One more vote for Dominion, this time for Dr Gordon. Compassionate, caring, I liked that he always remembered who I was and what was MY story. He always did a good job letting you know that if this treatment doesn’t work, out next step will be XYZ... Staff is very understanding, caring.

Yes, when you learn that particular treatment did not work you are so emotional, you want to cry, it is easy to say that doctors are condescending (I had a brush with Dr D when he was the one to tell me that we needed to cancel the cycle, and he just directly told it to me, at a time I hated him, but now looking back, how did I expect him to give me the news? ... )... The results of my treatments are currently staring at computer screens so I better go

Anonymous wrote:I love Dr. Sarajari at Dominion, she is very thorough and has great bedside manner.

I really liked her personality, she is very nice and warm. But I felt like everything she suggested was lifted from the IVF handbook. There was no tailoring, no additional tests.

Terrible terrible experience with Shady Grove. It led to complete breakdown in trust. I would not recommend them to my worst enemy.

I had a horrible experience with our consultation at SGF. A couple months later we got pregnant naturally, but after a miscarriage and trouble conceiving, I went to CFA and Dr. Abbassi and was more than happy and successful. It turned out to be a simple fix and she didn't push IVF until we tried a less invasive approach. However, she told me I could go straight to IVF if I wanted. I recommend her to everyone.

Monitoring and communication can sometimes be stressful. I went to DC but I've heard the Bethesda office is better.

I tried three fertility clinics in the area. Started with Columbia Fertility but left after unsuccessful IUIs because I felt the staff was not thorough and the communication quality rather poor (and their billing office is a mess).

At GW Fertility, all doctors are very nice and will hold your hand (literally and figuratively), but their success rates are not very high. Also, the communication with nurses was inconsistent in the sense that it really depended on who you got as a nurse (some of them were not very competent -- I had to request a switch once). At the time (2-3 years ago), there was no patient portal, so they called you and left a message, and then 9 times out of 10 when you called back there would also be the answering machine, so playing phone tag like that was rather inefficient and exhausting. Besides, standing in their live line for monitoring between 7:00-7:30am was also inefficient and disruptive for my schedule personally (but here I can see how others might appreciate being able to get in before work if you work 9-5).

My results with GW were not optimal, so I consulted with three other clinics before deciding to switch to SGF. I had read and was aware of all the complaints about their factory style, etc. in advance, but decided to make the switch because their success rates for my age were highest in the area. And honestly, for me personally, SGF offered the most smooth experience compared to the two other clinics. I had truly amazing nurses in the K Street office; they would respond to messages literally within minutes through the patient portal and provided me with advance electronic copies of all directions/protocols/etc - something GW never did (there you just had to rely on the next message from your nurse to learn about your next steps). They were also super attentive and treated no question of mine as too basic/stupid/insignificant. I worked with Dr. Widra, who was pretty direct, which some people may find off-putting, but I didn't care about that as I needed a successful cycle rather than moral support from him. The SGF lab is also supposedly top-notch. Also, their monitoring system was much more flexible, as you could make an appointment at a time that works for you at a location that works for you (I alternated between K Street and Sibley). I just felt more relaxed and in control throughout the entire process, which was crucial, I believe. If I have to return to fertility treatments in the future, I will go back to SGF.

I love Dr. Sarajari at Dominion, she is very thorough and has great bedside manner.

Anonymous wrote:I also have 2 babies from Dr DiMatina but that was 20 years ago. We used to get soooo mad at him. Everyone in our cycle got pregnant though. I guess he hasn’t improved with age?

I love Dr Dimattina. He’s amazing. He hugged me when I got pregnant naturally went in for a dating ultrasound. Shady grove is a factory, but pcos os pretty straightforward if they can get you to ovulate. I wouldn’t even bother trying naturally with it. Go straight to ivf.

We used Dr. Abbasi at Columbia Fertility and though the process was difficult (due to our biology) we had an amazing experience with our doctor and her staff at the Bethesda office.

Good luck to you no matter where you seek help (hopefully you won't need it!!)

I went to SGF. I am pregnant with my second SGF baby.
I went to Dr. Widra, who is brilliant but is very direct, which I prefer. A direct doctor may not be for you so think about what you need because IVF is a tough process even under the best circumstances.
I echo the sentiment of other posters that Dr. O'Brien is wonderful. She is very smart with a great bedside manner. She did my last transfer, which worked.

The lab is where the magic happens. And SGF has a great lab and terrific doctors.
But, as others have noted, it can feel like being in a factory when you are there. Your primary contact may be with nurses so it doesn't seem personalized.
I would suggest you do a consult with more than one clinic.

Go and search this forum- there are numerous posts about SGF versus other providers. And the viewpoints expressed are diverse.

If you want another opinion— I started off at GW with Dr. Humm and loved her and the fact that it was a small practice. She was always so positive and sympathetic. She encouraged us and even said it was “if, not when” for us. But during and after IVF #2 it was a total disaster. They only brought me in twice for monitoring despite me pleading to come in the day of trigger. They hate bringing people in on the weekends. (When doing other consults two area doctors said “they didn’t bring you in the day of trigger? Oh let me guess, was it on the weekends? “)Then after worse than expected results again, with no blasts, Dr. humm just said I guess that’s the best you can do and your eggs quality is probably just not good. I still wanted to stay there, but felt we should consult other clinics just to confirm. We saw 5 doctors, locally and in other places. Every single one pointed out issues that we had remarked on at the time but been told “oh don’t worry this is fine” etc. They also didn’t understand why GW was so conservative in their approach.

Given covid we decided to go with Dr. Devine at SGF and actually got into the shared risk program. SGF is such a high volume lab, I think they probably have the best lab locally. Sure the whole experience was less personal, but the quality of care was light years better. They were monitoring me so much more closely. I didn’t talk to Dr. Devine at all, but I’m not about being her friend, I’m about having a great cycle. We knocked it out of the park with a 60% blast rate, even though we never got a blast at GW. They said my egg quality looked great. SGF is a factory and if you are doing IUI or something like that, it might not be what you want, but if you get to IVF, I think you have to consider it, especially with the financial options they offer.

OP here - thank you guys SO much for the recommendations. This is so helpful.

Dr. O’Brien at SGF is excellent. She held our hands through our long journey there from OE IVF till we had success through DE. My first nurse was excellent, the second one wasn’t as great. Their financial people can be hard to get a hold of but it wasn’t too bad for us.

I, too, had an excellent experience at Dominion after a very bad experience at GW, where I wasn't appropriately supported during a miscarriage and my RE was so much of a purist when it came to ASRM practice guidelines that she wouldn't run a panel of hematology blood tests and disregarded my TSH because those numbers weren't in line with the "standard of care." Funny how after I got the appropriate testing and treatment done via second opinions with a hematologist and regular endocrinologist, and switched to Dominion that my IUI worked unmedicated on the first try.
Nursing staff and monitoring processes at Dominion were wonderful compared to GW, too.
Good luck OP.

I've had a good experience at GW Fertility. Haven't gotten pregnant, but have felt listened to and respected. Nurses and support staff are amazing. The REs were very creative and willing to try new things.

We loved the entire staff at Dominion, SGF was a factory and no one ever returned calls or emails.