When we had our consultation with Canadian Fertility Consulting, they recommended us to speak with the IVF Clinics as we have to figure out which clinic would be best for us, or will be most comfortable with. They recommended us to have consultations with:
- Dr. Clifford Librach, from CReATe Fertility Centre
- Dr. Said Daneshmand, from San Diego Fertility Center
One from Canada and the other from the USA. They wanted us to compare for ourselves which one is better.
The USA has more testing of the embryo at the patient’s disposal if they want it to be done, all these are because they have to maintain a high level of success rates. In the USA, all IVF Clinics must disclose their success rates (of live birth) and basically, the higher it is, the better and more popular the clinic will become. As for the Canadian IVF Clinics, they don’t have to produce success rates. In some people’s views, they will feel that the USA clinics will work harder to maintain their success, whereas the Canadian will not. We felt that if the IVF clinic is recommended by the community especially through the consultations with the surrogacy agencies, we will be able to safely say that we should be making the right choice. The agencies are making sure that we get the best as we are spending a lot of money for the process. They would not want their agency’s reputation or the reputation of the surrogacy process in Canada to be tarnished.
Anyway, we had consultations with both the IVF Clinics and we have chosen the Canadian one as we didn’t think that the success rates is something that will tip us over to them. PLUS, USA IVF procedures are very expensive and that difference does not justify the success rates, AND we can also save some money flying the egg donor and the surrogate to the USA. The entire process is already so very expensive, we need to be really conservative with our spending and really keep track of our expenses in this area.
We did more research on CReATe Fertility Centre and found that there were a few bad reviews on Google and also on their Facebook. I questioned them with the clinic and they did mention that those who have reviewed were all first-time egg donors who were going through the egg retrieval procedures and not fully understanding how the body will react to the medication and also the procedure. So they felt that the cramping and discomfort were because of the inexperience of the staff, but it was more a natural sensation. All surrogates through CReATe Fertility Centre were happy with their services.
We wanted to have a consultation with another popular Canadian IVF Clinic called ReproMed, but they wanted to schedule us for a consultation in mid-January, which we didn’t want to wait that long. They couldn’t move us any earlier, so we decided that they were obviously too busy for consultations and will also have many on board with them, which gave us the impression that they won’t be spending a lot of time with us as we will be ‘just another number’. What was worse is that they wanted us to pay US$300 for the consultation too, payable during the appointment via major credit cards. We did not have to pay for any consultation with the other two IVF clinics, so what made them so special that we have to pay for it at ReproMed? Didn’t bother finding that out, so we canceled their appointment.
So we have decided that we will be going with CReATe Fertility Centre, based in Toronto, Ontario. We are pretty sure we have made a good choice. Dr. Librach was a funny doctor too and made us relax instantly.
There were three programs from CReATe Fertility Centre to choose from:
- Single Package
- The cheapest program that only includes one fresh egg cycle for the donor and have other options that we have to consider along the way
- Pay per embryo transfer and embryo screening
- This is what people will call the ‘a la carte’ program
- Unlimited Package
- Unlimited fresh egg cycles
- Embryo transfer included
- More options included less embryo screening and Embryo scope.
- Guarantee Program
- The most expensive of the three programs as it is all-inclusive
- Two fresh egg cycles included
- All embryo screening and Embryo scope time-lapse included ($6,000 CAD for both)
- If all embryos has been transferred and still unsuccessful, all money will be refunded less clinic administration fees
What did we choose? It would be definitely between the Unlimited package and the Guarantee Program. We discussed it, and to add everything else to the Unlimited Program, we are looking at about $1,000- $2,000 CAD less than the Guarantee Program, so to give ourselves the chance to get most of our money back if all embryos are used up, we are going for the Guaranteed Program.
