St. Louis Babies
althardt624
member
Fertility/Reproductive Specialist
althardt624
member
Hi!
I'm looking for recommendations on a reproductive/fertility specialist in the St. Louis area. I received several very high recommendations for Dr. Ahlering, but was sad to find out that he was not contracted with my insurance (GHP). I'm at a loss on where to go now and am just left with a list of names...
Any help/advice is much appreciated. Thank you so much!
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Re: Fertility/Reproductive Specialist
Consider yourself lucky. I have some friends who are OR nurses and say he and his brothers have the worst bedside manner. I used to go to George...he is a complete ass. I have also heard from quite a few people that they only take the "easy" infertility cases so they can bump up their success rates.
Wow! That's unfortunate, I guess I will!
Do you have recs on someone else? Anyone heard of Dr. Ratts at Wash U?
I don't know about George, but Dr. A at SIRM takes more of the difficult IF cases than most. SIRM doesn't have the FSH cutoff that many of the local REs have. They also seem to see more DOR/POF patients than any of the other local REs that I have looked at. I am DOR and he hasn't even told me to think about using DE yet.
I also really like that Dr. A is so responsive. I can email him questions and he gets back to me. Also, everytime I have been in, I have met with him. He has done all of the ultrasounds that I have had done (which is not the norm; most REs have a tech do them).
~SAIF/PAIF/Everyone Welcome~
Me= 37 and DH = 41
Dx: DOR, Endo, APA+ (really high beta 2 glycoprotein antibody and high everything else tested), heterozygous MTHFR mutation, positive for lupus anticoagulant, high FSH, low AMH and both tubes blocked (per HSG on 3/8/11)
IVF #1 - long lupron (with HGH, intralipids, lovenox and BA); 4 retrieved, 3 fertilized; ET 2 blasts and 1 frozen = BFN
IVF #2 - a version of antagonist with EPP (with HGH, intralipids, lovenox and BA); 6 retrieved, 4 mature, 3 fertilized, 2 blasts and 1 frozen blast transferred on day 5 = BFN.
IVF #3 April was postponed to May, May was canceled. June/July was canceled. Had a cyst aspiration and then began IVF #3 in August. ER on 8/22; ET on 8/24 with AH. +HPT on 9/5. Beta #1 (11dpo) = 3; Beta #2 (15dpo) = 29; Beta #3 (17dpo) = 60; Beta #4 (19 dpo) = 118. Heartbeat at 6 weeks 6 days =132. Lil is here!
TTC#2: Trigger + TI = BFN; Clomid + Trigger + IUI = BFN.
IVF #4: BCP + MDLF + Lovenox = 7R, 1F = Transferred 1 6-cell embryo on day 3 = BFN
IVF #5: MDLF + Lovenox = 4R, 1F = Transferred 1 10-cell compacting embryo on day 3 = BFN
IVF #6: (New RE): Long Antagonist November 2014 (transferred two 8 cell grade 1 embryos and froze one blast) = BFN
FET#1: BFN
I highly recommend the offices at Washington University. Dr. Odem, Dr. Jungheim and Dr. Ratts are wonderful. I'm not sure which insurance plans they accept, but the are the best at what they do.
Infertility and Reproductive Medicine Center
4444 Forest Park Avenue, Suite 3100
St. Louis, MO 63108
314-286-2400
Fax: 314-286-2455
TTC #2, Operative hysteroscopy March 2011; IVF #1 long lupron protocol April 2011-cancelled due to poor response; IVF #2 flare protocol May 2011=hospitalization due to abdominal hemorrhage during ER and no fert due to MFI issues. Moving onto international adoption from Moldova January 2013!
I don't know which Ahlering you are refering to but I would NOT recommend them. I was delivered by their dad and George and one of his brothers delivered my sibblings (much younger than me). I was a patient of his for 15 years and am so so so thankful to have moved on to another OB. I complained of sever premenstral pain for 14 years that would last 3 out of the 4 weeks of the month often. Their office's choice was mostly to medicate which didn't help. Like someone else mentioned-the bedside mannor is horrible so I ended up seeing the NP more than him. I was actually told at one point "sucks to be you" in response to my problems. Inappropriate! Thankfully he hired one who knew what she was doing and after 14 years the nurse-not Dr. Ahlering, suggested that I might have endometriosis and we scheduled surgery. Not only did I have it but we discovered I have a more rare uterus condition to which the dr told me to go home and google to learn about. After wards I experienced a lot of pain and was just told to keep taking vicadin-a life spent on drugs was not the answer for me so I started thinking this relationship needed to end. Then I discovered that when my mother was dying he handled things horribly and I just couldn't walk back into his office after that.
I used an RE at St. Lukes that was recommended to me by a friend and was very happy with him. Dr. Pineda. I then started seeing Dr. Lapoint at St. Lukes and love him-the staff in both offices is amazing (and ironically I just found out the NP I loved from Dr. Ahlering's office now works for them too). I know several people that see other OBs in his office and they are all very happy with them.
Good luck!
I'm late to this, but I have to 2nd Dr. Simckes @ Fertility Partnership. He was my OB for 3 years and now he is just doing the Fertility Partnership, no more delivering babies.
The man is amazing and has such tremendous faith and concern for his patients. He will be your partner on the journey to pregnancy!
i dont know if you have found anyone yet that you like or not but i personally think our doctor is amazing his name is Dr Elan Simckes he with fertility partnership he is in St. Peters he got us pregnant on our first go around after being told time and time again that we would never get pregnant. My husband is hard to impress and he loves him.
I second this. I was a patient of Dr. Forseter who shared an office with Dr. Simckes so I never had him personally but did speak to several of his patients and they all really liked him.
Everyone will have their own opinions! We used the Sher Institute, Dr. Ahlering, and loved it. We are a little older and had a situation only allowing IVF. We were successful on our first try. I did alot of research and had 3 referrals from other doctors to Dr. Ahlering. I think when it comes to the cost, always ask the cost of insurance VS self pay. The procedure is cheaper for IVF if you pay out of pocket, meaning, they charge insurance companies more. Compare your co-pays and out of pocket max to the self pay option. You may find it is not much different! Good luck!
I 2nd Dr Pearlstone at Mo Baptist. We did IVF and were successful on the 1st attempt. We transferred 2 embryos and I had twin boys that are now 16 mo old. We are going back to try again soon and are in the testing phase. Hoping for a girl this time (lol) but really another healthy child would be great! I feel confident that Dr. Pearlstone will be able to help us again. I am very lucky that insurance covers our procedures also but I have heard his fees are lower than some on the other doctors. Dr. Pearlstone has some on the best numbers in regards to results of the RE in St Louis. I was original referred to him from my OB/GYN due to his results and have been very happy w/ his office. There is a wait list to get in to see him but it is so worth it. Good luck!
Late to the party on this one, but anyone looking for a good fertility doc should go to Dr Elan Simckes at Fertility Partnership. I have been to all of the Dr's listed above plus a few others and Dr Simckes is the only one who believed in us. Dr Wilbois told me during my embryo transfer not to waste any more time and money on IVF unless I was going to use donor eggs and sperm - that IVF did not work. I'm proud to say that my 8 week old daughter is napping on my chest as I type this. She is one of the last babies that Dr Simckes will be delivering and I am sad to think that he will not be with me to deliver any future babies.
Dr Simckes becomes a member of our family and I have to say that I miss him since I am no longer a constant fixture in his waiting room (and you will wait, but he is soooooooo worth it).
I agree with several who have posted about Dr. Simckes...I, too, went to see Dr. Ahlering for my first consultation with a specialist. I'm SO glad to have found Dr. Simckes.
Feel free to read my blog for more detailed information about my experience with both.
https://myinconceivablejourney.blogspot.com/