Two HoH/Deaf people having children

My girlfriend is 29. I would love to wait 4, 5 years to get kids, but I realize that she'll soon be 30.

Yeah, I do wish I had more time to "play", but this is life.
 
My mom had all four of us kids when she was in her 30s, but realistically, if you want more than one child, early 30s is when you need to start. It seems like among so many women, we spend our 20s desperately trying to avoid pregnancies, and our 30s trying to go for it!
 
Because my mom & I both had "trouble" getting pregnant (nothing serious, and no intervention methods were used), my daughter thought they should start trying (she's only 21) figuring it would take a few years. Bang, the first time they tried and here comes my grandson. They're ecstatic so it's not like "oh, no, it wasn't supposed to happen that fast".
 
Ha! My sister was sort of like that, although she was 28 and had been married for a couple years. The first month she didn't use the diaphragm, bam! Preggers. She said "I didn't think it would happen that fast! " I said "Honey, it's not cumulative, you know."

Her second one, a few years later, did take a bit longer, something like 4 or 5 months. Not unusual.

And no third one. She was glad to be done with the pregnancies by her mid-30s.
 
I mean no offense, I'm just curious about how people can/would/did handle this topic.

My boyfriend and I were discussing children the other day. We are both very HoH. His is SNHL and mine is conductive hearing loss. Both conditions are hereditary. Naturally it came up that we could have children with hearing loss and quickly decided that it wouldn't be that big of a deal. Neither of us have ever had any serious issues with life. We just have to adapt some situations to make them work for us. My mom feels otherwise and is somewhat disapproving. I know other folks would be as well.

Would you forgo having children if there was a more than normal chance they would be born with hearing loss? How would you combat or respond to the people that frown upon either decision?

Anyone who believes that children shouldn't be brought into the world because they might be deaf is just plain audist. What is so wrong with being deaf or hoh? Deaf and hoh people live perfectly normal, happy lives, as you have experienced yourself. Educate people to get rid of their ignorance. And, when that doesn't work, ignore them.
 
Anyone who believes that children shouldn't be brought into the world because they might be deaf is just plain audist. What is so wrong with being deaf or hoh? Deaf and hoh people live perfectly normal, happy lives, as you have experienced yourself. Educate people to get rid of their ignorance. And, when that doesn't work, ignore them.

Yes, you are right....however, not all deaf people have had happy childhoods and would not want to put their own deaf children through the same thing.
 
Anyone who believes that children shouldn't be brought into the world because they might be deaf is just plain audist. What is so wrong with being deaf or hoh? Deaf and hoh people live perfectly normal, happy lives, as you have experienced yourself. Educate people to get rid of their ignorance. And, when that doesn't work, ignore them.

Anyone who believes a kid should be tortured to prove a political point is just selfish.

Children, don't have a choice!
 
Anyone who believes that children shouldn't be brought into the world because they might be deaf is just plain audist. What is so wrong with being deaf or hoh? Deaf and hoh people live perfectly normal, happy lives, as you have experienced yourself. Educate people to get rid of their ignorance. And, when that doesn't work, ignore them.

I agree 100% I was shocked at the earlier poster.
 
I agree 100% I was shocked at the earlier poster.

I agree as well. Honestly, things may have been more difficult for me at times because I was brought up in a completely hearing world and was essentially forced to get by, learn to read lips, and sit myself where I could see and hear better.. but I think that in ways, I am more well adjusted than other "normal" people my age and I'm proud of it.
 
I agree as well. Honestly, things may have been more difficult for me at times because I was brought up in a completely hearing world and was essentially forced to get by, learn to read lips, and sit myself where I could see and hear better.. but I think that in ways, I am more well adjusted than other "normal" people my age and I'm proud of it.

Awesome!
 
Sad reality:
Most women aren't taught — and don't learn — basic facts about fertility and aging, says Finn, author of the e-book “The Baby Chase." Instead, celeb moms the likes of Salma Hayek (a baby girl at 41), Marcia Cross (twins at 44) and Mariah Carey (twins at 41) make being an older mom look easy — and glamorous.
“It’s not that we’re stupid,” she says. “It’s that we’ve been misinformed.”
As proof, she points to a new fertility awareness survey sponsored by biopharmaceutical firm EMD Serono Inc., with investigators from RESOLVE, the National Infertility Association. It was presented at the American Society of Reproductive Medicine’s recent annual meeting.
The poll of 1,000 women ages 25 to 35 who had talked to doctors about fertility found that participants could correctly answer seven out of 10 basic questions less than half the time. The Fertility IQ 2011 Survey found that women were wrong most often about how long it takes to get pregnant — and about how much fertility declines at various ages.
“We were not at all surprised,” says Barbara Collura, executive director of RESOLVE. “This is what we experience every day.”
Most women simply don’t realize that at 30, a healthy woman has about a 20 percent chance of conceiving per month and by the time she reaches 40, her odds drop to about 5 percent, Collura said.
Fertility math? Most women flunk, survey finds - TODAY Health - TODAY.com
 
Anyone who believes a kid should be tortured to prove a political point is just selfish.

Children, don't have a choice!

I don't believe children should be tortured to make a political point. But I do believe that children are a blessing, all of them, deaf, hearing, blind, retarded, and once conceived, the 'choice' has already been made.

Children should be welcomed and cherished.
 
:shock: I wouldn't forgo having children, I love kids and it wouldn't matter to me if they were deaf or not.....I would still want them

oops... I always confused forgo with "go ahead" :crazy:
 
Good article on fertility math. Biologically, probably the best decade to have babies is from about age 25 to 35. But for young women today, getting advanced education, and then maybe being saddled with huge student loan debts while trying to get started in their careers, the whole marriage and baby thing gets postponed and postponed.
 
Good article on fertility math. Biologically, probably the best decade to have babies is from about age 25 to 35. But for young women today, getting advanced education, and then maybe being saddled with huge student loan debts while trying to get started in their careers, the whole marriage and baby thing gets postponed and postponed.

I think we work so hard warning teenagers about pregnancy that we give them a false impression, and so they put of having children for decades, thinking they can just produce a baby the moment they decide they are ready. A lot of very surprised 40 year olds are finding that they already chose not to have children by waiting so long. They just did not know it.

School loans are another problem. We counsel our kids to avoid debt like the plague.
 
I blame the economy,
I don't want to have a kid unless I can financially support one. But with the job market going down the toilet and everything going up in price I can barely support myself.
 
If you are capable of loving unconditionally, then whatever child you bring into this world will be grateful for the mother he/she has. There is nothing wrong with bringing a deaf child into this world. I rather have decent deaf people in this world than hearing criminals. Everyone is imperfect in their own unique ways, and being deaf should not pose a problem.

People who frown upon bringing deaf or handicap children into this world clearly do not undersand the meaning of "love"

I am severely physically challenged, eventually lost my hearing, and I am greatly loved regardless of these imperfections I have. And my goals are achieved by the help of my mom who understands the meaning of love. While it would be nice to be physically healthy, I don't regret coming into this world with severe disabilities. The love I am showed outweighs the struggles I face in my every day life, which results in a beautiful life.
 
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