Marzipan

Review of CReATe Fertility Centre

This is an outstanding clinic. My husband and I st...

This is an outstanding clinic. My husband and I started our fertility journey with Create in 2016 and now have two children (aged 20 months and 7 weeks) thanks to Dr. Librach and his team of competent and caring technicians, nurses, and medical assistants. Dr. Librach provided us with expert care. At our initial consult, he took a detailed history from both of us and then clearly explained how he would go about identifying the likely causes of our infertility. He also clearly explained which services and tests were OHIP covered and which we would have to pay for out of pocket.

The experience was not always perfect, nor was it easy. The clinic experience is what my husband and I came to refer to as "organized chaos" -- a revolving door of patients undergoing cycle monitoring to pinpoint the best time in each patient's cycle to begin medication, adjust dosages, and undergo a procedure. You come to realize how much information has to be gathered and tracked in real time in order to ensure that you can seize each opportunity to try to conceive. You show up (no appointment), put your name on a few lists, have your bloodwork done, and wait to be called for an ultrasound. The receptionist pulls your chart which goes to the ultrasound tech and is then placed into a pile for your doctor. In this organized chaos, it is possible to have to wait for hours -- your doc is bouncing between routine patient consults, insemination rooms, and the OR where other patients are undergoing egg retrievals, egg transfers, or other procedures. For the most part these procedures will have been scheduled with only a day or two notice (because everything happens according to each patient's individual cycle). Nobody (including the doctors and their assistants) knows from day to day how busy it will be. As a new patient, I would have appreciated a roadmap to navigate this process (it is overwhelming), but it quickly became familiar.

While there were a few visits where I had to wait for hours, either for an ultrasound or to see the doctor, for the most part on routine cycle monitoring days I was in and out within 30 minutes and received my instructions by voicemail. I found (as in every other experience I have had with the healthcare system) that you have the best experience if you advocate for yourself -- check in with the receptionist if you feel you are waiting too long, to ensure your chart didn't accidentally end up in the wrong pile or to be reassured that the doctor knows you're there and that s/he will see you when s/he is out of the OR. Everyone there is working extremely hard and trying to provide the best care they can.

Dealing with infertility is an emotional rollercoaster. At the outset it felt like information overload. Then came the highs and lows of trying to conceive. Eight months in, after several rounds of unsuccessful intrauterine insemination and a failed IVF cycle, I was at my lowest point. We started another IVF cycle but only one egg matured in that cycle so we cancelled the IVF and decided to try IUI -- and our son was conceived. We got lucky. Many patients have a much longer and a much more complex road to conceiving and others run out of resources (financial and/or emotional) and stop before they have conceived.

Once we had conceived, the care we received in the first trimester was absolutely outstanding -- kid glove treatment. We were carefully monitored and the ultrasound technicians were generous with letting us see the ultrasound images of our developing embryo (not something you can expect in the public system!). When I had bleeding in the 10th week of my first pregnancy, the clinic staff and the doctor stayed late on a weekend to check me out and ensure everything was OK.

We are so grateful to Dr. Librach and his incredible team of staff for their care and expertise, which resulted in two pregnancies.