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Rose Oaferina and family. (Courtesy photo)
May 10, 2018
Valerie Schmalz
This is the sixth in a series on the 50th anniversary of the papal encyclical “Humanae Vitae.”
Rose Oaferina had had three miscarriages when someone from her church introduced her to natural family planning and to an obstetrician with an expertise in NFP.
This year, Oaferina’s daughter Hanami Wong, 7, will receive her first Holy Communion, a child who is the joy of her parents’ life.
“I have been very blessed,” said Oaferina.
Dr. Elise Yao “struggled for five years to become pregnant.” Today, after teaching herself NFP and using it to chart her cycles, the expert in holistic medicine and her husband have a 2-year-old daughter.
“They obviously don’t teach it in medical school,” said Yao about NFP. “As an MD I did not know I was not ovulating in most of my cycles. I just assumed every woman ovulates every cycle.”
Yao and Oaferina’s experiences demonstrate how much more education is needed before the method becomes mainstream.
Yao graduated near the top of her class from Lowell High School in San Francisco; graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors with a degree in molecular cell biology from UC Berkeley; earned her MD from UC Davis, completing her residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at UC Davis Medical Center. She is board-certified in American Board of Integrative & Holistic Medicine and American Board of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. She also is an expert in acupuncture.
Today, Yao is a practitioner of holistic fertility treatments. She is part way through the extended training to be a practitioner of NaPro Technology, developed at the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction in Omaha, Nebraska.
“It is such a shame it is not more well-known,” said Yao. “And taught in medical school.”
There are several methods of natural family planning, all of which use a woman’s biological markers to identify times when her body is fertile. The Billings method was developed initially by Australian Dr. John Billings in 1955, and refined in concert with his wife, Dr. Evelyn Billings. It tracks cervical mucus changes to determine fertile times. A similar method, developed by Thomas W. Hilgers, MD, is Natural Procreative Technology (or NaProTech) and the associated fertility monitoring Creighton method. It uses biological markers to identify both healthy and diseased aspects of a woman’s reproductive physiology to treat infertility.
“I was having a problem conceiving,” said Oaferina, and when they conceived, Oaferina miscarried. “My husband I were very frustrated as you can imagine.”
On top of that, Oaferina’s relationship with her obstetrician/gynecologist was lacking. “Last time I had a miscarriage, she was not very empathetic with me.”
A nurse friend who teaches the Creighton method gave a presentation at Oaferina’s parish. Oaferina started using the Creighton Model FertilityCare system to track markers that occur during a woman’s menstrual cycle. Her friend helped her get in contact with El Sobrante OB-GYN Dr. Mary Davenport, an expert in Creighton and NaPro Tech.
Davenport, “a very wonderful doctor,” ran blood tests and discovered Oaferina was low on progesterone, a hormone necessary for a pregnancy to continue, and prescribed natural progesterone supplements. Yao also discovered she needed progesterone supplements.
Davenport also helped Oaferina with her other medications, including helping her control her blood sugar and hypothyroidism.
“After that I was able to conceive within less than a month’s time,” said Oaferina.
“That inspired me to study NFP myself,” said the East Bay resident, a member of Holy Spirit Parish in Fremont. She took a one-week Billings ovulation method course and hopes to begin teaching the method soon. “I’m trying to get more people involved in NFP in my parish.”
Valerie Schmalz is director of the Office of Human Life & Dignity at the Archdiocese of San Francisco.