"Maybe you should think twice about having children."

[K9karen]

Genetics is a crap shoot, I agree. Plus, some problems skip generations.

But I did know someone whose grandson was born with Cystic Fibrosis. Apparently, it takes both parents to carry the gene. There was no evidence that anyone in either family had it. But what were the chances of 2 people meeting, marrying and both carrying this gene? Anyway, the poor child had so many surgeries by his first year, and is still quite ill. They were told NOT to have another child because there was a very high percentage of CP happening again. There was an unexpected pregnancy, and now, the daughter, is worse off than her brother. So, so sick. Both grandmothers quit their jobs to "babysit". They had to learn medical procedures in case of an emergency. Etc.

I think in this case, knowing the odds, the suffering of these defensive children, the life span, an accidental pregnancy could have been avoided.

[Pam]

This is a decision that the potential parents, and them alone, must make. I would rather see someone take the stand that they won't have children in the face of a questionable *gene pool* rather than have a problem confirmed on a routine ultrasound and then decide to abort.

My daughter's last pregnancy, that brought forth sweet precious adorable Jeremy was scary. Her ultrasounds showed that something was wrong with his kidneys and they didn't know what. It could have been a sign of Downs Syndrome or any one of a number of things. They were even sent to talk with a genetic counselor. After he was born they thought it was polycystic kidney disease (a hereditary disease,) meaning that she and her hubby each carried a gene for it even though there were no family members on either side with the condition.

Well, it turns out that Jeremy is a healthy little guy. His kidneys are still somewhat bright on ultrasound but the diagnosis is not nearly as ominous as at first. The nephrologists feels it isn't PKD thank God and she has been told to treat him as a normal child.

I say all of that just to say that even when you think you have no family history of a problem you just might, so in that way I feel that it is indeed a crap shoot. If, however, you come from, for example, a Jewish background and there is a history of Tay Sachs disease you might do well to think long and hard about the repercussions of bringing a sick child into this world who might only live to the age of 5.

Regarding autism, I know little except that my co-worker has a son with Asperger syndrome which is very similar to autism. He is now 15 and in a special school but doing pretty well. She did go ahead and have another child who is completely normal.