If you've decided you're ready to get into the infertility game, it can be very confusing to know where to start. Should you see your OB/GYN? A urologist? The reproductive endocrinologist? Your family doctor?

Checking out the male is a good place to start, and the best way to do that is through a semen analysis. According to Dr. William Keye, director of reproductive endocrinology and in vitro fertilization for Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich., there's no need to go to a urologist to have this done unless he has some history of medical problems that might affect fertility. Getting the semen analysis can be as simple as calling your family doctor, explaining your situation and asking him to call in the order for the test. The female may choose to see her OB/GYN – perhaps bringing it up at her annual exam – or her family physician or the reproductive endocrinologist. If she's older, in a hurry or has a history of medical problems, she might consider going straight to the reproductive endocrinologist, Dr. Keye says. "[The reproductive endocrinologist] can act as a quarterback and direct the care," he says. That way you have one person treating the couple as a whole, not one doctor treating the female and one the male.

If you're younger and not in a hurry, the OB/GYN or family physician may be able to begin some of the initial tests required for the female. However, Jackie Meyers-Thompson, co-author of Fertility for Dummies (For Dummies, 2003) and three-year infertility patient, recommends bypassing them. "I would say get ye to a doctor," she says. "Skip the OB/GYN and go straight to the reproductive endocrinologists who are really considered the fertility specialists."

But no matter who you choose to see, be sure you have all the proper tests done before choosing a path of treatment, says Dr. Larry Barmat, director of endometrial lab and donor egg co-culture at Abington Reproductive Medicine in Abington, Pa.

Navigating your way through the bumpy road of conception can be tough, particularly since there's not one clear road map for every couple. If you're not sure what to do, slow down and listen to yourself. "The patient ultimately has to listen to their little voice," says Dr. Peter Horvath, a reproductive endocrinologist at Albany IVF in Albany, N.Y.

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