Do you have children? are they deaf?

ArestaL

ArestaL

Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2016
Messages
64
Reaction score
2
I want to conduct a social survey to find out what is the chance for a couple of deaf people to give birth to a hearing child.
 
My wife and I found out that she was pregnant on the 4th week. We want healthy children and want to know what our chances are. How can I know the state of hearing before childbirth?
 
It completely depends on whether either one of you have a hereditary loss. If either of you are CMV babies, odds are good the child would be deaf. (You can find out through a blood test.) if you are deaf from spinal meningitis, or other after-birth issues, then not likely. That is not hereditary.
 
I am deaf and my son is hearing. Don't have a deafness genetic, obviously.
 
I am severely to profoundly deaf, and my kids are all hearing. They might have auditory processing disorder but I can't them then tested until they are at least 7 years old.
 
My father was severely hard of hearing, so was my grandfather...I became deaf at 14...but all my 6 siblings were hearing...My father's sister's daughter had a girl born deaf.....my children were hearing, so are my grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren....
 
No children. I have niece who's HOH:)

Her parents are both hearing. Being deaf or HOH is not unhealthy. Genetics in my family hearing loss runs in my paternal side of the family.
 
I am HOH and my daughter is hearing thanks goodness ! An audi I was seeing was very concerned that my grandchild would be HOH and she not . :) Being HOH isn't great ,I think it sucks !
 
You can't know the state of a baby's health- in some cases- or in this case their hearing- before birth. It's hard to predict. Chances are the percentage is probably 0.1%. The only factors that COULD point to a possibility of deafness are 1) genetic disorder- if one or both parents are carriers of a gene linked to deafness, 2) there's a history in the family- I would guess more than 2 generations back or 3) the mother contracts some type of illness that would cause the baby to become deaf- like Rubella, I don't know of any others- maybe Rubeola (Measles).

As AlleyCat says- a deaf child is not an unhealthy child. Give him love, give him (or her) support, education using every tool you can, give them a way to communicate- ASL is a place to start.

And don't attach negative emotion to the child being deaf/HOH.

I'm deaf but don't have children- I'm the only deaf in my family- well couldn't tell ya of long distant ancestors... since mine was from Rubella anyway.

Best of luck.
 
Being deaf or HOH is not defined as unhealthy. If anything, I rarely fall sick and I also feel blessed because I know I have it better than most.

I'm HoH, my maternal side of the family have hearing loss - thus being genetic. My mum did not find out she herself had hearing loss until she had me. I am the youngest and 3 of my siblings are hearing. Her reasoning was - my dad had heart problems when they had me and they were both 37. So I'm also concluding that there's a probability that it is linked to the health of the parents and age.
 
If its not environmental, like Ruebella or CMV (illness contracted by mom while pregnant), its most likely genetic. My husband and I are hearing, no deafness in either side of the family, unless there was way way way back. My husband and I are carriers of a certain gene mutation. So any of ours kids have a 25% chance of being deaf; hence my 1 year old was born profound. But her having the gene doesn't make her kids more likely to be deaf, it just depends on the dad of her kids.

Its all based on chance, anyways. So even a genetically deaf person can have a hearing baby. And just because the gene is passed on, doesn't mean it will "show". Interesting stuff to be sure.

But I agree, my baby girl is as healthy as can be. Got great Apgar scores when she was born. Happy, carefree, smart, amazing.
 
Truly you cannot know ahead of time. You can't know if your child might contract an illness that leaves him or her deaf or HOH while quite young. Any number of worse things could happen as well. As parents we adore our children and manage to cope with whatever happens to them or us. That's just life.
 
ArestaL said:
We want healthy children and want to know what our chances are.
Click to expand...

While I sort of understand what you mean ...I'm going to be blunt: if you aren't prepared to have a child that may have health issues etc, I'd strongly suggest waiting on becoming parents.

No amount of testing or planning can ensure you have a "perfect" child.
 
Anij said:
While I sort of understand what you mean ...I'm going to be blunt: if you aren't prepared to have a child that may have health issues etc, I'd strongly suggest waiting on becoming parents.

No amount of testing or planning can ensure you have a "perfect" child.
Click to expand...
AMEN!!!!! Heck even children without health issues aren't perfect. I'm sure nobody would want a future Donald Trump for example.
 
Anij said:
While I sort of understand what you mean ...I'm going to be blunt: if you aren't prepared to have a child that may have health issues etc, I'd strongly suggest waiting on becoming parents.

No amount of testing or planning can ensure you have a "perfect" child.
Click to expand...
So true, one of my kids has autism, one has ocd, and has a spine curve. None of these anyone in my family has. You never know until they are done. But all my kids are perfect and normal.
 
I doubt any first time parents are ever prepared for whatever or whomever arrives. If they waited until then very few of us would be here.
 
Back
Top