Theresa Pfeifer has seen the heartache that comes with infertility. She’s also seen the joy that comes when parents who’ve nearly given up hope of having a child receive positive results from a pregnancy test.
As a certified fertility care practitioner, the Madison resident and member of the Heart of Jesus Catholic Family of Parishes works with couples who are interested in both natural family planning and those who are struggling with infertility issues.
“The best feeling is when you’ve been working with a couple who is struggling with infertility and you get to be one of the first people they call when they get a positive pregnancy test,” Pfeifer said. “A lot of times, I get to find out even before their families.”
Pfeifer will be the featured speaker at the next session of Pints with the Priest at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20, and Holy Grounds at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 23. Her talk will explain two approaches offered to address infertility and why only one is supported by the Catholic Church.
“The majority of my clients are people who are finding out what the Pope Paul VI Institute has to offer for either infertility or reproductive issues,” she said. “They have to learn to chart, and so they find my name on their website or the institute gives them my name because I’m in their area.”
Pfeifer’s journey to becoming a certified fertility care practitioner began when she and her husband became engaged and started discussing plans for their own family. Pfeifer said the birth control pill presented the moral challenges, which disqualified it as an option for her.
“The fact that it can be an abortifacient was a deal breaker,” she said. “It’s not just only preventing conception, but it could also be aborting a life if conception still occurred.”
Instead, the Pfeifers chose natural family planning, which involves tracking fertility to determine when a couple is most likely to conceive a child. As their family grew, Pfeifer decided to go through the training to become a certified fertility care practitioner to make support for the method more available in this area.
Pfeifer completed the 13-month program, which included lectures, studying and exams, as well as establishing her first clients for teaching experience. The program also included a final exam after the course criteria had been met. She is now in her 12th year helping couples learn how to naturally plan their families, as well as helping couples who are struggling with infertility.
Many of the couples who are struggling with infertility seek Pfeifer’s assistance to get started with charting. She shows them how to make and chart observations. If their chart indicates an area of concern, she will offer a referral to a doctor who works with NaPro Technology, which works with the Creighton Model FertilityCare System.
Pfeifer’s talk at Pints with the Priest and Holy Grounds will shed light on NaPro Technology and how it differs from in vitro fertilization (IVF). The talk will compare the health and science behind each, as well as the moral and religious challenges couples may face as they seek treatment.
In addition to working with her clients, Pfeifer said she spends a lot of time working with and praying for them, as well.
“I’m praying for my infertility clients who are struggling, that their miracles will come, because they are pursuing a better route and restoring their health. Hopefully, God will answer that prayer,” she said. “I also spend a lot of time praying for my clients who maybe want to really avoid a pregnancy for the time being, and they’re stressed out about trusting the system or have a lot of fear and anxiety about, ‘what if I get pregnant right now’ and ‘what will that look like?’”
Above all, Pfeifer said she wants to provide an opportunity for couples to become informed about what fertility methods are available as they begin planning their future together, so they know that there are options that are both effective and supported by their faith.
“Find out why one option is supported by the Catholic church, and one is not,” she said. “I want people to get informed now before they ever have to deal with it. … Get informed now before you’re in a situation and a doctor is offering this to you, so you know why not to choose one of those options.”
