Making the decision to begin fertility testing and treatment is a big one. It can feel overwhelming and is often accompanied by lots of tough emotions. We're here to help break it all down for you and make it just a little bit less intimidating.
At Illume Fertility, we believe that educating, empowering, and holistically supporting fertility patients leads to greater success.
Let's embark on this journey to parenthood together.
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Our goal at Illume Fertility is to not only help you have a healthy baby, but to ensure you feel empowered and educated along the way.
As a patient entering your own fertility journey, it’s important to surround yourself with support, know where to turn for information, and understand what lies ahead.
Feeling a little overwhelmed? That’s why we’ve created this comprehensive Fertility 101 Guide to help you move toward treatment and pregnancy with confidence. Fill out the form to download this free eBook now!
Here at Illume Fertility, each patient has their own support staff. You will be assigned a team of providers that are devoted to your unique fertility journey.
Your Care Team is made up of a reproductive endocrinologist, patient navigator, fertility nurse, and insurance and billing advocate. Plus, you have access to our Physician Assistant, Genetic Counseling Team, and our entire Integrated Fertility and Wellness program (more on this below).
Schedule Your Consult Learn MoreHere’s who to talk to on your Care Team:
Your patient navigator will help you stay organized by reminding you of pending tasks based on your individual treatment plan, scheduling appointments and connecting you with your financial, clinical and Integrated Fertility & Wellness resources within Illume Fertility.
This is your go-to person for treatment specifics. Think: dosage, timing, and medications. If you have a question about how to administer medication or clinical questions about your cycle, your fertility nurse can help. Your nurse works closely with your physician on all aspects of your treatment to ensure the best quality care.
Have a billing or health insurance question? This is your person. From your financial status to benefit clearance, this team member can help guide you through the financial logistics and make things a little less overwhelming.
Now that you've decided to move forward with seeking fertility assistance, it's important to make sure you have all the necessary logistics in order. We also recommend implementing certain lifestyle habits that can significantly improve your chances down the line. In order to help you be as prepared as possible for the journey ahead, we've created a guide that makes your planning easy.
There's no denying that fertility treatment can be expensive. With procedures, laboratory usage, and medications, it can all quickly add up. It's important to have a plan for financing the journey, whether that's in cash, credit, loans, grants, using health insurance, or a combination of all of these options.
The first action we recommend is to call your health insurance provider and get all of your questions answered. You may uncover a benefit you never knew you had, or you may more fully understand where you'll need to fill in the gaps. There are many resources to help you pay for treatment, but before you start crunching the numbers, use the following list to get to know your exact coverage.
Learn MoreThis is your first big appointment in a series of diagnostic preparatory evaluation. Here, you will meet your doctor and ultimately be introduced to the rest of your Fertility Team. We are currently conducting consultations with our reproductive endocrinologists via video conference, instead of in the office. Instead of meeting the other team members at that same time, you will receive a phone call or email or schedule a video conference with them after meeting with your reproductive endocrinologist.
During the consultation, you and your doctor will spend quite a bit of time getting to know each other. You will tell your provider about your history, discuss your current health status, and share your future goals. This is an important step in the process, as it allows a glimpse into the whole person that you are. Our providers strive to provide all-encompassing, 360-degree care, so this first get-to-know-you chat is vital.
We know this meeting can seem overwhelming and you might forget to ask a question you’ve been thinking about, or maybe you can’t quite remember what the doctor said about this or that. That’s why we created the Fertility Consultation Guide. It’s part note-taking, part checklist, and just for you in this first appointment. It will help you answer all your questions and make sure you don’t forget all that was discussed.
A full fertility workup helps guide us. After your first big fertility consultation appointment, your doctor will want to investigate the possible causes of your fertility challenges to help formulate the best possible treatment plan for you. This will include lab work and routine diagnostic procedures like Day 3 Testing and an HSG. Want a quick crash course in what all these terms mean and why they're so important? Scroll down to learn more so you can feel informed and empowered before you even step into the office!
On Day 3 of your cycle, you will have bloodwork performed to check the levels of three important markers: follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH) and estradiol (E2).
Ovulation occurs around Day 14 in a regular cycle, and after that, certain hormones fluctuate and your endometrium (uterine lining) thickens. Your fertility specialist may want to do blood work and an ultrasound on Day 21 to see how well these processes are occurring.
A semen sample is examined in a laboratory for quantity (count), color, the presence of infections or blood, any abnormalities in their size, shape, and structure (morphology), and movement (motility).
This test is a transvaginal ultrasound evaluating your ovarian reserve, or remaining egg supply. The ovarian reserve is one measure of your fertility potential.
Genetic testing examines DNA, which has been called the “chemical database” that carries instructions for the body’s functions and can reveal gene changes that may cause illness or disease, including infertility.
This hormone is secreted by follicles in the ovaries, is an indicator of egg quantity, and can be tested at any point during a woman's cycle. This is another way we can test ovarian reserve.
An HSG test is an X-ray procedure used to evaluate the status of a woman’s fallopian tubes, the two structures that carry eggs from the ovaries to the uterus.
Also known as a saline infusion sonogram, this procedure begins like a transvaginal ultrasound with a slow introduction of saline into the uterus through a small catheter. SHG is used to evaluate uterine abnormalities, the endometrium (uterine lining) and other disorders.
As personal as your journey is to you, it can sometimes feel out of your control. Once you and your fertility team have decided on a course of action, one way to bring a sense of control back into your life is to study up on what will be happening with your body during fertility treatment.
Educating yourself can help you feel much more empowered and ready to start the journey! Check out the information below to learn more about what's next.
The Integrated Fertility and Wellness team is an entire department at Illume Fertility completely dedicated to supporting you during your fertility journey. It includes acupuncture, nutrition, mental health, and yoga. Meet the team below, get to know how each discipline can enhance your journey, and reach out to the listed contact to book your appointment today.
Develop a personalized plan for maintaining equilibrium and coping with stress throughout your treatment by taking advantage of our mental health team. They are experts in supporting patients through fertility and family-building and can provide a variety of helpful tools for lowering stress and handling the ups and downs of it all.
Reap both the physical and emotional benefits of traditional or laser acupuncture during your fertility journey. Acupuncture has been shown to improve embryo transfer success rates. It has also been shown to lower stress and add more peace to your journey.
Support your fertility treatment with a personalized nutrition plan to help you maintain a balanced lifestyle. Our registered dietitian nutritionists see all types of patients and counsel on issues like PCOS, insulin resistance, weight management, and other conditions.
Connect with a community dedicated to breaking the stigma around fertility care, and get personalized support from our Patient Advocate, Lisa Rosenthal. Additionally, Illume Fertility is dedicated to advancing reproductive rights for all, which includes expanding insurance coverage to include fertility benefits and bringing awareness to all fertility and family-building issues. These efforts are led by Lisa and our other providers.
We encourage you to try out each discipline as they all bring something different and impactful to your family building journey.
Sometimes, you just want to talk to someone who gets it. Someone going through the process right there with you.
Explore all the support group opportunities below to help get you through your own personal journey, as well as to connect, share, and build a bond with our strong fertility community.
Our goal at Illume Fertility is to deliver high-quality, compassionate care. In order to have the best experience at our practice, we want to make sure you have all the information and resources at your fingertips. Below, we answer some common questions you may have about your journey with Illume Fertility. Feel free to reach out to your Patient Navigator for any additional clarification, they are happy to help!
Illume Fertility has four Connecticut locations and one New York location.
Yes, we require all necessary medical records prior to your fertility consultation so that we can better evaluate your care. Due to HIPAA, most providers require a signed form in order to release your medical records. Click this link to access the incoming record release form.
Here's a quick checklist of what you'll need to supply with your fertility team at the start of your journey:
Also, don't forget to fill out the patient questionnaire that your fertility team has supplied you. This is a vital resource for the doctor to properly evaluate your care.
Yes! We abide by all HIPAA protocols and use an encrypted email service to keep your information safe and secure.
FertilityPro is a tool our team will send you upon scheduling a consultation. It will prompt you to fill out a New Patient Questionnaire and serve as our safe and secure intake system for your provider to review. Having your responses to this questionnaire is incredibly important to the team, as it allows us to get to know you and prepare for your unique treatment.
FertilityPro also serves as your patient portal and a central hub throughout your journey with Illume Fertility. In FertilityPro, you can securely upload documents, communicate with your Care Team, view upcoming appointments, sign consent forms and much more.
Your New Patient Liaison, Patient Navigator, and Nurse will supply you with all the necessary links to forms you will need to complete at the appropriate times. Here's a list of what you might be filling out:
Depending on your specific protocol, you may or may not have additional paperwork to fill out and sign.
Prior to the COVID pandemic, our morning monitoring were all walk-in appointments. Now, we are scheduling to space out patients a bit better. Here are the hours at each location:
We strive to make these appointments as quick and easy for you as possible, so please let a Front Desk Ambassador know if you've been waiting for 20 minutes or longer.
You will receive all test results directly from your nurse. Because we have a nationally accredited laboratory on our premises, we are able to get your test results out to you on the same day, in most cases. Once our nurses are finished treating patients, they are able to review the results and inform you by the end of the day. Our goal is to have these results to you as soon as possible, so please rest assured that the nurse will reach out to you at their earliest opportunity.
As a fertility clinic that sees patients around the clock and almost every single day of the year, our hours can be a bit confusing at first glance. Let's break it down here:
Our offices all open at 7am for morning monitoring and close at 3:00pm, as the last patient finishes up their appointment.
The front desk phones are answered from 7:00am to 3:00pm.
Our general New Patient Line can be reached from 8:30am until 4:30pm.
We have exclusive weekend hours for morning monitoring and patient appointments that are specifically timed according to their protocol. There are select opportunities for fertility consultations on the weekend, depending on the doctor, so be sure to ask the New Patient Liaison what is available.
Our nurses start their day in line with our office hours but stay past the last scheduled patient in order to deliver their daily results to patients. Rest assured, if you're awaiting results, your nurse will be in touch before they leave for the day.
When you arrive at your scheduled appointment time, you can simply come into the office and check in at the front desk! For our current COVID protocol and precautions we're taking, please visit our COVID information page.
If you need your medical records sent to your OB-GYN, primary care physician, or another doctor, please contact your patient navigator.
We are constantly working to respond to you as quickly and helpfully as possible. Currently, our response time is 48 hours.
We never want you to feel alone in this journey. If you ever have any questions about your treatment, support opportunities, or the other resources listed above, please reach out to your Patient Navigator.
If you are not yet a patient and want to speak with one of our reproductive endocrinologists, fill out the form and one of our new patient liaisons will be in touch as soon as possible.
We look forward to meeting you.