Frequently Asked Questions

Are you considering infertility treatments?

Then consider a personalized service that caters to your specific needs and family-building goals. My Fertility Plan provides the answers you need to make your infertility journey easier, safer, more cost-effective, and much more efficient in helping you bring home a baby as soon as possible.

Are you too busy to do the research on your own? Overwhelmed after not being able to get a straight answer from anyone, including your doctor? Do you think there is no way you can afford the high costs of infertility treatments? Are their alternatives to IVF? Are you very private and want to keep your infertility treatments discreet, but need someone to talk you through this experience? Or perhaps you’ve already tried some infertility treatments with no success and just want some advice or get an unbiased opinion about your next steps.

No matter who you are or what you want to do to treat your infertility, Evelina and Angie can help you navigate the complex choices involved with effectively treating your infertility. Unlike other consultants who have only gone through infertility and have no credentials, we are trained professionals. In addition to our own fertility experiences, Evelina has a PhD in reproductive health and public health education and Angie is a master’s level trained counselor.

For the past 15 years, Evelina and Angie have lived and worked in the infertility field. We have consulted with hundreds of patients and conferred with leading fertility specialists and other infertility professionals from around the world. We attend all the major infertility conferences, constantly talk to experts, and are up-to-date on all the research and scientific advances. We know who’s who and what they’ve done. We will investigate so you don’t have to. If we don’t have the answer, you can bet Evelina and Angie know how to find out fast. It can be exhausting and overwhelming to plunge into a world you may think you know nothing about. And when trying to have a baby, time is of the essence. You shouldn’t have to wait another day. By calling My Fertility Plan, you have Evelina and Angie in your corner from the get-go.

What can My Fertility Plan do for you?

Each action plan provided by My Fertility Plan is customized to address your specific questions, needs, concerns, expectations, and goals based on an intake session we do with each client. We do not believe in a “one size fits all” approach when it comes to infertility. Therefore, each My Fertility Plan action plan is unique to the person for which it is designed. Your My Fertility Plan action plan can include any or all of the following:

• Comprehensive and easy-to-understand answers to all your questions about infertility
• Translation of your test results and diagnoses into clear, straightforward language
• Detailed information about your treatment options, including the pros and cons of each option
• How to make the best treatment decisions for you and your family
• How to save out-of-pocket costs and make the most of your insurance
• How to make a financial plan to make sure you can afford your next treatment
• How to select the right fertility clinic or fertility specialist for you
• How to effectively switch doctors when you aren’t satisfied
• How to improve your communication skills so you get the answers you need from your healthcare providers
• All you need to know about selecting, purchasing, administering, and coping with the side effects of fertility medications
• Personal guidance through all aspects of third party reproduction--from finding a good agency to work with to selecting a donor or surrogate to achieving pregnancy to knowing your family story
• Summaries of all the recent studies and research pertaining to your diagnosis or treatment protocol
• Making the best lifestyle choices, including eating right, avoiding toxins, lower stress, and kicking bad habits, in order to boost your chances for success
• Integrating complementary and alternative medicine, such as acupuncture and massage, in order to help maximize your chances of becoming pregnant
• How to travel for treatment--from deciding where to go to coordinating care to making travel arrangements to having the procedures away from home
• Well-researched referrals to infertility professionals, such as attorneys, mental health clinicians, pharmacies, complementary and alternative care practitioners, and third party agencies
• And much, much more!

Why do you need My Fertility Plan?

Do you know which tests your health insurance will typically cover under general “wellness care” that they won’t pay for at the fertility doctor’s office? Is it true that your husband’s exercise routine - (or his waistline) can affect his fertility? Or that clinics regularly “fib” about their success rates?

Infertility is a $4 billion dollars a year industry. It is difficult to know exactly who has your best interests at heart. You need a professional patient advocate and infertility expert to walk beside you, warning you of financial and medical pitfalls and giving you the tools you need to make the best decisions for you and your family.

Why should you choose My Fertility Plan?

Evelina and Angie are professional patient advocates and infertility experts who have been working in the infertility field for over a decade. They know all the ins and outs of how to get the care you deserve and increase your chances of bringing home a baby. In fact, they have written the book (literally!) on accessing affordable fertility treatment—Budgeting for Infertility—How to Bring Home a Baby without Breaking the Bank (Simon & Schuster, 2009). (Plus they’ve written award-winning books on egg donation and PCOS and have a new one coming out in 2010 about high FSH levels and early menopause). No other infertility consultant knows the field as well as we do. Nobody.

Can an infertility consultant help you determine your course of treatment?

No, only you and your doctor can determine the treatment plan that’s right for you. However, once a plan is suggested, My Fertility Plan consultants can help facilitate your treatment plan by providing you with the right information which will help you effectively weigh your options and make the best decisions, physically, emotionally, and financially, for you and your growing family. We will also provide you with well-researched resources and referrals if you are considering donors, surrogates, or other professional resources. My Fertility Plan consultants will even provide a risk-benefit analysis to help determine the chances of success for a given a specific treatment option. Setting financial and emotional parameters are also critical in prudently guiding courses of treatment and identifying when it might be time to reassess your plan and suggest a different path.

What’s included in My Fertility Plan?

My Fertility Plan includes a customized and comprehensive plan, educational resources, and referrals that specifically meet your needs, answer your questions, address your concerns, focus on your goals, and find the right path for you. There is no “one size fits all” here.

By conducting a thorough intake and getting to know you, we can provide you with information that will be most helpful to you and your individual situation. Is money a concern? Are you hesitant to take fertility medications? Do you not fully understand your test results? Are you nervous about using third party reproduction? Are you concerned about what your friends and family will think? Do you need to travel for treatment, but don’t know where to start? Are you worried about jumping right into IVF? Do you prefer to try complementary and alternative therapies? Are you worn out due to failed attempts? We can help you through all of this—and much more!

We know all aspects of the infertility field—from which fertility clinic is best for you to the best pharmacies in your area for fertility medications to cutting edge research that is related to your diagnosis and proposed treatment plan to complementary and alternative medicine (such as mind-body approaches, acupuncture, and massage therapy) to ways to cut costs. Also, we will provide you with ongoing support and encouragement through regular emails. And you will be able to contact us via telephone or email as additional questions or concerns arise. Our main goal is to help you succeed!

How do you know you can trust My Fertility Plan?

We don’t take marketing money from industry. No doctors, no big pharmaceutical companies. We won’t. We don’t recommend any services that somebody else pays us to promote. Our referrals are unbiased and truthful, and based on many years of research and experience. To maintain our independence, we do not accept fees for referring our clients.

Who are My Fertility Plan’s clients?

My Fertility Plan works with everyone who wants to have a baby regardless of their circumstances. And we will work with you no matter where you are on your infertility journey—from just starting out as you discover having a baby might be more difficult than you ever thought, to preparing for IVF to considering egg donation or surrogacy to traveling for treatment. As difficult as infertility treatments, especially third party reproduction can be for heterosexual couples, gays, lesbians, families of color, and single parents can face even greater challenges. Getting to know you, your unique needs, and your family building goals, as well as identifying resources appropriate for your individual situation is paramount.

Is My Fertility Plan really worth the money?

Treating infertility is expensive, there is no denying that. Once you walk through that door marked “infertility,” you are going to end up paying more than you expected. Working with My Fertility Plan is very much like using a travel agent to book your next trip. Be spending a little more up front, you can rest easy that your trip will be a memorable one for all the right reasons! Similarly, seeking My Fertility Plan’s advice up front can save you trouble and frustration in choosing the best fertility specialist and planning properly for a satisfying experience. Evelina and Angie are dedicated professionals committed to those experiencing infertility. We strive to provide you with both piece of mind and value.

We wish we could do this for free…honestly! We are committed to this field and love helping people have babies. But, we have bills to pay too, so we have to recoup our time and effort without the selling our souls to the infertility industry. We always try to remain fair and charge the least amount possible. We encourage you to compare our rates and services with other infertility consultants. Not only are we the most cost effective fertility consultants out there, but we are also the most experienced.

Why is My Fertility Plan so important? Isn’t this something that can be done on your own?

Infertility is difficult. No one expects to find themselves in this situation. Also, there are no quick answers—what works for one person might not work for the next. Sometimes knowing the right question to ask is difficult, and the answers you get are only as good as the questions you ask. My Fertility Plan helps you understand the questions you need to ask and evaluate the answers you receive to make the most informed decision for your treatment and your chances of success.

We’ve worked in the fertility arena for over a decade. We know how hard it is to get unbiased information and to understand the available data. You can’t get all the information you need with a Google search. And more often than not infertility professionals, including fertility specialists and their staff, don’t have the time to give you the personalized attention you need. You don’t have to do this alone. Our strength is taking very complicated and often confusing information about infertility and making it user-friendly. By working with us, you will not only understand all that you are being told, but you will learn how to actually use this information to your advantage. If you want to take charge of you fertility by better understanding your infertility diagnosis and working with us to create an action-oriented plan specifically tailored to your unique circumstances, then give us a call. We look forward to hearing from you!

"Evelina Weidman Sterling, Ph.D and Angie Best-Boss are veteran women’s health advocates. They present a comprehensive overview of the minefield of infertility. Their insight not only can save you thousands of dollars, it may make that difference in achieving your primary objective – a healthy baby."

- Sam Thatcher, M.D., Ph.D,
Center for Applied Reproductive Science,
Johnson, City, TN