Shady Grove Fertility Anyone?

[ShannonMilligan]

Oh, I am NOT saying not to do IUI...I think IUI is wonderful. I got pregnant with IUI and several of my friends did as well. I just think you shouldn't do IUI at a OB/GYN...But do it at a Reproductive Endo.

[arabellava]

I saw everyone listed here- also had m/cs (unexplained IF)- Dr Asmar pushed donor eggs since I was ancient at 37 (his nurse even reinforced this)- he let me do an IUI before his pushing donor eggs though he thought it was a waste of time- I never told the clinic I did get pregnant and had a healthy child since I wanted nothing to do with this donor only attitude. He and his staff had horrible bedside manners- Asmar was rude and negative- but always held a smile- I can tell you I told my OB never to recommend him again. No testing yet of anything but all the basics showed normal. I got pregnant via IUI then.. 2nd time I wasted time at GIVF- horrible, then I went to shady grove- some iuis then ivf- i personally would have just gone for ivf had i known the odds at my age etc. fortunately, we have two kids- healthy to boot! PM me for details- I did due diligence for clinics and interviewed all REs on technique and Dr Greenhouse at GIVF was the best match. We have our son thanks to him.

[JfromReston]

I didn't say not to waste time on IUI's - only to not waste time on them with an OB/GYN. Depending on the infertility issues IUIs can be an economical and successsful way to a baby. I jsut think that the RE's have the IUI thing down so well and the OB/GYNs just don't do them that often.

[Dazed&Confused]

That's probably exactly right! This was quite some time ago and it was at an OB/GYN practice in Rockville. "Waste time" wasn't really the best choice of words I could have used. I apologize.

[v2009]

Just don't go to Dr. DiMattina in Arlington. My friend went there and was very unhappy with his attitude. They sucked out thousands of dollars out of them with no result, and they wasted several months there. Whenever she asked a question, he would say "my book does not say anything about it" or "go read my book".
She went to another doctor, I think, in Annandale, and got pregnant the first month on Clomid.

Good luck!

[michgc]

I ditto, tritto, and quadruple this advice. He is very arrogant and not thorough (at least not with me). I had heard about his attitude before I went there and was willing to put up with it if he could get results. When I went in for an 8-week ultrasound (after not seeing a heartbeat at a 6-week ultrasound), he said everything looked good. I'm like, "but there's no heartbeat?" He said, "no problem, we don't always see one at a 6-week ultrasound." "Umm, this is my 8-week ultrasound," I reminded him. "Oh, whoops, sorry. Yeah this is not good news."

So basically, the guy didn't even bother to read my chart before he walked in the room! Unbelievable.

Oh yeah, when I went for a consult he took a call from a Las Vegas hotel for his vacation while I was talking to him. He apologized saying he had been waiting for this call all day.

Lastly, after my miscarriage, I told him I told him I was interested in adopting rather than going through an IUI, and instead of being supportive, he said, "oh but there are so many problems with adoption." and discouraged me from going that route. The only "problem" with my adopting is that he didn't make money on it.

Originally Posted by v2009

Just don't go to Dr. DiMattina in Arlington. My friend went there and was very unhappy with his attitude. They sucked out thousands of dollars out of them with no result, and they wasted several months there. Whenever she asked a question, he would say "my book does not say anything about it" or "go read my book".
She went to another doctor, I think, in Annandale, and got pregnant the first month on Clomid.

Good luck!

[cdmurphy]

I have PCOS. I first went to Dominion Fertility, did initial testing and consultations with Dr. Gordon, and found them to be unhelpful. I did not care for the factory-like feel of their practice (I didn't hear about Dr. DiMattina's reputation until later). Later I pursued treatment with Dr. Nancy Durso. I had four IUIs with Clomid (got pregnant with the third, but had a very early miscarriage), then decided to get off the crazy train. We adopted two years later. I did like Durso's staff and they were very supportive. Dr. Durso was more than happy to do a write-up for my adoption home study about my medical issues.

[longn]

My wife and I went to Shady Grove with Dr. Saffran. He was very helpful and understanding. Our case nurse, Sonja, in the Annandale office was incredibly supportive. We underwent 3 unsuccessful IUI cycles before switching to IVF. My wife got pregnant on the first IVF cycle and delivered our precious daughter last month.

We selected Shady Grove because two of our friends and a co-worker went there and they all got pregnant. In addition to the personal connections and referrals, we also considered the number of cases and the percentage of live births that Shady Grove had. The only complaint we heard during our due diligence was that Shady Grove can feel impersonal and 'factory like' because you're handed off from one specialist to another as you're going through the various treatment processes. We knew this could be a problem going in so we made sure we were happy with our case nurse and that she was responsive. From our experience, we didn't experience any impersonal/factory like treatment. We felt that all the specialists we interacted with were highly knowledgeable and compassionate. In addition, our case nurse was always on top of things so it felt very seamless.

Obviously we are extremely happy with our results and plan to go back to Shady Grove for our second child should that be needed. Good luck with your search and treatment. Please fell free to PM us if you have any questions.