The Catholic Weekly 24 May 2020

catholicweekly.com.au 5 24, May, 2020 Serving the Sydney community since 1892 Our experienced Funeral Directors are committed to providing a personalised and meaningful service for your loved one. Newtown | Chatswood | Parramatta | Miranda 9519 5344 | wnbull.com.au In brief Fertility course for medicos AN ONLINE course will be held next month to train medical profession- als in the management of infertility. The FEMM (Fertility Education and Medical Management) course will be run from 5-7 June by Professor Pilar Vigil, an international expert on fertility, infertility and natural family planning. The course has the support of the Australa- sian Institute for Restor- ative Reproductive Med- icine (AIRRM), and the institute has invited Pro- fessor Vigil to speak at its biennial National Fertility Conference in 2021. This October AIRRM will hold a live-streamed day conference open to anyone who is interested in natural fertility man- agement. KRISTY KEESING-GOLD- SMITH relishes being a mum to three-year old Charli-Rose and one-year-old twins Zavier and Zachary. Five years ago she thought she would never have chil- dren of her own. Having suffered Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome for years – and four miscarriages – she was told by two doctors that her only option was IVF. The IVF doctor she consult- ed told her the clinic would not be able to help until she had lost weight, which she was unable to do. “That was really hurtful and discouraging to hear because I really wanted to be a mother,” Mrs Keesing-Goldsmith told The Catholic Weekly . An encounter with Black- town GP Dr Van Nguyen af- ter contracting a strain of the common flu opened up the alternative of restorative re- productive medicine, a field that’s growing alongside the IVF space with great results for women’s health and fertility – but is much less known. After learning to chart her monthly cycle and with clin- ical support from Dr Nguyen, she fell pregnant within a month with Charli-Rose. She is convinced that with- out Dr Nguyen’s support throughout both of her preg- nancies they would not have succeeded. “I’m so grateful and I honestly believe that more doctors should be studying this and providing this to peo- ple because it does work,” she said. “I tell all my friends that have PCOS and things like that it doesn’t mean you can’t have a baby.” The couple are among many who have found hope in fertility awareness meth- ods with the three main ones being the Billings Ovulation Method, the Sympto-Thermal Method and the Creighton FertilityCare model. Each promotes women’s overall health and, particular- ly the Creighton model which is integrated with medical care, offer wholistic alterna- tives to IVF that are respectful of the couple’s relationship and any new life. Blacktown FertilityCare practitioner Vinetta Lobo e Kakodkar said that its method of charting enables a woman to monitor her monthly cycle, fromwhich trained practition- ers and doctors can gain valu- able information to promote a women’s reproductive and gy- naecological health and help couples to achieve pregnancy or avoid or space pregnancies. “[In cases of infertility] it gives us a wholistic under- standing of what is happening with the couple, and helps the doctor to diagnose and then treat the underlying problem accordingly,” she told T he Catholic Weekly . “And it is not only about Success is possible Pregnancy can still happen where other approaches miss the bigger picture Left to right: Steven, Zavier, Charli-Rose, Zachary and Kristy women’s health and fertili- ty but promotes relationship bonding as well.” North Ryde couple Amanda and Noah Silveira are expect- ing their first child this month. They are convinced that using the Creighton model of fertility awareness helped them to achieve and maintain a healthy pregnancy. Mrs Silveira was prompted by a family friend to look into the method after she was di- agnosed with Polycystic Ovary Disease (PCOD) and failed to find a solution from GPs ex- cept to take the birth control pill. “I was looking for some- thing more natural,” she said. “Then when I got married we were also looking at using it for achieving and avoiding pregnancy.” Mrs Silveira said she learnt in one or two sessions how to track and record her monthly cycle, and it took a month of practice to become confident in using the method. With the integrated care of Merrylands Doctor Veronica O’Connell she was able to alle- viate the effects of her disease and after using it to try to fall pregnant was successful after the first month. Like Mrs Keesing-Gold- smith she was carefully mon- itored by her GP throughout the nine months. Mr Silveira said the results were “pretty impressive” and that he had learnt a lot about his wife throughout their fer- tility journey. For more information about the Creighton Model FertilityCare see www.fccau. org.au or call Vinetta Lobo e Kakodkar on 0430509890. ¾ ¾ Marilyn Rodrigues Dr Van Nguyen 9622 1998 Dr Veronica O’Connell 9637 7999 Dr Catherine Lennon 8850 3991 Natural restorative reproduction – Sydney GP On-track for a happy day: Noah and Amanda Silveira. NEWS