Split from Rat Birthing

[KathyM]

Why am I back here.....again?

I don't actually think that's way off the course of this thread to be honest. And I totally agree, although it's a very sensitive subject for many and I don't think that it's that simplistic in many cases (and I don't know the case you mentionned so I'll hold back on commenting on specifics.

I have 3 children from a previous marriage. Baz has brought them up as his own. We will not have more children, not only because three is way beyond enough *lol*, but because Baz has a genetic condition (Stargardt's Disease) and although the chances of it carrying on to his biological children would be miniscule (I'd have to carry it too), it's not a risk we'd take, certainly at this point.

 

[Synirr]

It's not always simple, but assuming you know your disorder and you know if your partner carries it (there are tests for a great many of them, so should you choose to have a child and want to know, it is often possible to find out) you can know what the chances are of your child getting the disease or being a carrier. With Marfan's, for example, with one positive parent the chances are 50% the child will have it.... not so good. With two positive parents (it's dominant so you can't just have a carrier) there's a 25% chance the fetus will abort early or the child will be stillborn, 50% of a Marfan's positive child, and only 25% chance of a normal child. Having two positive parents is actually pretty common, they meet at Marfan's conventions and whatnot.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder runs in my family, and although I don't plan on having children anyway (just never thought of myself as the mothering sort,) that would factor into my decision if I had considered it. I've had some minor issues with it; always very minor, not like those people who wash their hands all the time or anything, but I still got teased a little in grade school about it. Thankfully it's not a problem now, but you never know how severe it could be in the next generation. While mine was never debilitating, it could prove to be in my offspring.

 

[KathyM]

Yeah - Baz had genetic counselling with a previous partner years ago, so that's how we know the risk is tiny, but neither of us would take the risk of it unless we knew there was some form of "backup" in the way of a cure. Sadly all that's available for Stargardt's sufferers is laser surgery in the very early stages, which *might* slow it down. It's too late for that with Baz, and neither of us would wish it on anyone else. There's not a very good amount of help for visually impaired people as it is - the council etc says that "being blind isn't a disability". I told them I'd come down and poke their eyes out and ask them again when they couldn't see!