Re: poll re: having more kids after CF

[Guest guest]

,

I too had several ultrasounds with . First one at 7 weeks because I had

just misscarried a baby a few months before her. That baby never formed and

at 3 months I lost it. The second ultrasound was at 12 weeks and we saw a

fully beating heart, that thrilled me. The third was at 19 weeks and we then

discovered the bilateral clubfoot. My O.B. told me what it was but said that

you can't always trust the ultrasound and that we'll just have to wait until

she is born to see how good/bad they are. So..........I went on with my

pregnancy and honestly did'nt worry one bit about it (I can't believe I'm

hearing myself say that now) I looked in my baby books and they were so

vague about clubfoot. They almost made it sound like no big deal. So......I

fully enjoyed my pregnancy too.

Since then I have had several talks with my O.B and specialists and none of

them are able to put my fears at ease either. I know I am asking questions

they really can't answer for me but at the same time my O.B. thinks that I'm

worrying about something that was probably an isolated case. I just find

that hard to believe when my first child had mild foot problems, second

child misscarried because it never formed and third child had bilateral

clubfoot and a dimple on her spine. That just seems strange to me and I feel

my risk is maybe higher than someone who had children with no problems.

My husband has a HUGE family with tons of cousins and nieces and nephews.

Not one with even a mild problem. We did'nt know of any problems on either

side of our families, only guesses on a grandmother who may have had

clubfoot (she died in England years ago) and maybe a distant cousin of my

father in law. Those are only guesses though. It's such a mystery as to why

any of these things happen.

Well, I have to say, I could handle just clubfoot, I've been there and know

where to go, but something worse terrifies my too. I guess only time will be

able to answer my questions.

My best friend just told me she is expecting her third..........I'm thrilled

for her! I really am, she just makes it look so easy. I'm 31 this year, so

for me it's going to probaby be soon or never, I don't really want to

increase my risk factors with age.

Thanks for listening!

Holly and

Re: poll re: having more kids after CF

>Hi Holly,

>I wonder about the level II ultrasounds also. I had three regular

>ultrasounds when I was pregnant with Eden (the last one at 20 weeks)

>that failed to detect her clubfeet. I go back and forth with my

>feelings on this. Most of the time I think it was probably a good

>thing that we didn't find out, because I KNOW I would have spent the

>rest of my pregnancy worrying and obsessing about it. In my

>situation ignorance truely was bliss- I got to fully enjoy my

>pregnancy. However, if we had known ahead of time, at least I could

>have better prepared myself. For weeks after Eden was born, just the

>sight of all the tiny little shoes that I had bought for her when I

>was pregnant sitting unused in her closet would make me cry. I had

>so much guilt over the fact she was born with clubfeet- wondering

>what I had done wrong to cause this to happen. I guess that is what

>worries me the most about having another child. I think the guilt

>would be unbearable if something were to go wrong again- especially

>if it were something devastating like spina bifida. Our friends just

>had twins, and she had weekly level II ultrasounds throughout her

>entire pregnancy (she was considered high risk). There were

>absolutely NO surprises when the babies were born. I don't think I

>could ever go back to being the happily ignorant and blissfull person

>I was when I was pregnant with Eden. That's why I wonder if having a

>child born with a birth defect is enough to put you in that " high

>risk " category.

>This is all so difficult sometimes. It's nice to have someplace to

>share.

>Thank you,

>

>

>

>

>

>> >> ,

>> >> i remember having some of those same worries when I was pregnant

>> >with my

>> >> second (she turned ONE today!). I was particularily worried

>about

>> >spina

>> >> bifida or arthrogyposis. I think it's because I heard a lot of

>> >those

>> >> terms used with clubfoot, so that's what my preggo brain focused

>on

>> >for

>> >> awhile. After the ultrasound where they checked the spine, etc,

>I

>> >> reallized it was out of my hands and worry wasn't going to change

>> >> anything. Iris arrived birth defect-free. I understand how

>you

>> >> feel, but for me, I didn't want it to stop me from having another

>> >baby.

>> >> I think now that my second was born with no birth defects, I will

>> >worry

>> >> less when I have another child.

>> >>

>> >> Joy

>> >>

>> >>

>> >> http://community.webtv.net/joybelle15/ROSESCLUBFOOTPAGE

>> >

>> >

>> >

>> >

[Guest guest]

Holly,

I can relate to what you said about your best friend making having

healthy babies look " easy " . Two of my best friends, my sister-in-

law, and I were all pregnant at the same time. Of course, everyone

else brought home perfectly healthy babies from the hospital, while

we were dealing with the shock of having a baby born with clubfoot.

While I was very happy for them, I have to admit that it was really

hard for me to be around them in the early days. And it is still

sometimes hard not to feel resentful when I hear stories about women

who drank or did drugs while pregnant and had healthy babies, when I

was sooooooooo consciencious about doing everything right while I was

pregnant, and still had a baby born with a birth defect.

I have also told my husband that if we do decide to have more

children, that we should do it pretty soon, in case they end up

having clubfeet too. Afterall, as much as I wish he could be, Dr.

Ponseti is not going to be around FOREVER, and we had such a

wonderful experience with him, that I can't imagine seeing anyone

else-LOL!

> >> >> ,

> >> >> i remember having some of those same worries when I was

pregnant

> >> >with my

> >> >> second (she turned ONE today!). I was particularily worried

> >about

> >> >spina

> >> >> bifida or arthrogyposis. I think it's because I heard a lot

of

> >> >those

> >> >> terms used with clubfoot, so that's what my preggo brain

focused

> >on

> >> >for

> >> >> awhile. After the ultrasound where they checked the spine,

etc,

> >I

> >> >> reallized it was out of my hands and worry wasn't going to

change

> >> >> anything. Iris arrived birth defect-free. I understand

how

> >you

> >> >> feel, but for me, I didn't want it to stop me from having

another

> >> >baby.

> >> >> I think now that my second was born with no birth defects, I

will

> >> >worry

> >> >> less when I have another child.

> >> >>

> >> >> Joy

> >> >>

> >> >>

> >> >> http://community.webtv.net/joybelle15/ROSESCLUBFOOTPAGE

> >> >

> >> >

> >> >

> >> >

[Guest guest]

Just had to stop lurking for this one...

We have 5 children, ages almost 21 to 3 and the youngest, , is our only

child to have been born with a problem with clubfeet (positional and

bilateral). I would absolutely recommend that you DO NOT let something like

this stop you from having other children.

Let's face it, there is no perfect child any more than there is a perfect

parent. All of my children were born healthy, including , but

different problems, solveable (sp?) ones came up with some of them. Our

oldest dd had lazy eye and had to have vision therapy, our 2nd dd had a

vaccine injury and has to work harder than most to do well with her studies

because of problems with her memory. My others have had other challenges.

DH and I see CF as nothing more or less than a challenge to overcome. With

a whole lot of hard work and a whole lot of prayer, by the Grace of God, we

are getting the job done...

Everybody has to make these choices for themselves, but keeping that

mentality in mind, if we were in the position to have another child, DH and

I would do so without any hesitation about CF. The only reasons that we are

not having another child is that was our 5th child and we feel like

our biological family is complete and the fact that we are 45 and 47

respectively and are concerned about the possibility of still raising

children in our 60's. We are considering adoption at some point, but only

with older children that are in need of good homes.