I have 4 beautiful children - only 1 with CF. My first two children were with my ex-husband. I knew that CF was in my family - my cousin had CF when were growing up. He was the the second born (his sister does not have CF) and was one out of 72 FIRST cousins. Yes, I have a large family. Looking back my grandmother feels that my aunt who died at the age of 13 had CF but no one knew back then (she was one out of 13 children and she died from pneumonia). All had the same mother and father. I gave birth to twins in 1999 - only one has CF. We were very fortunate and of course I did not have to make the decision that you are faced with. Hearing how we escaped the odds, two mothers in our support group decided to have another baby. Both were born with CF so now they have two children to care for. Neither one ever regretted their decision since they both have precious little girls. I can tell you they are at times overwhelmed with keeping the doctor appointments and medications straight. The odds seemed to have been with my family but others have not been so lucky. My husband and I decided to not have any more children since Hunter's diagnosis. I don't think that it's shelfish to bring another child into the world with CF since new medication today along with good nutrition can help them become healthy and productive adults. The 'workload' is what you have to consider most - are you up to the possiblity of more doctor visits and endless treatments? My cousin died at the age of 28 due to a lung transplant rejection. He was born in the early 60's and was not expected to live past 6 years old - he beat the odds by decades! His sister decided to not to have her husband tested and have children despite it all - she took the chance and so far is winning. She just knew she wanted children and would deal with the consequences. Afterall, nothing is guaranteed regardless of the defective CF gene.
