Twenty years ago, in November 1999, our third child was due to enter the world. But in early May, just a few days after we’d started pondering baby names, I began to suspect something wasn’t right. I called our babysitter to see if she could watch our older two kiddos and met my husband at the hospital emergency room.
I’ll never forget the haunting silence as the ultrasound technician searched for signs of life. Her sullen expression announced our greatest fear. Even before confirmation came, we knew. It was devastating to realize our child had died. The grief was real and hard, and that Mother’s Day felt impossible.
Four months later, to the day, I stared at a positive pregnancy test, elated to see that the promise of new life had returned, but soon, new concerns emerged. Not finding answers locally, I researched my way to the Saint Paul VI Institute in Omaha, and talked to a nurse of Dr. Thomas Hilgers, founder of NaPro Technology.
There, I found a consoling and competent ear, and soon was on my way to learning what I could do to increase the chances of meeting my baby in the spring, with natural progesterone injections and regular blood draws. I also found a local physician willing to confer with the institute, which tends toward extra caution in responding to miscarriage risk.
On May 2000, our beautiful daughter arrived, and eventually, her two younger brothers followed, adding to our five children on earth. Without help from Dr. Hilgers’ crew, I’m not sure they’d be here. Their lives are a testimony to the fruits of NaPro Technology.
NaPro (Natural Procreative Technology) is a natural method of reproductive and fertility care which fully respects life. Additionally, it can help uncover underlying reasons for infertility that traditional medicine can miss, and assess and treat other issues, like abnormal bleeding, ovarian cysts, endometriosis and more.
Mary Johnson, a local certified practitioner of the Creighton Model of Fertility Care, shared with me that she and her husband learned they were at risk for miscarriage prior to becoming pregnant, and NaPro Technology helped bring their three healthy children into their lives. “If not for the progesterone shots and NaPro Technology, we wouldn’t have them.”
Johnson says natural methods of fertility care are becoming more appealing to a variety of people of all faiths, including those looking for both moral and healthy approaches that don’t involve unnecessary chemicals. “What a gift!” she says, referring to the freedom and respect inherent in this approach to fertility care.
Her enthusiasm has led her to join Dr. Jed Perkerewicz, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Sanford trained in NaPro Technology and the Creighton Model Fertility Care System, to present a free educational session on both these at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19, at the Courtyard by Marriott, 1080 28th Ave. S., Moorhead. No registration is required. Contact her at 218-233-6103 or ryanmaryjohnson@hotmail.com.
[For the sake of having a repository for my newspaper columns and articles, I reprint them here, with permission, a week after their run date. The preceding ran in The Forum newspaper on Nov. 18, 2019.]
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