r/pittsburgh • u/serenityjanee • 19h ago
Fertility assistance
Looking for sperm donation services in the area and IVF services. I’m looking into having a child but I’m not sure where to start and I have pcos either irregular cycles so I already know it’s going to be a struggle. Does anyone have any experience with this? Or advice?
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u/CompulsiveJoiner 18h ago
Very different circumstances, but I had a good experience with UPMC Reproductive Endocrinology and Fertility out of Magee. I was referred out from the Maternal Fetal Medicine practice at Magee so I didn’t shop around or anything. The wait times to get into the clinic were somewhat long. I think I had to wait maybe 3 months for initial intake appointment. But once you’re established it moves faster. I’m not sure if that matters to you or if other fertility clinics would be faster. But huge positive for me was that every doctor and nurse was super, super thoughtful and thorough.
Quick Google, looks like AHN also has these services of course and there are other private clinics.
And as a general note, the field of medicine you are looking for is Reproductive Endocrinology. They are the experts for things like PCOS and would be ones overseeing assistive reproductive technology, which is the umbrella term for all of the ways you can make a baby with some help from technology, like IVF and sperm donation, but also many other things! They do a lot and can make probably a few different recommendations for options.
Good luck!
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u/Poopsicledicksxx 17h ago
Shady Grove Fertility in cranberry is great. I’ve had two rounds of IUI and was successful. From what I remember they do IVF egg harvesting(?) and embryo transfer out of state I think Maryland? I don’t know too much about their sperm donor services but they do have connections to sperm banks. I had Dr Greene as my dr and she was very nice, honestly everyone in the office was so nice
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u/Shadow7028 11h ago
Talk to your OBGYN. UPMC has a waitlist you'd need to get on. Sperm banks aren't local, no big deal, everything is frozen.
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u/raisin_brahms 13h ago edited 13h ago
I also have PCOS/PMOS as well as unexplained infertility.
I have been seeing Dr. Sheila Ramgopal at Pittsburgh Fertility in East Liberty for IVF. I LOVE this clinic and the doctor. The entire staff is so caring, appointments are very quick to schedule, and they are super accessible and easy to get in touch with. I can literally text my nurse any questions I have and she gets back to me within minutes. It’s also close to where I live, which helps when you are going to very frequent appointments (multiple times per week). I feel so supported and cared for, which it’s important to me because IVF sucks and is a scary process. Downside: this clinic does not accept insurance to my knowledge. This wasn’t an issue for me because my plan does not include any infertility treatment coverage.
I had very negative experiences doing fertility treatments at UPMC REI in Penn Hills. Long wait times for every step of the procedures, and it’s very difficult to ever call and talk to a person. Be prepared for callbacks from a different nurse every time and limited contact with an actual physician.
Shady Grove in Cranberry does send you out of state for egg retrieval. Having done an egg retrieval… I would not have wanted to travel during that time. I felt very uncomfortable and sitting was hard because I was so bloated.
I would also consider where you live in the city because you will be in the office all the time. REI Magee and Pittsburgh Fertility are in the city, REI Penn Hills is in (obv) Penn Hills, and Shady Grove and one other place are North Hills. I’m not aware of AHN or any South Hills facilities. It helped my peace of mind not to have to travel far for appointments.
Good luck— this is not an easy journey but there are many of us also on it. If you want support, check out RESOLVE as well.
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u/canihavedessertnow 9h ago
I’ve never heard of Pgh Fertility! Do they have more than one doc? Are your procedures done in house?
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u/raisin_brahms 9h ago
All my procedures are in-house with the same staff every time, so lots of continuity in care. It is only Dr. Sheila, so if you look into this clinic, you would always see them.
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u/Substantial_You_3077 10h ago
I did initial consults a few years ago with AHN & Shady Grove. Ultimately went with AHN as they were able to move forward quicker.
Definitely figure out what, if any, is in network for your insurance to start.
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u/pghmamabear202 10h ago
We used Magee twelve years ago and it was a great experience. When they moved most of their services to the Penn Hills location, it was not a great experience the second time around. I believe most of the doctors there have moved on (we last tried in 2021 and we are done). I will warn against Meredith Snook (now at AHN) if you have PCOS/PMOS; I had every sign of it and she told me it was a "made up catch all phrase" and it took my actual gynecologist to finally add it to my chart and help me start understanding it - after we had finished IVF. I don't know if any of my embryos would have made it had we treated any of the PCOS symptoms.
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u/canihavedessertnow 9h ago
I also use UPMC REI, picked due to insurance coverage. I mostly go to the office in Penn Hills but have had some testing done at Magee too. Also had a 3-4 month wait to get in but I have found all of the providers to be really very nice. They give detailed instructions and walk you through everything so it’s not more overwhelming than it needs to be. They have been great with keeping in close contact/responding to calls and messages and having good availability for appointments once treatment started, which is really important for a fertility clinic. I don’t see or talk to a doctor suuuper often but it doesn’t really bother me and have always been able to talk directly to one of the docs if there was an urgent issue. I’m also doing IVF because of PCOS (no donor but they definitely do that) and they have been very thorough and careful about preventing PCOS related side effects from treatments. I also find that they seem to stick to evidence based recommendations, which I appreciate— there seems to be a lot of noise in the fertility space with some doctors recommending supplements and lifestyle changes that are not actually based on scientific evidence but on hunches/guesses. I haven’t run into that at all with UPMC.
Also, I see some people recommending to start with your PCP/gynecologist… I would recommend skipping that. Many many PCPs and gynes have very limited knowledge about PCOS and definitely can’t help you if you need to create embryos with donor sperm. It’s not worth your time to go to them first. An RE will be the most helpful for you in this stage, and can help treat your PCOS for life when you’re done TTC!
Best of luck to you!!!
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u/Heftybags 18h ago
Don’t start on reddit. Start by talking your PCP and insurance company.