This at-home ‘egg timer’ test is an Aussie first. What does it tell us about fertility?

By Lauren Ironmonger

Last year, Claire Kennett and her husband started trying for a baby. After six months with no success, her GP suggested she take an AMH blood test, which measures the ovarian reserve.

Then 30, the secondary school teacher received what her GP called a low result. Kennett says she spiralled into a depression, thinking she’d have difficulty conceiving or be unable to have kids.

Often referred to as the “fertility” or “egg count” test, an AMH test measures the level of the Anti-Mullerian hormone in the blood, which is an indicator of the number of eggs left in the ovaries. Despite its nickname, it is not a marker of fertility and can only measure the quantity, rather than the quality, of eggs.

Kennett was referred to a fertility specialist, who reassured her the result was not an indicator of fecundity. “Without having gone to see her [the fertility specialist], I probably would have just stayed in that really dark place and blamed myself in thinking that everything was my fault,” she says.

The night before she and her husband were due to start fertility treatment, Kennett found out they had conceived naturally. They welcomed a baby girl, Wren, this year.