embryos tested normal for each child you would like to have. It's hard to tell with each person what is the best course of treatment. We tried pumping me with meds at first but later found out that it wasn't the best solution. The only way you can find out is if you try. As IVF research progresses, doctors will be able to know more about specific courses of treatment. These were the different meds I was on throughout my course of treatment: Lupron, Follistim, Menopur, Ovidrel, Estrogen pills, Progesterone vagina capsules and injections. My first transfer, I took estrogen pills and progesterone shots to prep. This transfer was unsuccessful due to my low HCG level that did not grow rapidly. I had to do many in-clinic procedures throughout the course of my time- it's hard to remember them all. I did have to do a saline sonogram that detected that I had adenomyosis and an adenomyoma in my uterus which probably was the reason my first transfer wasn't successful. I had to have surgery - Myomectomy, Hysteroscopic (at the hospital) to try to remove most of the adenomyoma and smooth out my lining in the uterus. We learned that I produce a lot of estrogen which was causing the adenomyoma. I now understand why I have had painful periods all my life! We decided for my 2nd transfer that I would go on less meds. I didn't take estrogen to prep and I took the progesterone vagina capsules before/after my transfer. After everything, I'm pregnant now and in my 2nd trimester at 14 weeks! Throughout my course of treatment, I also changed my diet. I gave up alcohol and coffee. I also stayed away from estrogen producing foods- so mostly a gluten and sugar-free diet. I went to acupuncture weekly which was extremely helpful. I recommend going to Yinova and seeing Katy Hogan. This acupuncture clinic specializes in fertility. I did acupuncture twice the days of my transfers (before + after each transfer). Both Yinova and Columbia Fertility have support groups that I recommend.

I can't remember.

Dr. Brady recommends only doing single embryo transfer which we agreed with. It was good for us to do 1 transfer and see what the problem was before going ahead with our 2nd (and last) embryo.

Dr. Brady has a wonderful bedside manner. As a scientist myself, I like to know all of the data, statistics, etc., so it was important for me to find a doctor that would be upfront and not sugarcoat things. Dr. Brady was the perfect match and more, because she consistently gave us complete information in a warm and thoughtful way.

Be patient - fertility treatment is a marathon, not a sprint. And trust Dr. Brady's outlook.

Three retrievals with Gonal F, Menopur and Cetrotide. First trigger shot was HCG, second was Lupron (due to mild OHSS after first cycle), and third was a combo (added HCG back in due to failed second cycle - Dr. Brady said HCG can help with egg maturation). Third cycle Dr. Brady added in oral Clomid for the first 5 days. PGS testing in all 3 cycles. First cycle 4 blasts -> 2 normal embryos Second cycle 0 blasts Third cycle 4 blasts -> 3 normal embryos From there we moved on to a medicated frozen embryo transfer, from which I am currently 8 weeks pregnant.

Most was covered by my husband's supplemental fertility coverage (Progyny) and meds were covered by CVS Caremark. Out of pocket, we paid around $1,800 USD in clinic co-pays and around $1,000 for medications (three retrievals were around $150 each, plus progesterone in olive oil for medicated transfer cycle which was not covered by insurance).

Dr. Brady strongly encourages single embryo transfer, and we agreed with the recommendation given our age and prognosis.

Dr. Brady made us feel that we could trust her completely and that we were in good hands each step of the process. She made every attempt to be at monitoring and retrieval/transfer appointments when possible; but when these days did not overlap with days she was in the clinic she would email us ahead of time to let us know and to reassure us that we were in good hands. She was highly responsive to emails and always responded in a thoughtful and sensitive manner. When we had setbacks and disappointments (e.g. three unsuccessful IUIs, 1 failed transfer, and 1 chemical pregnancy) she was compassionate and made us feel that she shared our disappointment while also providing the healthy balance of optimism that we needed to keep going.

We would recommend her without reservation! You will be in great hands with Dr. Brady. She is smart, committed, and has wonderful bedside manner, which when going through the vulnerabilities and emotional ups and downs of infertility process, felt extremely important to us.

We did 3 unsuccessful IUIs (using Letrazole and trigger shots) before moving onto IVF. Our first retrieval yielded 2 pgs normal embryos. The first transfer resulted in a chemical pregnancy which was devastating. The second transfer resulted in a negative pregnancy test. We then did several months of uterine testing (hysteroscopy, ERA) and once we were cleared (no abnormalities were detected), we continued with a second retrieval which yielded 4 PGS normal embryos. Our third frozen transfer resulted in a pregnancy and we are now 5.5 months along!

Usually there was no wait or 15 minutes at most. Monitoring appointments are self-scheduled which was very convenient.

Our insurance covered all cycles of IUI and up to three cycles of IVF. The only out of pocket costs were for genetic testing of our embryos (approximately 5k per retrieval) and anesthesia ($500). Otherwise all appointments and medications were generally covered.

Dr. Brady recommended that we only transfer single embryos but mentioned that if we had continued to be unsuccessful there would be a discussion of the possibility of transferring multiples.

Dr. Brady was so supportive and caring, we immediately felt we made the right choice in switching to her care. In fact, in my previous Dr. was somewhat hard to get ahold of and ordered several very painful endometrial biopsies and intense antibiotics (one was for the plague or something? I felt terrible and gained a lot of weight). Dr. Brady performed one of these biopsies and that was when I knew she was the right fit for us- she was very warm, gentle, and explained every step of the process. She even stopped me on the way out to confirm I had had a few other tests conducted that day. After a few more weeks of feeling in the dark and more of the same tests I made the decision to request a care switch to Dr. Brady completely based off of the wonderful care she gave during my biopsy and I'm so glad I did. Dr. Brady said we could consider IUI or IVF, with IVF being the most ideal for our chances and the best chance. We were so excited to get started and had a great round, we had 10 eggs in retrieval, 5 embryos, but only one that made it to day 5. Dr. Brady was so honest and supportive when we got this hard news, and was very clear in what change in treatment would be if this round wasn't successful. Thankfully, the one embryo was a successful transfer and we are now in the second trimester. What could have been really defeating and scary after all that hard work ended up being an important growth opportunity for us (being ok with it not working, being willing to do it again) and we were really lucky to have Dr. Brady and her team to support us through it.

Ask as many questions as you like, do your own research too, and know your options.

IVF treatment

Easy to make monitoring appointments online via myconnect- you can schedule your own bloodwork and ultrasound. You can also go early around 7 to avoid the line even if your appointment is later.

I think there was a $5,000 hold for expenses that insurance wouldn't cover that is given back to you at the end (I got all of it back). Luckily my insurance covered just about everything and my work provided Carrot Fertility (10K of reimbursable expenses) that covered additional costs you have to pay (like $300 per anesthesia). Meds- around 12k Procedures- around 1,000

Dr. Brady was communicative, responsive, sensitive to my needs, empathetic, warm, compassionate, and very knowledgeable and competent. She always listened to me carefully and answered all my questions. She kept me informed ahead of time about the course of treatment and adjusted the course of treatment in case of any setbacks. She checked with me one more time the day before any important procedure. If another doctor would be performing the procedure, instead of her, she informed me accordingly and reassured me about the other doctor's capabilities. She made the right decisions about the course of the treatment (we got the results exactly as predicted by her).

Trust her with your care. Be open with her about any questions you may have about your treatment. Know that you are in the best hands.

Before egg retrieval, I took Follistim 150 IU and Menopur 150 IU every night for about 11 days. A nightly dose of Ganirelix 250 mcg was added on about the 6th day and took that every night going forward, in addition to Follistim 150 IU and Menopour 150 IU. From the 8th day onwards, increased Ganirelix from once a day to twice a day. On the 11th day, stopped the nightly injections of Follistim, Menopur, and Ganirelix and took a trigger injection of Lupron 40 units. The egg retrieval was scheduled on the 13th day. Via the egg retrieval procedure, total of 18 eggs were retrieved, of which 14 were mature. ICSI was performed on all 14 eggs. The next day, 12 fertilized embryos were obtained, which were cultured for 5 days. On the 5th day, 5 embryos were biopsied and frozen. Biopsied materials were sent for pre-implantation genetic testing (PGS). The PGS results indicated that 4 out of the 5 embryos were normal. One out of the five embryos was transferred via Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET) procedure which resulted in pregnancy.

As an employee of Columbia University, I had really great health insurance. I think the total cost of my treatment under Dr. Brady (including PGS) was under $3,000.

Dr. Brady has a strong preference for eSET and I am in complete agreement with her.

The one or two times that I did meet with Dr. Brady she was very thorough. She asked me all the questions necessary to be able to arrive to the best course of treatment. When I had my first chemical miscarriage, she called me to tell me the news over the phone and I can not begin to express how much that meant to me. Dr. Brady could've easily had the nurse coordinator relay the message or write me via email but she called me and that made me feel like this was personal to her as well. The Dr. calling me made me feel like although miscarriages frequently occur mine wasn't just another in the book. Dr. Brady called me and reassured me I would still be able to get pregnant and that this miscarriage was not due to anything I could've caused.

A piece of advice I would give a prospective patient of Paula Brady is to be as open as possible and share any concerns that you have; that there is nothing to fear!

I was placed on timed intercourse cycles. This was the best course of action after having been administered blood work and done specimen analysis that ruled out any other causes for my infertility. After receiving a transvaginal ultrasound, they were able to confirm that I had numerous immature follicles in my ovaries due to anovulation. The timed intercourse cycles consisted of taking letrozole for a week to make my follicles mature to the appropriate size (normally 20-23mm), monitoring the follicles size during the following week and once having reached the appropriate size, injecting myself in the fat of my lower belly with Ovidrel (trigger shot) which forces egg to ovulate and come out. After trigger shot, we would have timed intercourse the night of shot and following 2 days waiting to test for pregnancy 2 weeks later.

Dr. Brady is an excellent physician. She would always explain her reasoning for suggesting a particular course of action, but left room for me to do my own research and come back with questions and ideas. We emailed each other often during off hours and I felt like she was genuinely rooting for our fertility success even though she couldn't pin point what was wrong.

Don't be afraid to ask lots of questions. Dr. Brady knows what's trending in the field and is often willing to push the envelope and try new tactics.

My first transfer protocol was standard: menopur, follistim, ganirellix, progesterone, etc. I transferred one embryo but it did not implant. For the next round we decided to try a modified natural cycle: femara, ovidrel, progesterone. I transferred 2 embryos which resulted in a chemical pregnancy. We conducted a few diagnostic tests after this failure but nothing was amiss, so we proceeded with another modified natural cycle and transferred 2 embryos which resulted in my current singleton pregnancy. I am currently 11 weeks.

I never received cost breakdowns from the clinic unless I asked. The first and only time I'd see the price of a procedure or medication was on my insurance bill.

We started off with a single embryo transfer for the first transfer. After that I was beginning to feel defeated and asked to transfer 2 at a time. Dr. Brady understood and strongly warned me to consider the health risks, but ultimately let me make the call. After my second failure, I asked to transfer 3 embryos but Dr. Brady said it wouldnt be allowed due to my young age and risk for all 3 implanting, so we went ahead with 2.

I became a patient of Dr. Brady's after a miscarriage and negative experience with a doctor at a different hospital. From the very beginning, I appreciated Dr. Brady's directness and kind demeanor. She quickly developed a treatment plan for me and after several failed IUI's and a hysteroscopy, I had a successful pregnancy after one round of IVF.

Make sure that you have a thorough understanding of your treatment plan and don't hesitate to push back if you disagree with anything that is being recommended.

I used Clomid for my first IUI and had a very negative emotional reaction. After that, Dr. Brady switched my prescription to Letrozole and I used that for the remaining IUI's. I responded positively to both drugs but did not have success with any of the IUI's. When I moved onto IVF, I used Gonal and Menopur and Cetrocide to prepare for the retrieval. I used progesterone shots to prep for my first transfer but my lining remained too thin to move forward. We cancelled that cycle and next I began a nonmedicated cycle. While my lining was still on the thinner side we decided to move forward with the transfer. That transfer was successful and I gave birth in November.

My insurance covered IUI's and monitoring appointments. IVF was not covered.