Spring Fertility

we are a queer and trans family. only spring fertility as a clinic (2019-era) with nam tran was actually even attempting to be inclusive to us, and ivan huang at kaiser (who i know has left for socal). i couldn’t even make it to intake appointments with several other sf-area clinics before running into some ridiculous stuff, asking me about my husband’s info and using some incredibly terrible terms despite the fact that i repeatedly said that my wife and i were looking into ivf and we are trans. 

spring also got me some amazing results with ivf so we just did the one cycle and one fet and have a very cheerful 1 year old little sibling to our older kid (who was entirely kaiser sf but not from ivf). 

i would also recommend you check out our family coalition’s ttc/fertility peer support group, i think they meet twice a month or so via zoom. 

Spring! We are also a queer family and did IVF with the clinic. They have 3 locations now. We went to Oakland mostly and SF sometimes. I’m happy to answer any more specific questions you have. 

My husband and I didn't have a queer experience with IVF, but we loved Dr. Minjarez, Dr. Fisher, and the nurses and staff at Spring Fertility in Oakland. I was too old for our procedure to work (trying for #2 over age 40), and I ended up having complications from the retrieval procedure because despite my age I had a lot of eggs retrieved, which increases your risk. But I felt like we got the best care possible, and that the team really took care of us the whole time. They are expensive and didn't take our insurance (they do take some), but I got what I needed out of trying with them. If money weren't an issue, I would have tried again, despite the complications. Also, they provided support to find an excellent therapist after the failed IVF procedure, something I never found on my own after having complications with our son's birth and our miscarriage trying for #2 naturally. I had met with several perinatal specialists over the years and never found my person until Spring referred me, so I include that in our quality of care and our experience with Spring.    

My husband and I (cis straight couple) have been using Spring Fertility in Oakland for IVF. I've had a good experience. Things are reasonably well organized, my appointments have always been on time, and I've felt well supported through a hard process. I tend to ask a lot of questions and have never felt dismissed or rushed. To be fair, my husband hasn't been as happy - they failed to follow up with him on some test results until he called to check, and he doesn't love that all the communication is through this online portal they have.

I'm not sure what other options there are in the East Bay (we went with Spring because my OB suggested it and it was part of our insurance network) but there tend to be a lot of appointments especially leading up to egg retrieval, so driving across the bridge probably isn't ideal. 

Spring Fertility hands down. Dr. Minjarez is amazing. We are a queer family, visited 4 other doctors and locations prior to landing on Spring and we are so thankful that we worked with them. We were at Kaiser Oakland and Kaiser San Ramon for a while but eventually we didn't feel like our family needs and values were honored. Spring was the same cost for us (our insurance didn't cover IVF or meds) so we switched. Feel free to contact me directly. Also, we were in a Early Queer Parenting Group with MAIA Midwifery and more than half of us queer couples had gone to Spring. The other couples that went to Kaiser, UCSF, and Pacific had a lot of negative experiences. Spring isn't the cheapest but it's the best. Good luck.

Spring Fertility! They are hands down the best and have been growing since they opened a few years ago. 

Hi highly recommend Spring Fertility, Dr. Minjarez in Oakland. They are a fertility clinic and specialize in everything- not just IVF. She is kind, compassionate, and extremely knowledgeable. It’s possible that your insurance doesn’t cover it. But my only regret is not switching my fertility care from Kaiser to Spring sooner. It would have saved time and heartache.