BIRMINGHAM— For couples finding difficulty to conceive, often times there are more questions than answers.

Dr. Nickole Bazger, DO, tries to provide some answers, coupled with faith.

Dr. Bazger is a board-certified OB-GYN and an American Academy of FertiltyCare Professionals-certified natural family planning medical consultant, specializing in natural family planning and natural procreativity (NaPro) technology surgery.

Working with her colleagues at Women’s Excellence in offices in Birmingham, Clarkston and Lake Orion, Dr. Bazger teaches women and couples about natural family planning and surgical solutions available to increase fertility.

“The most enjoyable part of my job, the most rewarding, is being able to have an encounter with a patient, whether one or many, where they are acknowledging the difference between here and what they’ve experience in the past,” Dr. Bazger told The Michigan Catholic during an interview at her Birmingham office. “I think they feel heard and like somebody is finally listening to them, willing to navigate with them through the process of finding the answers.”

Finding answers to fertility problems is the inspiration behind NaPro Technology, which is entirely in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church, Dr. Bazger said. Dr. Bazger maintains that while she has a hand — or two hands, more specifically — in the procedures, it is God’s divine providence that determines if and when a patient conceives.

“As long as I’m reminding them of this undeniable, huge supernatural force of creation, then we constantly recognize that although we have limitations, we’re cooperating with God and trusting in His will,” said Dr. Bazger, a parishioner at SS. Cyril and Methodius Parish in Sterling Heights.

Dr. Bazger, who grew up in Sterling Heights and graduated from Marian High School before studying her undergrad at the University of Michigan, said many of her patients had been trying to conceive for years before coming to her practice. She attributes any success with the ability to come to a personal, down-to-earth level with her patients, walking them through the process.

“I’m thorough, so I’m present with my patients, being a part of their journey from wherever they’ve been, whatever they’ve coming off,” Dr. Bazger said.

After graduating from osteopathic medical school at Michigan State University and finishing her residency at St. Vincent Mercy Hospital in Toledo, Ohio, Dr. Bazger went to work as an OB-GYN specializing in NFP and pro-life practices.

Dr. Bazger considers being a pro-life OB-GYN as “counter-cultural,” a decision she makes daily that has earned the respect of her colleagues.

“It’s definitely counter-cultural in the sense that you are protecting and preserving life, and you’re considering the morals and ethics of every medical and surgical treatment and bit of advice that you’re giving,” Dr. Bazger said. “It’s not what everybody else is doing or what everybody is comfortable with or what has been accepted as normal. But it’s finally getting to where I hoped it would, especially in my practice.”

In addition to her practice, Dr. Bazger is trying to make pro-life OB-GYN techniques a little less “counter-cultural” through teaching the next generation of OB-GYN physicians, as the director of the OB-GYN Residency of the Detroit Wayne County Health Authority Education Consortium, which is backed by the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine.

“This is a huge opportunity that I’m so excited about,” Dr. Bazger said. “I customized my residency so that you come out proficient, giving advice and guidance as far as staying true to your conscience and faith. It will be the first program of its kind for those who want to come out of residency proficient in NaPro Technology and incorporate it from the beginning to serve the inner-city and suburbs.”

In other words, she said, “if you want to do a month of NaPro Technology instead of (in-vitro fertilization), this is the program for you.”

In May of this year, Dr. Bazger completed the St. John Paul II Fellowship in Medical and Surgical NaPro Technology at the Pope Paul VI Institute of the Study of Human Reproduction in Omaha, Neb.

The fellowship offered Dr. Bazger the chance to speak with other pro-life OB-GYNs about the latest NaPro Technology advances.

“The biggest evolution now is with our surgical techniques, the transition to robotics and minimum-evasive surgery, and that’s from the conception of NaPro Technology 30 years ago,” Dr. Bazger said. “Up until 2010 and 2011, all cases were open surgery, open incision to gain access to the abdominal muscles. Now we’re working on a hybrid, but it’s truly like a microsurgical open case. And we’re trying to figure out how to best develop that transition.”

As Michigan’s only pro-life OB-GYN, natural family planning consultant and St. John Paul II Fellowship-trained NaPro surgeon, Dr. Bazger doesn’t mind being seen as a little different from her colleagues. But she doesn’t want to present herself or natural family planning as a “complete 180” from others in the medical profession, but rather as an alternative people can explore while searching for high-quality health care.

“I feel like we as a society are getting to the point where there is less of a stark contrast between NFP and other methods, and NFP is seen now more as an alternative,” Dr. Bazger said. “The reaction I get more now is not as surprised, but more enlightened. I think there is a holistic base that follows me, and there is a faith base that follows with me. Between the two, they radiate out as a reflection of the population around them, that there’s an increased awareness of natural family planning and what it offers.”

 

Natural Family Planning

During Natural Family Planning Awareness Week, July 24-30, families are invited to attend an NFP Family Picnic at 1 p.m. July 24 at the VFW Park, 798 S. Campbell Road, Royal Oak. Visit www.aod.org/nfp for more information or to RSVP.