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Contributed by Amy

Reprinted from Staying Connected: Spinal Cord Injury Program Alumni
© 2000. Used by Permission of Shriners Hospital, www.shrinershq.org

Amy Campos, injured at age nine in a diving incident, believed that she would never have children of her own. Told soon after her injury that having children might be life-threatening for her, that bad advice somehow stuck.

When it was time for college, Amy decided to move from upstate New York to study at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, a school with a well-deserved reputation for accessibility. Not only were buildings there easy for Amy to navigate, but the university provided free room and board to students in medical fields who served as living assistants for students with disabilities. One of the assistants assigned to Amy was a young pre-med student by the name of Lee Campos.

After one date, the two became a pair for life. Lee went through college with Amy, and then she went through medical school, internship, and residency with him, as he became family practice physician with a concentration in obstetrics, practicing at Lutheran General Hospital near Chicago. Amy began post-graduate classes and took the entrance exam for law school. At the same time, she obtained a service dog from Illinois Canine Companions for Independence(CCI). While she was volunteering for the organization, CCI decided to expand and open a sattelite office in Chicago. In 1992, Amy was offered the job of heading up the office, left the thought of law school behind, and took over fundraising, writing grants and press releases, and planning special events for CCI. To save money, the organization set up their office right in Amy and Lee's home.

The young couple had a busy, fulfilling life, but they felt something was missing. They eventually went to talk to Eileen Murphy, M.D., an obstetrician at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and Northwestern University Hospital, about the possibility of finding a surrogate mother so they could have a baby. They were surprised at Murphy's response: "Why don't you just have the baby yourself?" She laid out the pros and cons of Amy conceiving and carrying a child, explaining which parts of her lifestyle she would have to change. After talking to other young women with SCI who had borne their own children, Amy chose to carry her baby herself.

Conception was easy and quick, which Amy found "a little scary." She suffered early in her pregnancy from dizziness due to very low blood pressure. Amy had to stop driving and to change positions in her chair often to keep her blood pressure up. Her doctor watched carefully for signs of autonomic dysreflexia and kept Amy on antibiotics for much of her pregnancy, to prevent potential urinary tract infections.

Prelabor contractions necessitated bedrest at one point in her pregnancy, but Lee, Amy's resident expert, watched her closely. And these early contractions helped her recognize what real labor would feel like. Because of a spinal fusion, her anesthesiologist planned a spinal block. When the time came, about a month before her due date, little Emily Rose was born without difficulties, healthy, "kicking and screaming."

Now 18 months old, Emily is "the best thing in the world, a joy. She's brought so much to our lives." Because her husband works such long hours and Amy works full-time as well, they both need and can afford a full-time live-in nanny. This has solved some of the problems that might present themselves to other parents with an SCI, like finding adapted cribs and changing tables.

The new mom, who is hoping for a second child next year, has lots of advice for young women with SCI who are considering a child. Most important, she believes, is to network with others who have had children; their experience and ideas are so valuable.

Next, talk to your doctor about all your current medications, and which might be dangerous to continue during pregnancy. Know your body well, and how it feels before you get pregnant. That way you can isolate problems that may be disability-related rather than pregnancy-related.

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