Going through a decade of infertility taught me a hell of a lot, but the main lesson was this: I needed to be an advocate for my own health.

The other lesson was that fertility treatments come with so much baggage. There’s the cost, the stress, and the endless questions.

I cried at the $600 a month price tag on the loan my husband and I took out to pay for 4 of our 7 rounds before our daughter was born. I felt lost when it came to trying to understand why certain friends didn’t seem supportive. I felt clueless when it came to my labs and fertility testing. I needed help.

Enter: fertility coaching. I had never even heard of this concept until after I gave birth to my daughter — five IVF treatments later.

What is fertility coaching?

While your physicians are there to give medical advice, fertility coaches are there for everything else. They look at the whole person — not just the infertility diagnosis.

They’ll help with diet, stress management, and how you perceive and think about the diagnosis. They can also act as a sounding board when you need to make a treatment decision or need someone to explain exactly how an egg retrieval works.

Read the rest of this article over at Healthline.