DeafKattMom

Im curious if anyone knows any statistics on hearing parents and deaf children.

I recently found out Im pregnant with my fourth child. I have three severe to profound bilateral hearing loss deaf kids. All thier hearing loss is identical. I was told it is genetic on thier father's side(he is also hearing, but shares numerous deaf family members on his side.)

Im kind of trying to get the odds of this baby being deaf.... and wondering if anyone has any idea of cases with 2 or more deaf children of hearing parents.

Thanks.

katt.

Deafness

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shel90

I have hearing parents...both my brother and I are deaf. Then my parents divorced and had more kids with their 2nd spouses. My dad had 3 boys with his 2nd wife...all hearing. My mom had a boy with her ex boyfriend..he is hearing so if my parents had one more child together, more likely the third one will be deaf. It is interesting how that works.

My best friend's parents are both hearing and had 4 kids. The oldest is hearing...the 2nd is deaf, the 3rd is hearing and my best friend was the last one and she is deaf.

I am sure your kids will thank u for having more kids despite having fears of them being deaf cuz I thank god for my deaf brother because we are very very close and understand each other's experiences being deaf. I feel bad for some of my friends who are the only ones deaf in their families.

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DeafKattMom

Thank you! I never had fears they were deaf. I was hoping that at least one more would become deaf. I didnt want my oldest to feel alone in his childhood journies to becoming a deaf man. Ian and Adriana were then born deaf, and Im greatful. All the kids really understand eachother on a level that, of course, I will never understand. I think it makes langauge easier for them, and they never feel like outsiders when they are together. Im greatful for that.(the only thing that gets me is that they have thier own "visual" language... and kind of just know what eachother wants... so they dont sign as much as Id like them to, but they seem to understand me when Im signing and I sign at a regular conversation pace.)

Im just curious at the odds. Ill be happy no matter what. I just find my situation unique and hope I can find one other family that is like mine.

katt.

shel90

Another good friend of mine has hearing parents. She and her brother are both deaf and her mom refused to have more kids.

Sorry that I assumed you had fears of having a deaf child. In my experience, most parents fear that. u are definitely unique!!!

U live in AZ? I grew up in Phx, AZ and moved to MD in 99. I just flew back from AZ yesterday. My deaf brother lives in Phx.

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~Shel~

"A child educated only at school is an uneducated child." -George Santayana

Buffalo

I agree with Shel90 that you are unique in accepting your children's deafness.

According to the Mendel's genetic law, both parents got to have a recessive deafness gene in order to have a deaf child. (more on this: Recessive Gene Transmission - Picture - MSN Encarta)
It makes me think that you might be a carrier for deaf genes as well. If both parents have the same deaf gene, one of four kids will be born deaf while two of other kids will be a carrier of that particular deaf gene (there are many different kinds of deaf genes) and one other kid will not be a carrier. You got three deaf kids in a row which gotta be a record.

I have a deaf friend who has a deaf brother and the next two siblings born after them are hearing. She doesn't know what caused her deafness (and her deaf brother's). My deafness is caused by rubella so I am the only deaf in the family. Yes, I think it is great to have a deaf sibling to avoid lonliness. It is very difficult to be the only deaf in the family as the family often chat away without making sure that the deaf person is included. Your kids are very lucky.

When are you due? How soon after birth do they test the infant's hearing?? I know I will be all ears for the news of your latest kid's hearing test. Congrats on your fourth!

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~*Kaelei*~

My parents were hearing, and I was only deaf person in the whole family, including extended family. But of course, my deafness was caused by illness (CMV), even though I was born deaf. My Dh and I had a kid, and he turns out to be hearing.

I have couple of friends that Deafness runs in their family:

Lisa is the fourth generation in her family that was born deaf: great grandma, grandma, mother and Her. Her whole family is deaf except for Uncle and Aunt.

Heather have hearing parents but her brothers and herself are deaf. Turns out that her genes carries Deaf Genes and it's 50% chance of having a deaf child if she gets pregnant with hearing person. but It's 99% of having deaf child if she gets pregnant with deaf person.

Andria's husband carries the gene for Deaf, even though she and her husband are deaf, there is only 50% of having deaf child because Andria's deafness was caused by illness, not genetic.

Really, it depends on the person and their family background. I have friends who were born deaf by genes, Some friends that was born deaf to illness and some friends that became deaf from medication that they had to take as a young child to fight against serious illness.

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jillio

My son was born deaf from CMV, as well, Kaelei.

~*Kaelei*~

Wow....I haven't met anyone that was born deaf due to CMV....except myself of course.....as its not really common...i think

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SkullChick

What's CMV?
So its 25% for hearing couple, 50% for one deaf by genetics one hearing and (correct me but by my memory if it serve me right from biology) its 75% for both deaf by genetics. (Recessive and dominant gene)

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jillio

CMV stands for cytomegalovirus. Its actually a very common virus that produces flue like symptoms in most people. Many people have had the virus, and don't even realize they had it because they just thinkthey had a case of the flu.

The only time the virus is dangerous is when a preganant woman is exposed. It can be responsible for blindness, deafness, MR, and various learning disabilities in the baby, depending on what month in the pregnancy the woman is exposed.

A lot of preganant women are exposed, and don't even know that they were, because most pregnant women don't even show symptoms of the virus, ot just slight symptoms like having a cold.

jillio

CMV stands for cytomegalovirus. Its actually a very common virus that produces flu like symptoms in most people. Many people have had the virus, and don't even realize they had it because they just think they had a case of the flu.

The only time the virus is dangerous is when a preganant woman is exposed. It can be responsible for blindness, deafness, MR, and various learning disabilities in the baby, depending on what month in the pregnancy the woman is exposed.

A lot of preganant women are exposed, and don't even know that they were, because most pregnant women don't even show symptoms of the virus, ot just slight symptoms like having a cold. The only way to confirm exposure is with a blood test that confirms antibodies in the blood of both the mother and the baby soon after birth.

dreama

Well if the baby turns out to be hearing you could always consider adopting a deaf baby to keep him company. My dad had a friend who had a baby with Downs syndrome and adopted another Downs baby for that reason.

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