Choosing an IVF Clinic, Age 40+

I just got pregnant at 40 with low ovarian reserve at Reproductive Science Center in Oakland with Dr Rosenbluth. They are awesome. They never pushed donor eggs on me though they were honest about our chances and how many rounds of ivf it would likely take. In our case I actually didn’t have enough eggs for ivf but somehow managed to get pregnant with an IUI. We also did ivf with them to conceive my four year old. They give you a dedicated case manager which makes you feel less like an anonymous number (looking at you Kaiser Fremont) and my doctor was open to my input when it came to treatment options and medications. 
 

good luck to you!

I went through months of (failed) IVF treatments at age 40 through Kaiser Fremont and I STRONGLY recommend against them. I switched to Spring Oakland and had just gone through a few consults and was very happy with their approach (much more individualized than Kaiser, which felt like a factory). Ultimately we ended up getting pregnant on our own and so didn't use Spring. But from my interactions with them, and from speaking with other older women who had gone through treatment there, I was really hopeful for our chances with Spring.

I have had many friends go to both of these clinics and felt very well taken care of and had good results. Their expertise and experience at both of these clinics is quite well known so you'd unlikely to find a clinic with higher success rates. You'll probably get a bit more personal attention/hand holding with Spring but UCSF does have more years of experience in this field. 

We used Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh (in San Ramon) and can’t say enough great things about her. She is the absolute best doctor I’ve ever met. I interviewed several clinics around the Bay Area and am so glad we went with Dr. Aimee in the end. Her bedside manner is unparalleled. I was 38 and used my own eggs, fyi. Good luck on your journey! 

I highly recommend Dr. Susan Willman. She helped us get pregnant a long time ago. And I will never forget how respectful she was, how well she listened, helped figure out what was going on, and advocated for us. She's in Orinda. 

I’m now 42 and used my own eggs at Spring. They were great in my eyes, I got what I wanted, a rainbow baby. I did 4 cycles and 2 transfers. Process was about 1 1/2

Spring has been a pleasure to work with. Our friends used both Spring and UCSF (and Stanford) and strongly preferred Spring, primarily because they were far more organized and customer-focused.

I was 45 when I went to spring after several miscarriages. We saw Dr. Tran and he came up with a practical approach that had me pregnant at the first attempt. Our boy is now 3! I wilL say that this first healthy egg I believe was the result of an intense 3 month fertility cleanse with lot so supplements, ubiquinol etc I undertook with Carol Lourie. I’ve had several over 40 friends dramatically improve their ‘fertility stats’ and get pregnant with intense nutritional and supplement support. 

Hi, I had a bad experience with Dr. Mitch Rosen at UCSF. He was extremely unprofessional and was very rough with my body. Send me a message if you want more details. I switched to RSC in Orinda and had a much better experience. 

We had a very positive experience at Reproductive Science Center. We worked primarily with Evan Rosenbluth, but also really liked Dr. Hinckley and Dr. Homer. I was 39 at the time of transfer, so can't speak to the over 40 experience but found Rosenbluth to be patient, kind and straightforward. 

We looked at Kaiser, UCSF and Spring.  Contact me offline if you want to discuss further as there is a lot that can be said.
You posted anonymously, so cannot contact you directly.  

We had a great experience at Spring. Highly recommend them. Both my partner and I did retrieval cycles. Then I completed a transfer and gave birth to a healthy baby girl. I turned 40 last year. I thought the doctors at Spring were very knowledgeable and the staff is amazing. We have been to the SF and Oakland clinics. We had previously gone to Laurel for IUI (unsuccessful) and we had a negative experience. They just weren’t on top of info and it felt really unorganized. Also, I think going right to IVF would have been a better option. We were so happy to find Spring! I feel confident in our ability to continue to grow our family with their help. If you didn’t connect with the doctor you met with, ask the staff for another recommendation. They helped us find the right fit. 

I highly recommend Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh in San Ramon ("Dr. Aimee"). She is AMAZING. She hleped me conceived when I was 43 years old and (ultimately with donor eggs), and now we have a 15-month-old son. I worked with multiple fertility clinics in the bay area and out of state (including Kaiser and CCRM Colorado) before finding Dr. Aimee, and the difference was huge. She does not accept health insurance, as far as I know, so you have to have the finances to fund the fertility services yourself. But for us it was so worth it. (I didn't have coverage for IVF anyway). Go see Dr. Aimee! I LOVE HER. Good luck on your journey!

https://draimee.org/

Rosa

We went to Spring twice, once when I was 38 for my husband in SF, and once when I was 42 for my age in Oakland. I loved Dr. Menjarez at Spring in Oakland, but I didn't love the SF practice. Unfortunately, she just retired. Dr. Fisher also saw us in Oakland, and I really liked him too, I am just someone who always chooses a female over a male practitioner. They also have a practice in San Jose, and Dr. Harris did our retrieval, and he was great too. Overall, even though IVF is an awful thing to go through, I had an amazing experience with Spring Oakland. They really try to take care of you, and referred us to a therapist who specializes in infertility after our cycle didn't work, and she is excellent. In this light, I would caution you, before you spend a ton of money, that age is a major factor in infertility over 40, and I didn't really understand this until I went through IVF at 42. Everyone says this, like don't wait until after 35 to have kids, but you see people all around you in the Bay Area having kids well into their 40s, and moms with gray hair everyday, and in my experience, it's impossible not to be hopeful. But you don't know their stories, or what they went through to have those kids, whether it was hundreds of thousands of dollars in IVF cycles, or using donor eggs, or if they just got incredibly lucky. I think we just assume IVF can fix things. We were able to conceive our son naturally after figuring out some health issues with my husband when I was about to turn 39, which I now realize was very very lucky, because normal fertility only lasts until age 38. After that, it starts to take multiple cycles to get normal embryos, which is a lot of money, and a lot of stress, and a lot of grief. IVF can't fix age, even if you have lots of eggs left, and even if you try multiple cycles, and the grief can be enormous. For us, it was worth the money to give it a shot, but we couldn't afford to do more than one cycle, and there is no guarantee with your own eggs even with multiple cycles that you will get any normal embryos when you're older. From someone who was once in your shoes, and who has friends that used donor eggs in their 40s, I hope you will find something that will work for you. Wishing you the best of luck <3        

I'm 38 so not in the 40+ group but saw Dr Martha Noel at UCSF and loved her. She listened to our concerns, didn't push us in any direction, supported our decisions/opinions, was responsive to questions via the portal and follow up phone calls. All of the PAs, nurses, and lab techs were great too. I don't think either I or my husband had a neg experience and we were there first just as a consult patient, then IUI, then IVF so we spent a lot of time over a 9+ month period with them. Good luck! 

I've used both clinics - started at UCSF, then transferred to Spring when my doctor, Dr. Tran, started it. I can't imagine trusting anyone aside from Dr. Tran. He's incredible and I respect his work ethic and knowledge. I am the mother of two and soon-to-be mother of a third, all thanks to him. I can't recommend him highly enough (I'm 39, used my own eggs, for reference). My very best wishes to you!

I’m 38 and my husband is 45, and we’ve been working with Spring since 2018. My primary physician is Dr. Tran but I’ve seen many of their doctors and have been to their SF, Oakland, and Redwood City offices. We’ve had two retrievals and two successful transfers (pregnant with our second now). They also diagnosed our infertility. While I’ve found their bedside manner can leave something to be desired, for me personally, I’ve focused more on the results. They are organized, efficient, and at least for me, have a process that really works. I trust them, from their medication protocol, to their procedural abilities, to their handling of my embryos. So - I’d say it depends on what matters to you. If you’re looking for a more nurturing environment, I’ve heard that Kindbody is focused on that aspect of the patient experience (though I don’t know anyone personally who has worked with them). I should say, that I got some of the nurturing support I was looking for from my acupuncturist, who I saw weekly leading up to my procedures and who provided acupuncture services immediately before and after my transfers. Best of luck…I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you. 

I worked with Dr. Phillip Chenete in San Francisco 20 years ago and LOVED him and his entire staff! (However I am not a fan of one of his partners, Dr. Herbert.) I was 37 at the time and appreciated that he worked with older women and wasn't worried about his success statistics. Some practices were turning away older women because of this. I had a fresh IVF cycle with an early miscarriage and then had a frozen embryo transfer that resulted in my youngest daughter. I think he's worth travelling to San Francisco for! https://www.pacificfertilitycenter.com/fertility-specialists/philip-e-c…;(415) 834-3095. Good luck!

We used Spring in Oakland during the pandemic. I'm 39 and used my own eggs (we harvested 23 and had 2 viable embryos). We also did PGT to test the embryos which is why the embryo number is so low. We did one transfer and got pregnant. We now have a 2.5 month old. We paid out of pocket and it was worth every penny. 

We loved Spring. Hope this helps!

Do not waste your time at Kaiser if you have Kaiser insurance. We did not have a good experience there and left for Spring. 

Hi there,

I have experiences with both the practices you mentioned. Ultimately I did IVF with UCSF. I conceived my daughter at 40 & she’s 3+ months now. I would be happy to chat with you further online, or maybe easier via the phone.

Erica

We also went to Dr. Susan Willman in Orinda, and had a wonderful experience with her. She was creative and thoughtful and respectful.

I just completed my egg retrieval process. I am 35 yrs old. I was also debating between providers - rather obsessing over them. I ultimately decided to pick UCSF. In UCSF you may not feel like you have a personalized care, however, you can be assured that their IVF labs are best in class. Most important part of IVF IMO is the Labs where embryos grow. At the start I was very doubtful - I kept thinking if I made the right choice. But as I went through the process, it helped establish trust. Keep in mind UCSF is less aggressive, so you may have to keep pushing the doctor. Additionally, since it is a busy hospital, you may have to be pro-active. My doctor was Yanett Anaya. She kept tweaking my IVF protocol and helped us get appropriate number of eggs. Good luck!

i know a lot of women who've done IVF in bay area, and the general consensus is that Kaiser sucks, Spring is good but currently over-committed and has bad customer service cause they can't handle their current caseload (maybe they'll fix this soon), UCSF has good docs but terrible customer service, RSC is good but small, and Dr. Aimee is great but $$$. I had great experience at PFC (we did 10 cycles there) but driving to the city for eveyr appointment was super time-consuming. 

We went to Spring after a long journey with Kaiser. Kaiser San Ramon was fine for IUIs but when IVF came up for Fremont we turned into an invisible patient and could never talk to the same providers/nurses. It wasn’t worth it since we were paying out of pocket. 
Spring was incredible. I started there at 39 and had our baby at 40 years old. He’s 1.5yrs now. I was with Dr Minjarez who is probably the most tenured in her profession in the entire Bay Area. She just retired but I also loved Dr Harris. Dr Tan had a lack luster bedside manner but he was intelligent and made the right decisions for things when Dr Minjarez wasn’t there. 
I would go back there again in a heartbeat. I recommend all our friends to go to Spring.  

I ultimately got pregnant at home, but I really loved my consult with Aimee Eyvazzadeh. Her marketing is kind of weird and intense but she is GREAT. She sent me a lit review to explain one of her practices. 
 

She’s expensive! My feeling at the time was that I was not a simple case and didn’t have much time, and therefore it was worth prioritizing expertise over money given that I could make it work. 

I second Dr. Chenette and Pacific Fertility Center in San Francisco. The clinic is off the Embarcadero, and takes less than 20 min for me to get to from Oakland (not during rush hour). I had a great experience with Dr. Chenette, as well as Dr. Agard and the entire care team. Very professional, responsive, and I felt like I had a lot of information available to me to make our choices. I had been recommended PFC from women in my network, and have since recommended to multiple others. I had previously frozen eggs in my mid 30s, and having our first baby with fresh eggs from a recent retrieval at 41. Feel free to DM me, happy to answer any questions and good luck!

I never ended up publishing the review below but I thought I'd share my own negative experience with Spring in response to your question.  Spring apologized and refunded our costs, but I would still not recommend them.  I went to Spring in 2018, got pregnant on my own in 2019, and had a baby in 2020.  Good luck and I hope you find an option that works for you!

I've pretty much liked all of my doctors over the last 35 years, but my experience with Spring and Dr. Tran was negative and stressful due to a medical mix-up that took weeks to resolve.  My fiance and I had an initial consultation with Spring, where we received genetic testing at their recommendation.  When the test results came back, Spring emailed us a pdf copy of our lab results showing that we were carriers of the same two incurable diseases, with a 1 in 4 chance of passing on each disease, along with a list of symptoms our children could have.  Some excerpts: "about 20% of affected infants die within the first year of life," "some may also experience stroke-like episodes," "females typically do not go through puberty," "babies with this condition who have brain abnormalities usually do not live past early childhood."  

I was terrified but then did online research myself, since it seemed odd that our tests were so similar -- we were clear of >250 diseases but carriers for the same two, plus we had the same bad gene variant for both conditions (with ~200 variants of each gene).  Initially Spring dismissed my concerns (writing "I can assure you that your blood samples were not mixed up" and telling us that we would most likely have to pay for the retesting ourselves), but after I provided more evidence based on my own online research, they acknowledged that it was "very likely" that the initial samples were switched.  

We came in to be retested, but my fiance's second sample was accidentally destroyed by the lab as a duplicate.  After his third blood test, we had an appointment with Dr. Tran where he told us again that we were carriers of the same two diseases, but it seems he had just forgotten that we were being retested.  Throughout this process, he did not come across as sympathetic or concerned, and he also speculated about my mother having had miscarriages, which she never did (as far as she knows) and bluntly told us that he didn't think we would be able to have children (which was later proven wrong).  Given all of the vulnerability and strong emotions people feel around fertility, with high stakes and financial costs, it is especially important to be tactful and sensitive, so this was a big shortcoming in our Spring process.

All in all, it took over six weeks to find out that my fiance wasn't a carrier of any diseases (i.e. the lab ran both our tests using just my blood samples), and we were anxious the whole time.  I was able to identify the suspicious results with zero medical education, when they were overlooked by the medical team at Spring.  I imagine that Spring takes better care not to mix up eggs and embryos than they did with our blood samples, and it sounds like Spring will use our experience as a training opportunity to be better in the future, but I would still not recommend them.