A topic that often comes up in our house is whether we should have another baby. With Ethan having Cystic Fibrosis and the odds being that another baby would have a one in four chance of having it as well we are cautious.
It's all how you look at it. We could say there's a 25% chance that our next baby would have CF. But, you could also look at it like there's a 75% chance that we would have a healthy baby with no CF. The baby would still have a 2 in 4 chance of being a carrier and a 1 in 4 chance of having nothing.
Is that a risk worth taking? To us, it is. That might sound awful to some people. Why would anyone want there to be a risk that their child would be born with a chronic illness?
Here's how we look at it. We were blessed to have Ethan even with his CF. I wouldn't trade him for a healthy child. The CF does not define who he is. He is an amazing child who loves to sing, dance, play and most of all talk. We love him no matter what and his life is just as precious as any other child's.
We also really want to give him a sibling. I grew up with a sister and although we weren't that close until high school & college she is one of my best friends today. I want Ethan to know what it's like to have someone who gets him because he or she was there and grew up beside him. If our next child did have CF, they would have each other for support and even if our next child didn't have CF, they still would have each other.
I realize that our decision will be met with much criticism. All I ask is that if you don't agree with us that you keep your words to yourself. We have put a lot of thought and time into our decision. It's been a very difficult decision to make and we worry about the outcome all the time. We pray for a healthy baby but know that God might very well give us another baby with CF and if that's His plan then we're at peace with that.
We don't intend to have any more children after the second. We feel that that's the right decision for our family.
We value your support as our friends and family and hope that you will embrace our family and our decision.
I've created this blog so that my friends and family can see what's going on in the life of our family.
Children are a blessing from the Lord, CF or no CF...and it is nobody's business what you do with your life. Your little boy is a blessing to your family and a gift from God and nothing less. Any baby would be blessed to call you Mommy :)
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