Several weeks ago I met with a genetic
counselor. We talked about my family history and about the options for
having a baby. I was already well-versed in the options and the risks for
me having my own child. Not knowing much about FSH MD, I sent her my gene
test and she called a genetic counselor at Athena Diagnostics, where the
test was performed. She did learn some interesting things which she
passed along to me in a phone conversation after our initial appointment.
One thing I had been told (or read- I
can’t remember) was that if I got pregnant, they could test the fetus to see if
the baby was likely to have FSH. This is actually not the case in
2013. Testing is currently only available from blood samples and
therefore could not be done during prenatal testing. I think I was told/read
that while they could test a fetus for presence of the gene they would not be
able to tell the severity… the presence could mean symptoms as hard to deal
with as mine, or they could show no symptoms at all. I assume these facts
are related.
Therefore, my options would be to have a
baby of my own and “chance it.” The physical stress this would put on my
body is obviously a big part of this scary decision. I could have a
surrogate carry my egg and “chance it” or carry a baby with their egg and my
future partner’s sperm. Or, I could adopt. She was very adamant
that while the technology isn’t available in 2013 to test a fetus for FSH MD,
it could be in a few years.
Almost as if the Universe was feeling the
pain in my heart to realize and accept that I would {probably} never carry a
child of my own, the Today Show did
this amazing special on adoption for a whole week. I have always thought
giving a child a home who needed one would be a great way to go. During
the special, they were talking with kids of all ages who just wanted a family
to love them.
I am now 99.9% convinced that adoption
would be the best and most natural option for me to have children. I
better begin my research.
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