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"Please welcome guest blogger, Christina Symanski (Add her on myspace.com.) Thanks to Storked! I&amp;amp;#8217;ve been fortunate to connect with thousands (and I mean thousands) of faithful readers&amp;amp;#8212;readers with their own, very personal story to tell about what it&amp;amp;#8217;s like to be Storked!&amp;amp;#8230;or not. Being a paralyzed woman adds to the complexity of living life as a quadriplegic. Marriage and children are the issues that cause me the most pain. It gets increasingly more difficult each year that passes. I feel as though my proverbial clock is ticking and I&amp;amp;#8217;m afraid I might miss my opportunity to have a baby. It doesn&amp;amp;#8217;t help that almost every friend of mine is now married, engaged or pregnant. It&amp;amp;#8217;s bittersweet to share in joyful occasions such as weddings and showers. There have already been celebrations I&amp;amp;#8217;ve been invited to, but politely declined. I think about babies all the time. I wonder what it feels like to be pregnant and give birth. Having children has been in the back of my mind for&amp;amp;#8230;forever. Throughout college and my first year as a teacher I was with one person, so I assumed we&amp;amp;#8217;d get married and have children. Being a teacher was wonderful. I got to work with children and the hours were perfect for raising a family. My boyfriend and I broke up the year before my accident. I was only 24 at the time, so I wasn&amp;amp;#8217;t worried about fulfilling my dreams for a family. I suppose it&amp;amp;#8217;s every little girl&amp;amp;#8217;s dream to be a &amp;amp;#8220;mommy&amp;amp;#8221; someday and it&amp;amp;#8217;s unbearable to think that I might never experience that. I used to (and still do) fantasize about the excitement of &amp;amp;#8220;breaking the news&amp;amp;#8221; to family and friends. I wonder what my belly might look like and how I&amp;amp;#8217;d look in maternity clothes and what cravings I might have. I long to feel a life moving around inside of me and try to visualize a sweet child on my nipple. I can&amp;amp;#8217;t even bear watching shows like TLC&amp;amp;#8217;s A Wedding Story or A Baby Story. Every time I see a happy young couple with a baby it makes me a tiny bit sad. Medically speaking, I could physically have a child. Some quadriplegic women do. Keep in mind that &amp;amp;#8220;quadriplegic&amp;amp;#8221; is a broad term. A woman with arm and wrist function (even limited hand dexterity) is considered quadriplegic. A woman like that might be able to drive, cook, transfer themselves, hold small objects and perform other basic needs like eating and tending to one&amp;amp;#8217;s hygiene. I on the other hand have a high level injury and can not move or feel anything below the mid-line of my breasts. Personally, I know I could not handle watching someone else care for my child, not be able to hold or feel my child or help my child if they were in danger. It breaks my heart now, every time I see my God daughter or nephew and I&amp;amp;#8217;m unable to pick them up and cuddle with them. But, Lord knows if I&amp;amp;#8217;ve learned anything, I know that I can&amp;amp;#8217;t predict the future (I bet Christine feels the same way!). My feelings might change with time. I look to science, with hope for a cure and hope that I may still get my chance to have my dream family one way or another. I Invited Christina to join the discussion today&amp;amp;#8212;so please share with her! Make a donation to United Spinal today!"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/sex-love-life/blogs/storked/2008/01/food-for-thought>