When Margaret Smith discerned
her calling to teach
the Creighton system of
natural family planning,
she declared, “If, by becoming
a practitioner, I prevent
even one abortion, then
I’ve done my job.”
Adamantly pro-life, the
former palliative care nurse
and sometime missionary
is now an integral part of
the Marguerite Bourgeoys
Family Centre Fertility Care
Programme, which held its
annual general meeting on
Nov. 13 in Toronto and is
starting to sponsor satellites
elsewhere in this
country. Smith, now a seasoned
Creighton “practitioner,”
announced that Dr.
Thomas Hilgers’
FertilityCare education
program, taught at Pope
Paul VI Institute in Omaha,
Neb., will be brought to
Canada for the first time.
From Toronto, it can
spread in this country and
beyond.
The new education program,
which will be headed
by Smith when it opens in
2008, will train more practitioners
to meet the growing
demand for the education
of youth, women and
couples in authentic fertility
appreciation. Marguerite
Bourgeoys doubled its new
clientele in the past year
alone, primarily by word of
mouth. While the bulk of
the services are offered by
practitioners who teach the
Creighton system, many
clients also become
patients of trained medical
consultants. In cases of
gynecological or reproductive
difficulty, information
from the fertility charts
kept by a woman or a married
couple is correlated
with hormonal profiles and
ultrasound results to coordinate
state-of-the-art
treatment.
The medical application
of the Creighton system is
called Naprotechnology –
short for natural reproductive
technology. Some
client couples need only
the information from the
fertility chart to understand
the best time to achieve
pregnancy and may find
success within the first
cycle. Others learn that
medical factors are compromising
conception or
gestation. Some couples
are supported as they
resolve the problem
through adoption; others
pursue treatment and prepare
the mother’s body for
pregnancy.
In contrast to artificial
methods of assisted reproduction,
Naprotechnology
is safe for the woman and
her babies, ethical for the
marriage and exponentially
more effective. As a result
of the treatment,
Marguerite Bourgeoys
clients and patients welcomed
close to 50 “miracle
babies” in the past year
alone.
David and Jessica
Sheppard of North Bay,
Ont., married in 2001
when they were both just
19, experienced one of
those miracles. Prior to the
marriage, Jessica had
already been offered the
birth control pill because
of menstrual difficulties,
but she refused because of
what she learned through
the pro-life movement.
When the Sheppards married
and tried unsuccessfully
to conceive for two
years, some dismissed their
frustration, because they
assumed that as a young
woman, Jessica should be
healthy and that the couple
had plenty of time. |
Meanwhile, gynecologists
offered her fertility drugs
without determining the
underlying problem. Again
through the movement,
Jessica was put in touch
with Marguerite Bourgeoys
and the couple began
keeping their Creighton
charts.
Levi Sheppard was born July 10, 2006, two years after
his mother Jessica received a correct diagnosis from a
Marguerite Bourgeoys medical consultant.
A Marguerite Bourgeoys
medical consultant diagnosed
Jessica with polycystic
ovarian syndrome and
encouraged the couple to
avoid pregnancy while the
mother’s health was stabilized.
Only once Jessica’s
tendency to miscarry was
alleviated, was she safely
able to receive a fertility
drug to help ovulation.
After two years, their son
was conceived. Her treatment
continued to sustain
her pregnancy while she
carried Levi, who was born
July 10, 2006.
“Napro is not the fast
way” to address infertility,
said Jessica – but for the
sake of the mother who
needs to be healthier and
the unborn child who
needs to survive gestation,
it is the right way. She also
explained that the journey
of infertility “can make or
break your marriage” and
the support from
Marguerite Bourgeoys and
the Creighton system was a
tremendous help to her
and David. “It’s God’s will
and I had a doctor who was
following God’s will” who
honoured the couple’s first
priority, their faith.
When “Paul” and “Elissa”
(not their real names) of
Vaughan, Ont., married in
2002, they knew that conception
could be difficult.
Elissa was already 39 and
Paul, though just 32, had a
varicocele, a mass of
enlarged veins in the spermatic
cord. Exposed to natural
family planning in
marriage preparation classes,
they tried to use the
method to achieve pregnancy
right after their wedding,
but gave up in frustration.
Although they considered
themselves devout,
Paul and Elissa went to a
secular fertility clinic for
help. Desperate for a child
and not considering that
their church forbids such
action, they attempted
intra-uterine insemination
five times and in-vitro fertilization
three times.
Although the fertility clinic
was indifferent, Paul also
had his medical problem
surgically corrected.
The couple suffered two
miscarriages following
those procedures, and
increasing guilt as they
started to learn more about
the requirements of their
faith. Then they were
advised against further IVF,
because of a “three strikes,
you’re out” recommendation.
“I didn’t think I wanted
to put my body through
another IVF anyway, and
|
…
by this point, I was more
aware of the Catholic
church standing on it, so it
was just too much for us
morally,” Elissa recalled.
Fortunately, a woman
named Mary had befriended
the couple at church
and encouraged them in
their faith. She also introduced
her daughter, who
in turn introduced them to
Marguerite Bourgeoys.
Thinking, “What do we
have to lose?” the couple
gave Naprotechnology a
try.
The process was not
easy: each time they went
to the doctor over the
course of six cycles, “she
always gave us another reason”
to temporarily avoid
pregnancy. Elissa’s body
had the tendency to miscarry,
something not treated
by NFP alone or by artificial
methods. Elissa remembers
the medical consultant
telling them, “It’s all what
the Lord wants. I’m not
going to lie to you and
guarantee you a baby at the
end of it.” But, at minimum,
the couple could do
right by their marriage and
Elissa’s health by sticking
with Creighton and
Naprotechnology.
“I just loved going to”
Marguerite Bourgeoys,
recalled Elissa. “It was so
serene, compared to that
fertility clinic, because near
the end, I used to just be in
tears going there. I
thought, ‘What am I doing
here?’” In contrast to the
sterile indifference of the
secular fertility clinic where
she was “treated like a
number,” Elissa was “overwhelmed
by everybody’s
kindness” at Marguerite
Bourgeoys. She found the
atmosphere “very tranquil”
and was impressed by the
low doctor-patient ratio,
pleasant staff and generosity
of the professionals. Paul
and Elissa were treated as
whole persons and encouraged
to pray and grow in
their faith throughout the
process.
Carefully, the medical
consultant treated Elissa
with hormones until she
advised that pregnancy
would be safe for mother
and baby. Within another
seven cycles, conception
occurred safely and naturally.
At first, it was hard for
Elissa to be confident she
could now avoid miscarriage,
but she was told by a
priest, “Be not afraid.”
Hormonal support continued
to sustain the pregnancy
and Joseph was born on
August 15, 2006.
As part of her training
for the new educational
program, Smith is supervising
three new students of
the Creighton model and
realizing her goal of saving
lives. Tanzél Picard, one of
five Canadians who
became practitioner
interns this fall, was drawn
to the Creighton system
because it offers “a true
method of natural family
planning” which can be
used by married couples
both to achieve and avoid
pregnancy and can be used
to monitor the health of
women throughout the
reproductive life cycle. Said
Picard, “Education is fundamental
to helping bring
about change in society
and the only way people
can really decide what is
right is by making informed
decisions.”
Theresa Smyth, MSW, RSW,
a reporter for The Interim,
serves on the board of
directors of Marguerite
Bourgeoys Family Centre.
Read the article on theinterim.com |
