Hi All,

I was reading the posts under Kimberly and the IVF stuff and I noticed that someone said it costs about 20K a year for a CAH child. My son is 15 months old and I can say that he has not come anywhere near costing 20K. Of course he never had a crisis and so we never had that expense of hospitals and such. I am then assuming that the 20K would be for someone with no insurance. But, there are many insurance plans out there for kids who are in the lower income bracket and can’t afford to pay for medical insurance. It just seems that 20K is a very high figure.

Also about the IVF stuff...I am  very happy for Kimberely that she has decided to go one with having another child without taking the dex. I wish her a happy and healthy pregnancy and delivery.  It seems like we hear so many things about the dex both good and bad that it is a very hard decision to make. She made it and I hope it turns out well and if not they know what to expect. This is a discussion close to my heart because I would love to try again! One more time to see if God has a girl in mind for my family! I am leaning toward taking the dex. I have a 7yr old, 4 yr old boys non CAH and a 15 month old SV CAH boy.  I am willing to go through the dex (as scary as it sounds sometimes) to prevent my daughter from having to have surgery or even from that whole debate! I worry about the effects of the dex but it seems to me that we give our children antibiotics, some of which have been studied less than the dex side effects.  Some women have to take medications for their own conditions such as Sheila the super CAH mom of 4 and her kids are fine. I have met four or five other moms who took the dex, some here in my home town and they never had any problems.

I guess it is about choice but what I think really gets to me is that some people think CAH is so bad that it is a reason not to have children. I remember reading posts from some with CAH who also felt that it was wrong to have a child with CAH. Why? I read the post from the lady that lost her baby to CAH. Yes, I feel terribly for her and I would hate to have gone through that. I can’t imagine it but now that they do know then they can keep that from happening again. That may not be comforting for that mom because as she said she lost her baby to CAH, period. I’m sure I would feel that way too. But from my point of view, from where I stand now,  I wouldn’t change my CAH son for anyone else in the world. I also consider him healthy and normal.

I don’t have anything against someone who wants to spend the money to do IVF and get a perfect child but you can’t test for everything. So, you can never really relax that everything will be perfect because it can be something else if not CAH. I am just thankful that it was CAH and not something fatal ( no treatment )  or disabling where he would never be independent.  Having a child is taking a chance!

I have heard from enough people on this board who have  older children and grown children with CAH that are doing just fine.

Ok, I’ll stop rambling.....

Sandra