Despite what your inner screamer is telling you, just walking into a fertility clinic will not cost you millions of dollars. In fact, it will most likely save you time and money.

The truth is, no one’s ever gotten pregnant from just eating Goji berries. Women will often go to great lengths to get pregnant. With so much information out there, we try and take it all in, and sometimes we can make ourselves nuts. When truthfully, often the best thing we can do for fertility is relax.

Easier said then done, I remember. I still have a cabinet filled with Basel Body temperature charts, saliva thermometers, primrose oil, and horse pills of god-knows-what.

If only I’d known then what I know now. The key is to keep your eye on the time. All these things may work, but while you’re busy scouring the underbrush of Amazon for the perfect fertility berry, your ovarian reserve could be getting low.

If you’re under 35 and have been actively trying to conceive for one year, or 35 and over actively trying for 6 months, it is time to have some basic tests done by a fertility specialist.

Step one; you absolutely must—even if it takes a breadcrumb trail of blazing hot chicken wings—get your partner in for a semen analysis. Over 35% of infertility is caused by men. It’s relatively easy to rule out and, if there’s an issue, a hurdle that can often be overcome.

Step two; get a Snapshot of your ovarian reserve by a board certified fertility specialist. Do not send in a cheek swab to some anonymous online website. They cannot reach through your computer and give you an ultrasound—yet. It will not save you time, money, or sanity in the long run.

Women are born with over 1 million eggs but by the time of puberty, only about 300,000 remain. Of these, only 300 to 400 are ovulated during a woman’s reproductive lifetime. Testing your ovarian reserve gives you a rough estimate of time left in your fertility window. And though that information is priceless, it’s actually very affordable.

The Fertility Snapshot at Overlake Reproductive Health in Bellevue, WA is an assessment of a woman’s current reproductive potential that includes the following:

• Blood work: AMH, LH*, FSH*, E2*
• Ultrasound to assess antral follicle count (AFC)
• Summary report of results reviewed under MD supervision

*unless on hormonal birth control

The cost is $249 out of pocket with or without fertility insurance. If your ovarian reserve is low and you choose to take action, you’ll already be a patient at ORH and in the capable hands of one of the best fertility clinics in the Pacific Northwest.

The truth is, walking into a fertility clinic does not cost you millions of dollars. It can be a life-altering time saver. And if you keep your eye on the prize—a baby—then the sooner you find a fertility specialist you can trust, the sooner you’ll be up all night changing diapers instead of Googling the latest fertility craze.