# Having children... **URL:** \ **Category:** New diagnosis and before diagnosis\ **Created:** [29 January 2013 19:34 UTC](https://forum.mssociety.org.uk/t/having-children/3051 "2013-01-29T19:34:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![app666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df788c/32.png) [@app666](https://forum.mssociety.org.uk/u/app666)\ **Post date:** [29 January 2013 19:34 UTC](https://forum.mssociety.org.uk/t/having-children/3051/1 "2013-01-29T19:34:22Z")
Hi everyone, just a general question really, if you either are waiting for a diagnosis or have been diagnosed, do you still intend of having a child or children? ---
**Author:** ![Inactive\_User](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3e96dc/32.png) [@Inactive\_User](https://forum.mssociety.org.uk/u/Inactive_User)\ **Post date:** [29 January 2013 20:10 UTC](https://forum.mssociety.org.uk/t/having-children/3051/2 "2013-01-29T20:10:09Z")
Hi, diagnosed 10 years ago. Hope to start trying soon. MS hasn’t affected my decision, really, but I am still active and able to work, maybe if I wasn’t I would feel different, I don’t know. Maybe i would feel different if i had ppms, but i am still relapsing remitting. My only consideration vis a vis ms and children at the moment is that I am on DMDs, so need to think about that, about coming off before trying etc. I am also living 1000s of miles from my family, so limited support structure if I do get really sick with a young baby, but I don’t think that thinking about worst case scenario is a good thing to do when making this decision as it might never happen and then I will have given up on opportunity to have child for no good reason. ---
**Author:** ![Inactive\_User](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3e96dc/32.png) [@Inactive\_User](https://forum.mssociety.org.uk/u/Inactive_User)\ **Post date:** [29 January 2013 21:54 UTC](https://forum.mssociety.org.uk/t/having-children/3051/3 "2013-01-29T21:54:05Z")
I got diagnosed with a clinically isolated episode in 2008 then had a baby in February 2011 and eventually diagnosed with RRMS in October 2011. At my final diagnosis I asked if the pregnancy/stress could have made me worse and was told it was unlikely I probably would have got the dx anyway. As I now have two children I am not going to have anymore but thats really to do with my age (39) rather than MS. The only thing I noticed was when I had my first in 2006 I wasn’t as tired during pregnancy as I was in 2011 but this again could just be down to the type of pregnancy rather than MS as with pregnancy and MS everyone has different experiences. As anon says above if on DDMs you would need to think about that but apart from that I personally could see no problems with having children, maybe someone has a different opinion. If you are concerned speak to the Dr or MS nurse (if you have one) I always find them very helpful. Claire ---
**Author:** ![Inactive\_User](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3e96dc/32.png) [@Inactive\_User](https://forum.mssociety.org.uk/u/Inactive_User)\ **Post date:** [30 January 2013 09:27 UTC](https://forum.mssociety.org.uk/t/having-children/3051/4 "2013-01-30T09:27:57Z")
I was diagnosed in December and plan on having at least one more child at some stage in the next 5 years all going well. My symptoms are quite mild and if they stay that way I can’t see why I wouldn’t have more children. Of course, if they get worse that may change things. ---
**Author:** ![Inactive\_User](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3e96dc/32.png) [@Inactive\_User](https://forum.mssociety.org.uk/u/Inactive_User)\ **Post date:** [30 January 2013 12:22 UTC](https://forum.mssociety.org.uk/t/having-children/3051/5 "2013-01-30T12:22:09Z")
The only circumstances I can think of that would make me think twice about having a baby is if I were badly disabled, single or had a very unsupportive partner, and had no family nearby to help me. No one can know what MS will bring. Putting our lives on hold because of something that **might** happen at some time in the future is a recipe for an awful lot of "if only"s. Here’s a recent reply from Stewart that might help: > [@Stewart Cumiskey](#): > > On a personal note, my mother was very ill when i was a child and it only vaguely bothered me. What was important was her attention and that she was there. Yes, i’d have preferred it if she’d been running round the garden rather than in bed, but in many ways it meant I had an audience with her. That was hugely important. > > She was well able to shout at me from the bed- and even though I could have walked from the room- I didn’t. Every situation is different, but just wanted to share that, as it’s easy to project stuff onto kids that isn’t there. I loved my mum, ill or not, it was her love that mattered, nothing else. Karen x ---
**Author:** ![Sewingchick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Sewingchick](https://forum.mssociety.org.uk/u/Sewingchick)\ **Post date:** [30 January 2013 19:35 UTC](https://forum.mssociety.org.uk/t/having-children/3051/6 "2013-01-30T19:35:32Z")
I was diagnosed 5 months after I gave birth to my first child, accidentally got pregnant again straight away and survived. I had a third child three and a half years later. I love all three and wouldn’t be without any of them. However, my MS became much worse when my youngest child was three years old. He’s had a very different experience of childhood from that of his siblings. Like I say, I wouldn’t be without him but sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing … Really really hard question because you never know where MS is going to go.