Good morning,
Is this your first child? Although it's difficult to know that your child is going to be born with CF, I applaud you and your wife for all of the genuine interest and concern you have. It is a blessing to know early about CF, some people go undiagnosed for months, years, and some even decades. The earlier treatment is performed, the better the outcome and health.
As far as the purification systems go, that seems to be a topic brought up a lot on this website and although we have never used one (my husband is 24 w/CF, no children yet but we are working on it <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> ) I will share some of the ideas others have posted.
Sometimes an air purification/filtration system can do more harm than good, or not make a difference at all really-except for peace of mind. They have a tendancie to harbor the bacteria that they collect, even when you change the filter and all other parts regularly. Second, you cannot protect and isolate your child forever. Someday he/she will have to go to school, move out, get married... If you keep her protected and isolated from bacteria, viruses...in your home, what happens when she goes to daycare or school for the first time. That is going to be one sick child. Whereas someone who has exposed their CF child to other children, family and friends, social outings and the child has had some colds, there is going to be less of a shock to their body when they finally have "school like" interactions on a daily basis.
Just on a personal story note, My husband's father left when the money got too tight after he was diagnosed with CF at 18 months. That left his mom (who had been a homemaker since the first son was born 2 years before my husband) single, no job and with two young boys, and one with CF. He was immediately put into daycare so his mom could work, and for the first few months he was sick-moreso than he had been in the past. But about 6 months into regular daycare visits, he was back to his normal "health". When he finally did start Kindergarden, his mom expected he might be sick at first like he was in preeschool. But he wasn't, and doctors attribute his "early exposure" to other kids and bacteria-to that. Back in the 80's there weren't many things avilable to CFers, and even those things that were avilable, my husband definetly wasn't going to benefit from them-they didnt' even have insurance for him. They did chest PT on him manually, some pharmacutical companies donated medications (digestive enzymes, CIPRO when he had bacteria grow in his lungs, a Flutter Valve to help clear his airway...) but they did without a LOT. His main focus when he was young (relating to his CF) was to get a LOT of exercise, eat properly and take his enzymes. Now that he is older, he takes VERY good care of his body, he eats 5500-6500 calories a day (you can imagine our food bill <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> ), gets twice the amount of recommended protein, lifts weights but avoids cardio as he finds that causes him to loose weight, and has me who helps him stay on top of his medicaions (and he only uses 1 regularly, 3-4 when he is sick).
Moral: While you can do all you are able to now to protect your kids, sometimes over-protection can cause more harm that good.
This is just our experience, everybodys CF story varies. I would be interested to hear some of the questions you have for the neonatologist, maybe there is somehting they can't answer for you that a CFer, or their family member can. I would definelty recommend that you visit this site whenever you have unanswered questions, concerns...It's really been helpful to me.
Hope all goes well at the visit today, and keep us posted on the progress of your wife and unborn baby.
Julie
