too young to want a baby?

[thelizardqueen]

<blockquote>Quote<br><hr><i>Originally posted by: <b>Anonymous</b></i><br>I read on here somewhere about going to the OB/GYN and having your cervical mucus cleaned out, has anyone heard of that before or had it done?<hr></blockquote>

I'm the one that posted that in another thread. You can get the mucus cleaned out "down there". I visit an ob/gyn once a year to get flushed out. Before I started going to get this done, I would get "unregular" test results due to the amount of mucus. My specialist then told me that she could clean it out temporarily. That's what I get done once a year. The mucus "down there" makes it difficult for sperm to travel up to where it has to go, that's one reason why its harder for CF women to get pregnant.

And Allie - thanks for the clarification. 50% is what I meant. I think its 25% is one person carries the gene? I'm not sure why I said 25.

 

[thelizardqueen]

<blockquote>Quote<br><hr><i>Originally posted by: <b>Anonymous</b></i><br>I read on here somewhere about going to the OB/GYN and having your cervical mucus cleaned out, has anyone heard of that before or had it done?<hr></blockquote>

I'm the one that posted that in another thread. You can get the mucus cleaned out "down there". I visit an ob/gyn once a year to get flushed out. Before I started going to get this done, I would get "unregular" test results due to the amount of mucus. My specialist then told me that she could clean it out temporarily. That's what I get done once a year. The mucus "down there" makes it difficult for sperm to travel up to where it has to go, that's one reason why its harder for CF women to get pregnant.

And Allie - thanks for the clarification. 50% is what I meant. I think its 25% is one person carries the gene? I'm not sure why I said 25.

 

[HollyCatheryn]

I don't think you're too young to want to have a baby. Nor are you too young to start weighing your options. On the contrary, many people wait until it is too late (with ot without CF). Check out <A href="http://www.geocities.com/MurrensNatureMama">www.geocities.com/MurrensNatureMama</A> for info on fertility and ways to optimize it. One thing that helped me a lot is to realize that just because everyone around me does things a certain way, doesn't mean that I have to do it that way. That includes choices made in pregnancy, childbirth, parenting. When you start looking around at all the different ways of doing things, you realize that there are lots of options and that some options have better outcomes than others. I wouldn't tell you not to think about it, I'd tell you to think about pregnancy and parenthood from lots of angles. The website I mentioned above has lists of resources for reading and research that will help you get an idea of all the possibilities out there to make parenthood as good for you as it can be and childhood as good for your baby as it can be. My daughter is 3 now, and I am blessed with better health now than before I became pregnant. Please feel free to email me and ask anything you'd like. I know that much of my good health is due to making choices that are a good fit for our family.

 

[HollyCatheryn]

I don't think you're too young to want to have a baby. Nor are you too young to start weighing your options. On the contrary, many people wait until it is too late (with ot without CF). Check out <A href="http://www.geocities.com/MurrensNatureMama">www.geocities.com/MurrensNatureMama</A> for info on fertility and ways to optimize it. One thing that helped me a lot is to realize that just because everyone around me does things a certain way, doesn't mean that I have to do it that way. That includes choices made in pregnancy, childbirth, parenting. When you start looking around at all the different ways of doing things, you realize that there are lots of options and that some options have better outcomes than others. I wouldn't tell you not to think about it, I'd tell you to think about pregnancy and parenthood from lots of angles. The website I mentioned above has lists of resources for reading and research that will help you get an idea of all the possibilities out there to make parenthood as good for you as it can be and childhood as good for your baby as it can be. My daughter is 3 now, and I am blessed with better health now than before I became pregnant. Please feel free to email me and ask anything you'd like. I know that much of my good health is due to making choices that are a good fit for our family.

 

[julie]

Anon. If I had it my way, Mark and I would have been pregnant at 16... but life didn't want to work out that way <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">.

Some people are ready to be parents young and some aren't-to each his own.

It's good that you two have talked about some of the very important things people have mentioned here. The only thing I would stress is GET HIM TESTED, GET HIM TESTED, GET HIM TESTED!!! Because you have CF, as others have mentioned, if he is a carrier too (and you have CF) you have a 50% chance of having a child with CF and a 50% chance of having a carrier. If he does NOT carry the CF gene, you have 100% chance of having a carrier-which just means they need to be educated when they get older and into the reproductive age. I have a website <a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.cysticfibrosismaleinfertility.com/Where_to_begin.html">http://www.cysticfibrosismaleinfertility.com/Where_to_begin.html</a> (scoll down just a little bit) that has a table of probabilities on it, sometimes it helps to look at that.

As far as how/where to get him tested, because you have CF, I would strongly recommend an extended panel mutation testing on him! Not just the 25-89 most common. You can get the extensive testing done at <a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.questdiagnostics.com/hcp/topics/cf/cf.html">http://www.questdiagnostics.com/hcp/topics/cf/cf.html</a>. Our insurance company had us do the initial testing first, and denied the secondary testing (it's quite expensive). But, after our doctor wrote a note discussing the need because if we proceeded with trying to concieve and it happened that I was a carrier of a rare mutation, we might end up with a baby with CF (he listed the probabilities and such) and that means more $$$$$$$$$ for the insruance company in the long run with CF treatments and complications. They covered it immediately.


Best of luck and let us know when you concieve, or if you do have difficulties (which honestly isn't all that uncommon) HollyCatheryn's website (she posted here already) is a GREAT resource!

Keep us posted!

 

[julie]

Anon. If I had it my way, Mark and I would have been pregnant at 16... but life didn't want to work out that way <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">.

Some people are ready to be parents young and some aren't-to each his own.

It's good that you two have talked about some of the very important things people have mentioned here. The only thing I would stress is GET HIM TESTED, GET HIM TESTED, GET HIM TESTED!!! Because you have CF, as others have mentioned, if he is a carrier too (and you have CF) you have a 50% chance of having a child with CF and a 50% chance of having a carrier. If he does NOT carry the CF gene, you have 100% chance of having a carrier-which just means they need to be educated when they get older and into the reproductive age. I have a website <a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.cysticfibrosismaleinfertility.com/Where_to_begin.html">http://www.cysticfibrosismaleinfertility.com/Where_to_begin.html</a> (scoll down just a little bit) that has a table of probabilities on it, sometimes it helps to look at that.

As far as how/where to get him tested, because you have CF, I would strongly recommend an extended panel mutation testing on him! Not just the 25-89 most common. You can get the extensive testing done at <a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.questdiagnostics.com/hcp/topics/cf/cf.html">http://www.questdiagnostics.com/hcp/topics/cf/cf.html</a>. Our insurance company had us do the initial testing first, and denied the secondary testing (it's quite expensive). But, after our doctor wrote a note discussing the need because if we proceeded with trying to concieve and it happened that I was a carrier of a rare mutation, we might end up with a baby with CF (he listed the probabilities and such) and that means more $$$$$$$$$ for the insruance company in the long run with CF treatments and complications. They covered it immediately.


Best of luck and let us know when you concieve, or if you do have difficulties (which honestly isn't all that uncommon) HollyCatheryn's website (she posted here already) is a GREAT resource!

Keep us posted!

 

[thefrogprincess]

I totally relate to this! I have wanted children for as long as I can remember and if I had been in your situtation (good guy, financially stable) I would have probably gone for it. I'm 24 now and have done a lot of stuff that I may never have gotten to do if I had a child and that's great but it isn't anything I would have regretted if I hadn't done it either. If I had the choice to go back and live the last 4 years just as I alread did or to have a child I would pick the child. But that's just me. I have a wonderful man in my life now who I think will make an even more wonderful father some day so hopefully in the not to distant future I will be joining the ranks of mother hood.

 

[thefrogprincess]

I totally relate to this! I have wanted children for as long as I can remember and if I had been in your situtation (good guy, financially stable) I would have probably gone for it. I'm 24 now and have done a lot of stuff that I may never have gotten to do if I had a child and that's great but it isn't anything I would have regretted if I hadn't done it either. If I had the choice to go back and live the last 4 years just as I alread did or to have a child I would pick the child. But that's just me. I have a wonderful man in my life now who I think will make an even more wonderful father some day so hopefully in the not to distant future I will be joining the ranks of mother hood.

 

[Seana30]

<FONT color=#008000 size=3><STRONG>I had my 1st baby at 17 years old, my 2nd at 19 and my 3rd at 21 years of age.I don't think your age has anything to do with you being a good parent.  I think you can be young and still be a wonderful parent!Just make sure you think it through.  The one big regret of mine is that I did not get to finish school.  Make sure that you will not have any "if only I would have waited".  Now that my children are older I am going to get to fulfill my dream of going to college, but I did have to wait 15 long years for it to happen.I wish you luck with whatever path you take!Seanamom toLauren- 15 on Valentine's Day - no CFCourtney-13 - with CFCameron- 10 - no CF</STRONG></FONT>

 

[Seana30]

<FONT color=#008000 size=3><STRONG>I had my 1st baby at 17 years old, my 2nd at 19 and my 3rd at 21 years of age.I don't think your age has anything to do with you being a good parent.  I think you can be young and still be a wonderful parent!Just make sure you think it through.  The one big regret of mine is that I did not get to finish school.  Make sure that you will not have any "if only I would have waited".  Now that my children are older I am going to get to fulfill my dream of going to college, but I did have to wait 15 long years for it to happen.I wish you luck with whatever path you take!Seanamom toLauren- 15 on Valentine's Day - no CFCourtney-13 - with CFCameron- 10 - no CF</STRONG></FONT>