First fertility appointment

A first visit to an RE, a Reproductive Endocrinologist, can be quite nerve-wrecking. It is absolutely normal to be anxious about your first fertility appointment, even if the appointment might bring you a step closer to getting pregnant. Knowing what to expect from the first appointment with an RE might take the edge off your anxiety. Your RE appointment is no different from any other doctor s appointment in the sense that you will first get answer questions about your own medical history.

This somewhat mundane part of the appointment will hopefully allow you to get to know your Reproductive Endocrinologist a bit better. You will tell your RE about your history of trying to get pregnant, and provide details of the doctors you have seen previously and any treatments you have already undergone. Then, your new RE will probably want to do a pelvic exam, and perhaps an ultrasound to reveal any anomalies that can become visible through that method. More than anything, the first appointment is a getting to know you appointment that helps your new RE gather the information they need to develop a further treatment plan. It is understandable to hope for a clear plan on how you will proceed with fertility treatments in the future.

That is not something you will get from a first appointment, though. What you will get to do, is ask lots of questions. If you think you are likely to forget the questions that you really want answers to because you are nervous, it is a good idea to write them down in advance. Good questions to gain answers to include the doctor s and the fertility clinic's success rates, their working hours, when the lab is open, the cost of the fertility treatment you are likely to have, and who performs the actual fertility procedures.