baby
Wishingonwind,
I've been reading all the posts to your questions and I must say that you have a difficult decision ahead of your family. Here's my two cents: I have a 13 year old son, and my wife and I had great difficulty getting him here. After several surgeries on my wife and no luck, we eventually had to go in-vitro. We knew there were possibilities that things could go wrong considering how many chemicals were used, etc., but we were willing to try nonetheless. My son is in the gifted program at school and my absolute joy. Now for the rest of the story: My mother in law was diagnosed with ALS about a year and a half ago, and is in a nursing home. My wife was diagnosed with MS about four years ago, but has been doing very well on Copaxone. Now, even if we'd known about all this before we had our boy, we'd have still done it anyway. I know there is a chance he could come down with a neurological disease based on family history, but that would not have stopped us from having him. Now I don't know whether or not you're church going folks or not, but I will say this. Much, much prayer went in before, during and after we had our boy, and I believe God gave him to us for a reason. I also believe there's a reason why these diseases have struck our family as well. I don't like it one bit, but I accept and trust in God to take us all through this. The Bible says we are not guaranteed tomorrow, and I would imagine that all who read this have had close calls during their lifetimes. So, after saying all this, I guess I might be a little biased considering what it took for us to get our son and seeing how difficult it was for my wife to want a child and not be able to have one. I would hope that if you decide to have another child, that you have one for the possibility of great things in his/her life, that regardless of length, it would be a lifetime filled with love and family. I wish you and your husband the best. From one 40 year old to another. Tom