And Then There Were Three: Infertility, NaPro Technology, And Our First Baby
*First published in 2016. Edited December 2020.
While most will look at our family of 6 with another baby on the way with the biggest age gap between children being 2 years and assume hyper-fertility and possibly even some lapse in sanity, our parenting journey began with facing infertility and treatment.
Before Kids
When I was 14 years old, it became obvious my monthly friend had the unfortunate habit of constantly showing up late and, instead, sent gifts in the form of ovarian cysts for me to remember how much I missed her while she was gone. This led to an extremely uncomfortable and more than personal first visit with a GYN. After some blood work and an ultrasound that showed what looked like strings of pearls in a black and white picture of my insides, Dr. Something-or-other lackadaisically concluded that I probably have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). The cure? Birth control pills.
Cool - Most of my friends are on it! I can brag about it to my upperclassmen teammates as if I was on it for…other reasons…and now I could also clear up some of my acne while I’m at it!
Fast forward four years. My faith life had improved greatly, and therefore the need to impress people with my not so real life “sexcapades”. I had a serious boyfriend (now hubby), and we were practicing *coughstrugglingtopractice* chastity, so the need for the pill was solely “medical”.
With attempts to deepen my understanding of my Catholic faith as a woman, I began reading “Life Giving Love” by Kimberly Hahn. While the entire text was inspiring, the chapter regarding birth control, Church teaching, and how the two are connected (or more accurately-disconnected) medically was particularly eye opening.
Upon the conclusion of the book, I immediately discarded my tiny pink pills and decided that I would just deal with the issues that may or may not resurface.
Over the next two years, I dealt with some unpleasant cycles, a few cysts here and there, but nothing that my high pain tolerance couldn’t handle…and worth the suffering in order to avoid the potential side effects of birth control. That mindful decision to toss my stash appeared to be working well for me until one night, I instantaneously became as white as a ghost and doubled over in pain. A trip to the ER showed a massive ruptured cyst. Some heavy duty pain killers, one week of missing classes, and two weeks out of work were what the doctor ordered and no guarantee that this would not happen again without refilling my long forgotten prescription. I, on the other hand, was not so pleased with this prognosis.
That was when I recalled the providential book I had read two years earlier. The back contained resources that a reader may find useful and divided by chapter. That was when I began my deep investigation into alternatives to “the only option” I had.
Thanks be to God, I discovered Natural Family Planning, the Creighton Method, and Napro Technology. Basically, with the help of a teacher, I learned to monitor signs that the woman’s body naturally shows during different phases of her cycle to indicate hormone levels and fertility. With these tools, I began seeing a Napro Technology gynecologist at the Gianna Center in NYC. There, with my observation chart and some in depth screening tests, I was conclusively diagnosed with low progesterone PCOS and infrequent ovulation.
Wanting Kids
This was bittersweet news. The good news was: birth control was definitely not necessary to avoid the development of cysts. I would only need to take progesterone supplements for ten days a month to naturally increase what my body lacked instead of ingesting 300-1000x the amount I needed as well as excluding the estrogen that my body was already producing well. The bad news: conceiving a baby would be next to impossible without some medical intervention since I ovulated only 1-2 times per year. This wasn’t something I was particularly keen on. And IF I were to get pregnant, sustaining a pregnancy would be questionable considering my low progesterone.
At this point in time, R and I were engaged and had been joyfully anticipating and imagining our future family. The news was a bit of a punch in the gut, but we felt that finding Dr. Nolte was providential and decided to put the size of our family into God’s hands instead of our own plans.
Fast forward a bit: wedding (October 20, 2012), a hurricane that granted us a week “stuck” in our little apartment (Hurricane Sandy 10/27/12), and a joint flu (Thanksgiving 2012). Our first few weeks as newly weds was eventful.
Then came the scariest, most eye opening day of my life: December 14, 2012…The Sandy Hook Elementary School Tragedy. I was in my first year of teaching at the parochial school 1.5 miles from SHES. It didn’t take long for news to travel our way of the true reason for our unplanned lock-in as an entire student body in the Church during our weekly school mass. The students, faculty, and attending parents felt like “sitting ducks” so to speak. After a few hours, we got permission to exit lock down mode and return to “normal”, only to be thrown into terror two subsequent times because of perceived threats to our own school by well meaning parishioners. As SWAT ran through our halls and I threw students into closets, all I could think of was “if today is my last day, I know I am blessed”, but I could not escape the sadness I felt for never having held one of my own children.
Working for Kids
As the school day came to a close, and local police escorted us to our loved ones in the parking lot, I knew that it was time to work with God a little bit and try a little harder to become a mommy.
That January, R and I began infertility treatment with Clomid. Unfortunately, it did not work, and it took three months of progesterone injections to heal the damage that it had caused. After prayer, we decided to wait until summer to begin another treatment so that I could finish the school year without further interruption.
Mid June arrived faster than I could have imagined, and R and I found ourselves anxiously waiting the beginning of a new cycle so that we could begin treatment again. A few weeks went by and nothing.
First Kid
Lo and behold, it was because K, our little nugget, was already beginning to grow! We were in such disbelief after two positive pregnancy tests showed those coveted little plus signs, that I insisted the batch of tests must be defective…R must take one! Well, the truth was, I was pregnant and he was not!
Immediately we called the Gianna Center and had bloodwork done. Not to our surprise, my progesterone was dangerously low, and we should brace ourselves “just incase” this baby may not survive. R had to start giving me progesterone injections three times per week, and each week I was to have my levels monitored with bloodwork. I became very close to the lovely nurses at LabCorp. Twenty five weeks later, we got the all clear: my levels were stable enough and K was healthy enough to finish our pregnancy shot free.
Thanks be to God, K joined our family in person on March 3, 2014.
More Kids
After K’s first birthday, several months of signs of repeated infertility, and much prayer, Renzo and I decided it was time to begin exploring options for treatment to add to our family. Stay tuned for that story!
Resources:
For more information about Creighton model Natural Family Planning and NaPro Technology, visit:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creighton_Model_FertilityCare_Systemhttp://www.creightonmodel.com