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Daria and Karoline have shared how the Creighton model has impacted their lives. I want to share my own journey.
My cycles were always irregular. I had what I thought were “light periods” of brown bleeding very often. Only some months would I have periods. It was confusing, but I didn’t know what to do about it. While I was in college, I woke up one night in horrible pain. I convinced my parents to drive me to the urgent care in the morning. I didn’t know how to describe the pain I was feeling. Despite the skepticism, they investigated the cause of this pain and found I had an ovarian cyst that ruptured. I was sent on my way without any further answers. It was not the last time I would experience this pain I could now attribute to my ovaries. When I tried seeing a doctor at the college health center, she said all she could do was put me on the birth control pill, but admitted it wouldn’t truly fix anything. The cysts would come back if I stopped taking the pill. I luckily knew enough at that point to decline the pill, but I still didn’t have any answers. She said to not worry about it until I wanted to get pregnant.
I tried to teach myself some cycle tracking. I did my best to track it and set up an appointment with the OB GYN who delivered my sister and I. Surely he would be able to help. I had all the evidence of the issues with my cycle right there on my chart. All I got was more “don’t worry about it until you’re trying to have a baby.”
I was only dating my now husband at the time, but I knew I didn’t want to leave the issues with my cycle unaddressed. After hearing some talks by Jenny, I asked for a recommendation for a practitioner and started charting with the Creighton Model. Finally someone listened. I learned how to describe the mucus I was seeing. She guided me through the process of charting and encouraged me to see a NaPro doctor. This doctor listened to my concerns and made a plan of what we would try first. She knew what I was experiencing wasn’t normal and ordered blood tests and an ultrasound. She patiently answered my questions and involved me in the process of deciding what plan would be best.
I finally started seeing periods every month instead every few months. I felt heard and had a doctor with the tools to address the issues I was experiencing. Once I was married, we were able to conceive right away. Although we lost our first child to a miscarriage, shortly after I got pregnant again with our son who we welcomed two days before our first anniversary. My NaPro team was by my side in the process, praying for me while we hoped for a miracle for my first baby and monitoring my progesterone during both pregnancies.
Charting with the Creighton Model allowed me to find help, hope, and healing for the issues with my cycles. I knew very early on in learning to chart that I wanted to share the system with others. I enjoy teaching other women to chart and connecting them with NaPro providers to address the patterns I see on their charts. We would be honored to walk this journey of healing and hope with you.
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