Best IVF clinic in Massahcusetts

Fifteen states in the US. provide state-meandated insurance coverage for IVF and other kinds of feterility treatment.

State Mandated Insurance Coverage for IVF

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Both I and my husband were low-paid Ph.D. research fellows in Harvard Medical School when we got married. We struggled finding our own career paths and did not have either time or secure income to raise a baby. Five years went by; we finally have decent jobs, working in the biotech, and a small townhouse to house a child. We hoped to conceive a child naturally however; it did not happen after a trial of two years. Even many articles describes: women's childbearing age is 15-44 years old. But the truth is that women should not wait too long to get pregnant. I was 36 years and I felt that my fertility has already gone forever.

We did some research for the IVF clinics in the greater Boston area, there were many fertility specialists in this area. Probably, medical need for fertility treatment is high in this area. Every hospital has specialists with impressive resumes. In the end, we chose Mass General Vincent IVF Center. It was a small clinic and made me feel less intimidated. Also it was close to work and the office hours could start from 6:00am. The Physicians did a few of test and tried to figure out why I could not conceive. In the first visit: FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) and LH (luteinizing hormone) test was performed on the third day of my cycle. The second visit was before ovulation, and a cervical mucus test and an ultrasound test were performed to examine if there are bacteria in cervical mucus and to assess the thickness of the uterus lining, monitor follicle development and check the condition of the uterus and ovaries. Sequentially a board spectrum of hormone testing was done including LH, FSH, estradiol, progesterone, prolactin, testosterone, and androstenedion etc.

Luckily, all above testing returned normal for me. My Physician arranged me to have hysterosalpingogram (HSG) to assess if there is a blockage or any other problem such as polyps, fibroids, adhesions or a foreign object in my uterus and fallopian tubes by X-ray and a contrast dye. The HSG also returned normal.

The blood work was not too invasive, but I had a hard time during the hysterosalpingogram. It was extremely uncomfortable and I almost vomited during the procedure and I bled a lot after the procedure. After a month of extensive testing and a nail-biting wait, Dr. Toth confirmed that I was fertile. I had no obvious problems, and he would like to have my husband to have all the male fertility testing done.

I had always thought I was the problem; so did my mother-in law politely implied occasionally. I was relieved after learning that everything seems to be normal in my reproduction system. But at the meantime, I became stressed out again, because I did not want my husband to be uncomfortable.

The semen analysis was done to determine the male infertility factor including sperm count and sperm morphology as well physiology of the reproductive tract. They all returned normal. It was good to know that there was no obvious problem in our fertility. However, it did not offer a solution that we were childless.

I was 36 years and thin. Most of my body fat burns off in response to the high stress of demanding drug development process in the biotech/pharmaceutical industry. Although I had regular menstrual period and I did not have obvious signs of hormone imbalance such as, excess or rough facial hairs or body hairs in my arms and legs. My fertility was probably compromized by the low body and by the high working anxiety. There is no problem at all for me to write 10 blogs regarding the work place insanity and problems.

We decided to have IVF done anyway since I felt old and did not want to wait anymore. I had my hospital visit around 7:00am and went to work after that. The IVF process went pretty well until there was a pluming problem in the surgical room. It happened right before my egg retrieval. The hospital told us that we cannot complete IVF procedure in MGH and they will have us go to Brigham and Women's hospital and the fertility specialists will perform the rest of procedures.

I could not believe what was happening and hoped that they will fix their pipes in time for my egg retrieval and implant. Sadly, the transfer was a done deal; we were told to go to Brigham to complete the procedure.

In the day of egg retrieval, we almost miss the appointment. Because my husband drove me to the MGH by his " default" program. By the time we struggled to find Brigham and women's fertility center, we were exhausted. There were 12 patients waiting to have egg retrieval in Brigham. I was extremely frustrated and I was afraid that so many couples visiting at the same time, will their lab take good care of everyone’s embryos.

The Doctors in the Brigham had problems to implant my embryos; the short procedure took 60 minutes and I was hopeless lying on the surgical bed. Male nurses or nurse assistants in the Brigham made me really uncomfortable and humiliated. In MGH, there was no male nurse in the center. We decided not go to the big clinic such as Brigham, but we ended up to be there by strange fate.

Before the implantation, we were told that the embryos look very good in culture and they decided to implant two of them and freeze the rest. A very young physician performed the implantation, later we found out that she was a resident and had never done this before. I became a Guinea pig without my consent. Four guys stared at me when I lay in an awkward position. I was hopeless, lying there and cried. I did not say a word on the way home, inside the car. At night, I had a dream in which my babies were leaving me with their tears in the eyes.

The outcome for the first IVF was negative.

We made sure that the MGH fertility center has fixed their pluming problem before we arranged for the 2nd IVF procedure. The second time, everything moved smoothly. Thank you for all the doctors and nurses in the Vincent IVF center. Before anesthesia doctor put me to sleep for egg retrieval, he joked that if I could gain 15 lbs and then I should not need to have IVF, just eat more, and then I fell asleep. Dr. Shifren told me that everything was fine when I opened my eyes. The embryologist came out and told us that we are the only couple having procedure that day. It was a big relief to know that, the possibility for embryo mix-up is zero.

Two days later, Dr. Shifren also performed the implantation. Everything seemed so easy for her and it took less than 10 minutes. The embryologist explained to us that the embryos look good but to increase the chance, he recommended implanting three embryos.

We happily received two healthy baby boys 38 weeks later.


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Fifteen states in the US. provide state-meandated insurance coverage for IVF or other kinds of feterility treatment.

State Mandated Insurance Coverage for IVF

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General treatment info for IVF
The fertility Network

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Most of IVF clinics in the Greater Boston area
MA IVF clinics

MGH Vincent (Boston)

Boston IVF (Boston, Waltham, Concord, South Shore, Worcester, Metro West, Fall River, Mt. Auburn, Nactucket, Maine)

Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Boston)
Tufts medical center (Boston)

Reproductive Science Center (10 locations: Lexington, Braintree, Cambridge, North Chelmsford, Milford, Peabody, Westboro, Bedford, Providence RI, Portland ME)
Fertility Center of New England (6 locations:  Danvers, Dedham, Reading, Westborough MA, Bedford NH, Portsmouth NH).

Central-Western Massachusetts

Fallon clinic (Worcester, MA)
Babystate reproductive medicine (Springfield, MA)
Reproductive Medicine center of western massachusetts (East Longmeadow, MA)


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Some couples seek treatment oversea to reduce the cost of IVF.
Oversea Fertility Center


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General information of IVF and infertility

Fertility treatment in general (MayoClinic)

Miscarriage treatment (Mayo Clinic)

Infertility treatment (IVF.com)

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