Seven questions about where you actually are — and a plain answer about what comes next. Takes about three minutes.
Before you start: IVF is not always the first step. If you haven't yet discussed whether IUI (intrauterine insemination) might be appropriate for your situation, that conversation should happen before you move forward with IVF. Not all clinics will raise it — ask directly.
You've done the groundwork. You know your numbers, you have someone confirmed for retrieval day, you've compared clinics, and you've thought through what happens if it doesn't work first time. What happens in that consultation room will be more productive because of it.
The next step is choosing which clinic to approach first — and going in with the right questions.
Most of the groundwork is there. The gaps worth closing aren't obstacles — they're decisions that belong to you, not to the clinic. Addressing them before you book means you go in with a complete picture rather than filling it in under pressure.
You're thinking seriously about this — but going into a consultation at this stage means the clinic shapes your understanding more than you do. A few weeks of preparation changes what you're able to ask, what you can push back on, and what you're able to decide.
The first step isn't booking a consultation. It's understanding your own baseline before anyone else gets to interpret it for you.
An AMH blood test and antral follicle count are available privately without a referral. Those two numbers give you your own picture — not a population average — and they change what you're able to ask when you do walk into a clinic.
According to HFEA data, live birth rates decline with age but are not zero — around 15% per cycle for women aged 40–42 using their own eggs, and around 5% for women aged 43–44. Age is one factor; ovarian reserve, overall health, and clinic experience with older patients all contribute. Whether to proceed is a question for you and your doctor based on your individual test results — but age alone is not an automatic disqualifier, and the HFEA figures are population averages, not individual predictions.
Get your baseline fertility tests first — AMH blood test and antral follicle count. These give you your own picture of your ovarian reserve, independent of any clinic's interpretation. Going into a consultation without these numbers means the clinic is shaping your understanding of your situation from the start. Having them lets you ask more specific questions and assess what you're being told against your own data.
Readiness isn't only biological. It includes having at least two clinics researched and compared by age-specific success rates, a financial plan that accounts for more than one cycle, and practical support arranged for egg retrieval day. Going in without these in place means the clinic shapes more of your decisions than you do.
Get a second opinion. Clinics have commercial incentives that can shape the advice they give — some decline to treat women with lower success rate projections because it affects their published statistics. A second clinic may assess your situation differently. One clinic told the founder of this site that her chances were 'improbable' and declined to treat her. She conceived naturally at almost 44.