s/o Babies and genetic conditions

[Cheerio]

If you had a baby with a hereditary condition that did not affect quality of life, but was a chronic thing that they would have to deal with for the rest of their life, would you risk having another child knowing that they could have the same issue?

[Deleted]

I have a genetic autoimmune disease that I may very well pass on to any/all my kids. So far it hasn't shown up in any but I'm fairly sure it will in at least some of them. It's ugly & gross (at least according to gypsy-lol) but I have a great life & I'm happy. My life is worth living & so it has no effect on my choosing to have kids. It effects my quality of life at times even but I know how much worse things could be. I feel blessed overall. I have a few other genetic diseases in my immediate family (celiac, RA, etc) that might show up too. We'll deal if/when stuff shows up. If it was a horrible disease, I'd likely adopt instead.

[h]

Depends on the condition. If it did not significantly impact either longevity or quality of life, I would have more kids naturally. If it did significantly impact longevity or quality of life, I would do IVF with PGD if possible and adopt if not.

[ssmjlm]

I had testing before TTC to see if I was a carrier. If I was, DH would have to be tested (although his likelihood was minimal). We would have either chosen not to have children or possibly pursued adoption if we found that both DH and I were carriers.

[Deleted]

again, depends on what it is.

[CloudBee]

It really depends. I am pregnant, and knew I could pass down some of my heart defects when I was TTC.

I met with a perinatologist before we started TTC and she told me "yes, you could pass along some of your heart defects, but surgery would fix them for the most part, don't let this hold you back, we can't prevent everything".

There was a poster on MM a few years ago who spent $50k for genetic screening IVF to avoid passing along her heart defect to her baby. It didn't work. He was still born with the defect. Aside from surgery and extra visits to the doctor, he's living a full life.

It really does depend, though. But in my case, I took the risk. So far his heart looks great on the fetal-echo we had, but you can never be sure, and arrhythmia issues likely wouldn't surface until after birth.