Valerie Baker

I appreciated how thoughtful and caring she was. If Dr. Baker isn't in on a day when you need to see her, you see her partner Dr. Lahti who is also really amazing. Dr. Baker gives you realistic expectations, but also brings a lot of hope and optimism. You get as much time as you need to understand things and get your questions answered.

Have a consultation visit to discuss your situation and your options. They do that first for all patients and it really helps everyone get off on the right foot and feel comfortable going forward.

For the first 4 IUIs I did Clomid. The second 4 used an injection protocol without additional estrogen. That same protocol was used for my 3 IVFs with my own eggs, but we did a month of estrogen priming before each IVF cycle. For my donor egg cycle, I was on priming of both estrogen pills and patches and then progesterone shots daily through the implantation and then for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. While the IVF shots were mostly sub-cue, the progesterone shots were intramuscular and my husband gave them to me. They do a really good injectables training so you know how to mix the drugs, use both syringes and injection pens, etc. For all of my IUI cycles, I usually produced between 4-10 follicles. For my IVF cycles, I produced 8 eggs each time. We were fairly aggressive with drug levels given my age (not as much risk for hyper ovarian issues). For drugs, I used Menopur, Estrace pills, Vivelle patches, progesterone in oil, Ganirelix, and Follistim.

Our insurance covered the first $20k and most of the visits were considered office visits for billing, so the $20k mostly went to the major procedures. That said, I think we probably spent $50k out of pocket (including all the donor fees) to get our son. My insurance was actually really good an the drugs were obtained through the mail-order pharmacy for the reduced plan rate. Stanford takes pretty much all insurance plans and they do have brochures for infertility plans that other companies sell to help you pay for IVF cycles.

Dr. Baker was frank about my diagnosis. Able to uncover details about my condition that other doctors had missed. For example by ovaries are very tiny but before Dr. Baker I was told I did not have ovaries but she found them easily with the ultrasound. I desired a treatment plan Dr Baker did not typically recommend (donor embryos) but she was willing to work through the good process of receiving and transferring the embryos at her clinic.

Trust her.

I had adopted donor embryos which I believe were not preserved well. But Dr. Baker was willing to receive and thaw the embryos and transfer them at my request. We did too transfers of two embryos, then three embryos. Both transfers completely failed and resulted in no pregnancy.

They were minimal and covered completely by my insurance.

She seemed willing to accept the fact that the embryos were stored in such a way that we were forced to transfer multiple. I think she would have accepted whatever plan I had if I had an option. I feel she was flexible and reasonable.

Dr. Baker was warm, compassionate and incredibly thorough. I always felt I was getting the best possible care.

She was always warm and welcoming. She was very honest with my results and would tell me all my options. She would tell me which option she would recommend but ultimately left it up to my partner and myself.

I would highly recommend her!

She would show me diagrams and explain in terms that anyone could understand.

My insurance cover most of cost so I am not sure how much someone would pay for it.

She recommends single but gave us the choice.