Reading Time: 3 minutesLeft to right: Steven, Zavier, Charli-Rose, Zachary and Kristy

KristyKeesing-Goldsmith relishes being mum to three-year old Charli-Rose and one-year-old twins Zavier and Zachary.

Five yearsagoshe thought she thought she would never have children of her own.Having sufferedPolycystic Ovarian Syndromefor yearsand four miscarriages, she was told by two doctors that her only option was IVF. The IVF doctor she consulted told herthe clinic would not be able to helpuntil she had lost weight, which she struggled to do.

That was really hurtful and discouragingto hear becauseI really wanted to be a mother, MrsKeesing-Goldsmith toldThe Catholic Weekly.

An encounter with Blacktown GP Dr Van Nguyen after contracting a strain of the common flu opened up the alternative of restorative reproductive medicine, a field thats growing alongside the IVF space with great results for womens health and fertility but is much less known.

Im so grateful and I honestly believe that more doctors should be studying this

After learning to chart her monthly cycle and with clinical support from Dr Nguyen, she fell pregnant within a month with Charli-Rose. She is convinced that without Dr Nguyens support throughout both of her pregnancies they would not have succeeded.

Im so grateful and I honestly believe that more doctors should be studying this and providing this to people because it does work, she said. I tell all my friends that have PCOS and things like that it doesnt mean you cant have a baby.

The couple are amongmany who have found hope in fertility awareness methodswith the three main ones being the Billings Ovulation Method,Sympto-Thermal Method and CreightonFertilityCaremodel.They each promote womens overall health and, particularly the Creightonmodelwhich is integrated with medical care,offerwholisticalternatives to IVF that are respectful of the couplesrelationship and any newlife.BlacktownFertilityCarepractitionerVinettaLobo eKakodkarsaid that its method of charting enables a woman to monitorher monthly cycle from which trained practitioners and doctors can gainvaluable information topromote awomens reproductive and gynaecological healthand help couples toachieve pregnancy or avoid or spacepregnancies.

[In cases of infertility] it gives us an wholisticunderstanding of what is happening with thecouple, andhelps the doctor to diagnose and then treat the underlying problem accordingly, she toldThe Catholic Weekly. And it is not only about womens health and fertility but promotes relationship bonding as well.North Ryde couple Amanda and Noah Silveira are expecting 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 Silveirawas prompted by a family friend tolook intothe methodafter she was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Disease (PCOD) and failed to find asolution from GPs exceptto take the birth control pill.

I was looking for something more natural, she said. Then when I got marriedwe were also looking at using it forachieving and avoiding pregnancy.

Mrs Silveirasaid she learnt inone or two sessionshow to track and record her monthly cycle, andit tooka month of practice to becomeconfident in using the method.

With the integrated care of Merrylands Dr VeronicaOConnellshe was able to alleviate the effectsof her disease and after using it to try to fall pregnant was successful after the first month. Like MrsKeesing-Goldsmith she wascarefully monitoredby her GPthroughout the nine months.

Mr Silveira said the results were pretty impressive and that he had learnt a lot about his wife throughout their fertility journey.

For more information about FertilityCareseewww.fccau.org.auorcall Vinetta Lobo e Kakodkar on0430509890.

An online course will be held next month to train medical professionals in the management ofinfertility.

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 Australasian Institute for Restorative Reproductive Medicine (AIRRM), and the institute has invited Professor 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 management.

For information see http://www.airrm.org.au.

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Couples conceiving an alternative to IVF - The Catholic Weekly