As has been indicated by others the likelihood of having a child naturally with a cf male is very low. A visit to urologist - who usually can tell just by a physical exam whether or not a vas deferens is present - is a very easy way to find out. If that fails than a simple sperm count will tell. I happen to be one of the 96% who is sterile. My ex-wife and I did have a child using my brother as the sperm donor. Believe it or not we used the "turkey baster" method rather than doing it clinically. The clinic we visited would not allow us to use a known donor and I wanted to use my brother so that my child's grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins would actually be her genetic family. Plus, were I do die my brother would step in to fill the father role. It worked brilliantly and I have a beautiful eleven year old daughter as a result, who loves to confuse friends and teachers by telling them that her father is actually her uncle and her uncle is actually her father. But then we have been very open about it and have never tried to keep it a secret - which always ends up badly for everyone. Two additional "turkey baster" pregnancies ended in miscarriage, which given the fact that the marriage ended in divorce is probably for the best.
All that said, you certainly should look into clinical options of sperm extraction from your husband and in-vitro. I know that the prospect of a doctor approaching your husband's testes with a long needle is not as fun-sounding as doing it the natural way, but if it results in the child you want with him it seems worth the process. If I were to remarry someone who wanted children I would certainly look into that option - which was not available to me eleven years ago. I do think it would be nice to have a child who is my actual genetic progeny, which in NO way diminishes the beautiful girl who I have raised for eleven years now. But I will say it's kind of neat because she and my brother have a very special relationship and he now has a daughter who is my daughter's half-sister and half-cousin. Talk about a new definition of a family!
Cystic fibrosis is a very funny disease. Some people are heavily effected by it and have tragic stories to tell. Many people have lost multiple siblings to the disease. Some kids with cf are already condemned to death the moment they are born, some are sick all the time but last well into their thirties and forties, and some, like me, have largely escaped the lung disease aspect. The responses you get from different people will undoubtedly be impacted by their personal experience with cf. I certainly do not fear the possibility that my child would be a carrier as Havoc does, but his experience with cf may be much more traumatic than mine. Yes, carriers do show some symptoms of cf - mostly allergy and sinus issues - but none of them are life-threatening. And a simple blood test now can identify anyone as a carrier so that individuals will know, when they pair up whether they are both carriers. That's the only time I believe a difficult decision must be made because two carriers have a 25% chance of either having a child with cf or a free and clear non-carrier, and a 50% chance of having a carrier. In my own family we represent that exact statistic. I have three older siblings, two of whom are carriers and one of whom is not, and then I am the one with cf. And yes, the two carriers have had more allergies and sinus problems than the non-carrier. And with all of their children (eight kids between them) we have become very adept at identifying the carriers prior to the actual blood test.
If you want to communicate more about this issue please feel free to email me directly at david@sholes.org.
I hope I've helped.
David Sholes (44/yr old male double delta f508 and CFRD since 2004)