Having Children and UC

Hi Everyone,

I was curious if UC affects people's decision about whether to have children in the future, and wonder if many people with UC decide against it. I personally worry about balancing having a chronic illness with taking care of someone else, as well as the sleep deprivation, getting infected with colds/flus, pregnancy, not having time for self-care, and passing it on to future children. UC also costs a lot of money in medical care and I would rather have more financial stability/savings to lean on.

Was curious if any of you have been thinking about this and how you made your decision?

A couple times a year there's a thread similar to this. My take on it is there appears to be 25 percent odds of passing your UC on to a child (one parent has UC); nothing definite by any means. If one desires to be a parent then I'd say go for it.

The wife and I don't have kids, nor do we have any desire to have any. I have the utmost respect for those of you who are parents, but it's just not in the cards for us. UC isn't the primary reason by any means, just another line item in our large list of why nots.

A number of us have had kids and later got diagnosed with UC, yet another possibility.

my suggestion for anyone questioning having kids, would be to maybe try a fish or two first and see how that works out -

me, i had no choice - my wife just said, "it's time, suck it up and get er done" - i was a little late to the dadding table, plus having UC, so i wasn't sure my boys were even willing and able - they were -

quincy said...
Try something much more demanding like babysitting for screaming, self entitled kids with one or two untrained dogs.
Keep a children's channel turned on 24/7....

Or, better yet....sit at mcdonalds in the kid play section and imagine all the germs and poopy bacteria everywhere.

Brings tears of joy as Im typing this.....sniff.

q

Hehe..LOL.

25% odds of passing UC on to a child seems pretty high to me. It would be too stressful to have a child with UC.

I'm leaning against having children and don't think I'll regret it. UC makes it less appealing but there are many other reasons as well and I don't have any biological urge.

The stat I heard was that if one parent has IBD, then each child has a 10% chance of developing IBD.

I wonder what the data is on percentage of folks with UC who end up having children after diagnosis? I think something like 90% of people end up having children at least in the US, but this is likely way lower for UC.

It seems like many had kids before diagnosis, but not as many after.

Andrina said...
I decided not to have children and my ex-husband went on and had a child with someone else.

You didn't want them anyway I thought?

I never wanted any kids, so it's hard for me to be subjective. Then after being diagnosed, I thought it would be the worst thing in the world to pass this illness along. Now since having surgery, I realize that, life after surgery is actually easier than life with UC, so is it really a reason to give up having kids if it's your thing? Probably not. thankfully, I don't have to make that decision because I pretty much knew I didn't wan any since I was a child.

notsosicklygirl said...

Andrina said...
I decided not to have children and my ex-husband went on and had a child with someone else.

You didn't want them anyway I thought?

I never wanted any kids, so it's hard for me to be subjective. Then after being diagnosed, I thought it would be the worst thing in the world to pass this illness along. Now since having surgery, I realize that, life after surgery is actually easier than life with UC, so is it really a reason to give up having kids if it's your thing? Probably not. thankfully, I don't have to make that decision because I pretty much knew I didn't wan any since I was a child.

No I don't want children. I realized it when my uc got worse that I won't be able to handle it and I also don't want to pass it on.