We owe a lot to the expertise of Dr. Yelian and Life IVF! We have a long history as patients there. We have always been so impressed with Life IVF -- specifically, these aspects: up to date flexibility and adaptiveness, methodology, compassion, dedication, efficiency, and affordability. I will use these categories below to give you some helpful detail... each of those words have real meaning behind them. First, **please** don't wait to call for your 10-minute free consultation. I say that because we have actually had relatives that wanted to wait until they were totally ready before they called, but once they did, they learned much more than they had at their own IVF center in just 10 minutes. Dr. Yelian has it all in his head knows how to abstract the complex process and apply it to your situation. Truly good care starts at the top of an organization. We have found that Life IVF is that way. Dr. Yelian, who founded this center, has so many many awards from the healthcare community. He does whatever it takes, and founded and spearheads (continually) the disciplined quality of care described below. (quick note: A few quick details on why/how we travel from out of state to come to Life IVF are included in the last three paragraphs, below). Before digging into the details, about us: we started fertility treatments such as IUI (at another facility) and IVF during our early thirties and have had two successful pregnancies -- two of our three children! -- through fresh and frozen embryo transfers, at Life IVF! We have conceived a third time but unfortunately miscarried at 14 weeks :(. All of this success came without doing a full IVF (always mini-stim) and without implanting more than two embryos each time. Everyone is different, and our next attempts now that we are nearing 40 may be different in the future -- but we believe our success was not by chance, but due to the careful quality of care at Life IVF. Prays and blessings are optional for some -- but for us were essential to our success and peace, whether or not we got pregnant. Flexible and adaptive - Patients have a lot of options at Life IVF. Life IVF works around your monthly cycle. There is not a medicated timed cycle. Instead, they enhance your cycle. So there is no big extraction day like at other offices, which means you are more likely to have longer, more personalized interactions with staff and doctors. You also don't feel like it is forced. Medications also change each month, and during daily monitoring, each day (depending on the growth and number of eggs). Natural, minimal, or full medication IVF is available. Pain medications are optional (another natural preference). Careful and always up to date methodology - Life IVF medicates at an appropriate level -- not too much, not too little. Those levels are customized and adjusted each day during monitoring. This is based on careful and continuous trainings and study review. The medication trend is to avoid overmedication and still see the same positive outcomes. Implanting multiple fetuses is also proving to be unnecessary in many cases. Life IVF is on top of this and actively counsels patients according to these guidelines. Age is one of the big determiners on how to handle that, and Dr. Yelian is quick to state he has success with older patients (greater than 40 is common) as well as many younger. So if you are concerned about age, calling him is your best strategy in case there is a better chance for success than you think. Compassionate - the staff really cares about their patients. Dr. Yelian (a few years ago) used to return cell phone inquiries by patients (not just sales but existing patients) late into the evening during parties, exercising, weekends, whatever. He still has the attitude when possible and of course has to limit his interactions due to patient volume. However, if the patient wants to talk to him specifically, he'll stay late and make it happen whenever possible. Further, he seriously cares about the welfare of each patient, and is excellent at remembering them and their specific life details over time. He has not lost the personal touch and the office has not either, despite booming business. This is simply amazing and rare. Dedicated - the above points are included here but I can point out a couple more. During egg retrieval, there is great care to optimize extraction with an ever-present concern for patient well-being. Pushing things too hard discouraged. Risk is measured in real time, and knowledge is so ingrained that adaptability is easily integrated into that care. I think this all stems from deep personal dedication to others (Dr. Yelian seriously has this and it has pervaded through the office effectively) as well as a willingness to keep up to date and try new things, as long as it is adequately supported by studies. So it's a dedication to the trade, and to patients, even to other staff. Also, everyone is always positive, upbeat, happy. By the way, their office is so nurturing and peaceful, with well-furnished furniture and gentle music, internet computers, tv, water, and room and chairs to spread out during waits. Less expensive and affordable - our Life IVF cost includes so many "extras" (frozen sperm/egg/embryo storage, ICSI, more) that other places charge separately for so do your math carefully and think long-term. In our case, we saved many thousands of dollars by traveling out of state. Here are some details on traveling from out of state to Southern California for fertility visits: first, much credit goes to our family for watching kids for a day or two. We fly on Southwest points (acquired from their credit card promotional point bonus) or on cash because of the trust we have, as well as the competitive pricing. IVF is a high-stakes, expensive endeavor and this is where we landed after much research and deliberation. Here we reduce costs without sacrificing quality care. It is such a nice area -- Irvine, Newport Beach, Anaheim, Laguna Beach, small and beautiful SNA airport, many wonderful hotel options -- those are definitely perks that helps enhance the visit since it is easy to get away to a sunny beach any time of year and eliminate much of the stress that tends to accompany infertility in general. If you are not familiar with Irvine, it is lush, upscale, quiet, beautiful. Nearby cities are the same and the beach is close. We fly in by 2:30 pm the day before our visit and fly back home at 4 pm the day of our visit, sometimes waiting an additional day to fly out the next morning. Some months we need an airport-provided wheelchair (for Mom) through the airport (there and back due to meds), sometimes she can walk. Each month is different. One more note about travel -- as mentioned, despite travel costs, we still paid thousands less at Life IVF than at the local IVF centers, even though we paid for a little extra for ultrasound monitoring near our home plus travel expense. Why local ultrasounds?: you have to find a local fertility center that can do ultrasounds and blood work on short notice, sometimes on Saturday or maybe Sunday -- but Mondays sometimes can be done instead of Sundays. The ultrasounds are egg-counting so not your typical and often only IVF centers do them. We hope you find peace, success, empowerment, and strength as you find your way!