"There are times when it is rather clinical and there are times when it is very romantic," Paul LeVasseur said. Their children are Ben, 6, and Danielle, 2, and they are trying for another.
Other injured men require a different device that triggers ejaculation with a low-voltage impulse procedure borrowed from animal husbandry and developed for use in humans by Dr. Carol J. Benett and her colleagues in University of Michigan's urology department.
Geoff Luther remembers asking his doctor, "How will you know when you have it turned on high enough, will my ears start smoking or what?"
That technique worked for Luther, but his sperm quality was low. So, a single sperm was injected into Tammy's eggs to create an embryo. The resulting embryo was implanted in Tammy's womb and, finally, she was pregnant.
"I loved being pregnant," she said.
Brackett wants doctors to try simple solutions before assuming they must use surgical means to retrieve sperm from the testes of injured men. In her survey, some doctors said they lacked training or equipment, or were unfamiliar with the methods.
"If we forget these simple things, it's almost like going backward," Brackett said. "It does a disservice to our patients."
Of the 11,000 spinal cord injuries annually in the United States, 80 percent are among men between 16 and 45—the prime reproductive years.
Rehabilitation Institute nurse practitioner Diane Rowles, who teaches a class called "Sexuality and Fertility" to patients, said sex is "a very private topic, a very personal topic." But if medical staff don't educate spinal cord injury patients about sex and fertility, they may assume the worst: that they're not able to have a sex life or have children.
"It's a big thing. You just can't leave it out," Rowles said. "They need to learn about it, too."
The Luther's children haven't asked where babies come from. Tammy Luther said someday, if they ask, she'll tell them about many different ways children come into the world, from adoption to reproduction with medical help.
Geoff Luther said he doesn't know what he will say. "I still haven't had that talk with my mom and dad, so I'm not sure." He does know he would say to any man with SCI who wants to be a father: "See the best doctors, or you can waste a lot of time and resources."
"Blurbs" From Paraplegia News,
August 2005 SMART IDEAS
The bottle sling allows hands-free feeding. The device promotes proper bottle positioning and eliminates choking hazards caused by improper bottle propping. Priced at $9.95, this product is available at Buy Baby Buy, Babycatalog.com, and specialty stores.
The lie-down Nursing Nest Breast-feeding pillow is designed to safely cradle the contours of a baby's body while being fed by a mother who is lying down. It is available at select Babies R Us and Baby Depot stores nationwide, Buy, Baby Buy, One Step Ahead, and other independent retailers. The price is $34.95-$39.95.
Although many women experience social pressure to have children, the opposite is true for those with disabilities—who are often pressured NOT to have children. Is it wrong for them to act on their natural instincts to be mothers? What challenges are likely to affect their bodies during pregnancy? What happens if the child they have also has a disability? How can someone with a disability parent a baby or toddler?
These are some of the questions author Judith Rogers, O.T.R., a disabled (cerebral palsy) mother of two addresses in her new book, The Disabled Woman's Guide to Pregnancy and Birth, as she raises seldom-discussed issues of mothers with disabilities.
Rogers is the pregnancy and parenting specialist at Through the Looking Glass, a national resource center in Berkley, Calif. She spent four years as a birth instructor and has been involved in advocacy for people with disabilities, especially women, for more than thirty years.
She began the Breast Health Access for Women with Disabilities project, giving women with disabilities one-on-one education on breast self-examination, mammograms, and health. She was a Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leader in 2002 and continues to provide training and technical assistance to disabled parents, prospective parents, and professionals around the world.
Rogers interviewed ninety women with disabilities about their pregnancies. This resource also includes solutions for common pregnancy problems, such as sleeping on satin sheets to avoid leg cramps.
Other topics include: The decision to have a baby; Emotional concerns; Nutrition and exercise during pregnancy; The trimesters; Labor and delivery; The postpartum period; Breastfeeding.
The guide is available for $24.95 from Demos Medical Publishing (www.demosmedpub.com), Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and many other major bookstores.
