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When I had my daughter (my first child) I was 21, my wife at the time was 19. The very first day we had sex without protection she became pregnant (going by the estimates given by the doctor). My guess is that it was the very first time we had sex too. Not at all hard.
I hear from some people married, who are around my age (late 30s/40s) and trying to have kids. They try everything, from timing and whatever ridiculous thing the doctor told them to do. It's truly mind boggling. Nature didn't intend us to have kids as old men and women.
That's the reality of it, though, whether you struggled or not. Some people do struggle with fertility and just don't talk about it due to shame (and people with opinions like the above). It took my husband and me four years to conceive our first child and in that time did some fertility treatments that did not work. We got pregnant on our own in December 2010 and then again last November (I'm due in August). My husband was 34 when we met, 36 when we married and we had plans to be done with having kids by the time he was 40. Turns out, he would be 41 and 43 when they are born. I'll be 30 in December.
I completely agree with this. Getting sick as a child does improve one's immune system for later in life, and that could have a ton of ramifications in this day where hand sanitizer is a mom's best friend (not mine! ).
What about vaccinations? I mean, since I was a child born in '83, the number of vaccines in the schedule has tripled. Trust me, I am not some "vaccinations are horrible nut" but, to say that a newborn, with hardly any immune system, has all these vaccines, with all these little doses of methylmercury in them. Could that have an impact on development? Sure it can. I would agree with many people on here that it is environmental, no one could really argue with that.
I received the anthrax vaccination in the military in 2003. At that time it was mandatory. Shorty after, about two months, it was optional because quite a few people died from reactions. Luckily, I received all three of mine well. They just put out this report that a Congressional Panel approved children receiving the anthrax vaccine, and now they want to start testing, that to me is very scary....
I would rather change vaccinations at this point in time, compared to the medical problems that could arise without them.
Hey, my wife had kids at 34 and 36. They definitely tell you about the risks >35.
Then when they pop out a kid with autism, a certain segment of the population cannot possibly believe that they might be somewhat part of the problem so they go hunting for any possible scapegoat....like vaccines.
You sound desperate. Increased risk does not equate to cause.
The problem with this theory is when there is only one autistic kid in a house with several siblings. Obviously their environment is extremely similar, if not identical.
I was thinking of it in a more general sense with regard to the high incidence of all sorts of disorders that are related to our immune systems - asthma, eczema, Type I Diabetes, etc. - now that the most "obvious" factors like pollution, sanitation and nutrition, have been addressed.
So, maybe one child in a family is autistic and someone else has asthma. Similar response that manifests in different ways.
Anyway, some research along those lines:
"Better clues to the causes of the autism phenomenon come from parallel “epidemics.” The prevalence of inflammatory diseases in general has increased significantly in the past 60 years. As a group, they include asthma, now estimated to affect 1 in 10 children — at least double the prevalence of 1980 — and autoimmune disorders, which afflict 1 in 20.
...
But Kevin Becker, a geneticist at the National Institutes of Health, has pointed out that asthma and autism follow similar epidemiological patterns. They’re both more common in urban areas than rural; firstborns seem to be at greater risk; they disproportionately afflict young boys."
The cost to raise an autistic child - WoW
"The cost of providing care for a person with autism in the U.S. is an estimated $1.4 million over their lifetime, according to a study funded by advocacy group Autism Speaks. " The financial toll of autism - Apr. 2, 2012
This article assumes an autistic child will have to be housed, clothed and fed for his or her entire adult life. If that is the case, what is the point in all this expensive therapy? Occupational therapy at age 3?
It sounds like they are discouraging people from having children, or I'm not quite sure what the point of this article is.
Scientists are saying that it is just greater awareness of the condition, but I don't buy it.
For one, Autism is HIGHLY genetic. 90% of children born to autistic parents turn out autistic, yet most children being diagnosed today with autism do not have parents on the spectrum.
This makes me think there is a genetic susceptibility to an environmental trigger. If 1 out of every 50 children in the US has this condition now then that means that around 1 out of every 20 boys has it. You really mean to tell me that 5% of male children in this country have always had this condtion? NO WAY!
I just hope they find out a cause, cure, or prenatal test for this affliction by the time I am wanting to have kids.
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