Any T1s ever been pregnant?

My fiancee's uncle is a PA and he said that we shouldn't have kids because 5 out of 7 of his sibling's were type 1 diabetic. And, I am type 1 diabetic. I think that he thought we would be breeding mutant children. But, I have no family Hx, so he decided that he thought it was all right. He's kinda a freaky old man.

I honestly, never considered not having children because I thought that my kid would have it. Since, I have no family Hx, it just simply never occurred to me. I've always been more worried about if I could demonstrate good enough BG control to have a healthy birth. 5 out of 7 kids with type 1, does seem like an extraordinary prevalence rate. You ever heard of that before? If there's one thing harder than being a diabetic, though, it would be being the mother of a diabetic....or, five diabetics. Jesus. I sure she died young.

I have always felt like diseases that are passed through the generations ( like, most of them are) are passed, like that, for a reason. It sorta encapsulates the diabetic, or alcoholic, or narcoleptic, in a shell of generational knowledge that helps them survive, even though the odds aren't really in their favor.

I always felt at a bit of a disadvantage, as a diabetic who was the only type 1 in the family. I think that my diagnosis was extremely traumatic for my mother, in ways that I won't ever really understand. Its something that she will never some to terms with. I didn't even tell her when I was diagnosed with epilepsy at 27.

Anyway, I'm going on and on....How was pregnancy on you and your developing child? BTW, I don't take meds for the epilepsy and I am not too worried about that playing much of a role, compared to diabetes, in pregnancy.

I'm gonna put my non-cyber space picture up because I think my 'Do Want,'-hilarious-photo makes this post a little confusing.![|640x480](upload://5aoOqxc7QS3HvK8cqKNoc7qS3zs.jpeg)

Yep, you had me totally confused. I thought of you as a male in his 60s or 70s.


And sorry, can't help, I wasn't diagnosed till I was 58 (and never been pregnant). There is actually a group on here about pregnancy with type 1.

5 of his 7 siblings were T1, and he thought that YOU were the one who shouldn't breed?

Your fiancee's uncle is mistaken. In fact, extrapolating from a single observation is just a bad idea in general. Joslin notes:

The risk for a child of a parent with type 1 diabetes is lower if it is the mother — rather than the father — who has diabetes. "If the father has it, the risk is about 1 in 10 (10 percent) that his child will develop type 1 diabetes — the same as the risk to a sibling of an affected child," Dr. Warram says. On the other hand, if the mother has type 1 diabetes and is age 25 or younger when the child is born, the risk is reduced to 1 in 25 (4 percent) and if the mother is over age 25, the risk drops to 1 in 100 — virtually the same as the average American.

Consider yourself lucky, Type 2 (although more complex genetically) generally has a stronger genetic connection. We may worry about our children getting diabetes but we also have to realize they can be truly wonderful and achieve truly important things even if they have diabetes or some other condition.

Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.

I have a very healthy beautiful daughter and had little trouble with being pregnant as a diabetic. I had a specialist and an excellent doc who knew how to treat a " high risk " patient. My family tree has diabetes as well as other unpleasant genes of possibilities but we don't stop living, loving, or planning to end the tree.

Breeding mutant children is kind of an ugly thing to say about those of us who chose to be parents. My kid is not mutant, nor is she unhealthy. She is a smart, kind, compassionate, gracious, generous young woman. And she is a mom, knowing all of the things her own family tree has dangling on it's leaves.

I will jump out on a limb and say I fear stupid and unkind people breeding way more than diabetic people breeding.

And also I worry about people feeding squirrels and other animals that are meant to forage and collect food. It is unkind to change the nature of wildlife, they need to be wary of humans and not become dependent on us.

I am the only T1 in my family--except I have had it 52 years, so previous folks may not have been diagnosed. Joslin is running a study on this and my son--37--tested and was cleared.

As I was pregnant before BG monitors, it was tough. Today a CGM will monitor levels constantly, so it will be easier. At 7 months, there was also a major unexpected death in the family, which added stress and "food problems." I was hospitalized for 36 days. He was a big baby and was born at 8 months, as I was induced once his lungs were ok to breathe. I was actually a test case for the first amnio tests.

Was it easy? No. Was it worthwhile? YES. I am now the grandma of 3!!! And the mother of a wonderful man.

He's got two kids - neither of which got type 1.

I'm kinda being a dramatic diabetic...about the 'mutant children'-thing. I hope you don't take offense. I took a little offense after I thought about what he said, except that I know he wasn't trying to be offensive. He was just trying to warm me that they have a high prevalence in their family and that I could have a diabetic kid, which is something that I never considered, because I don't have a genetic influence, on my side. So, I appreciate his creepy, old man advice, I guess.

Geeze, that's over a month in the hospital. That's a long time.

I don't think that any of the kids got type 1, but it will be interesting to see the spread in the next generation. I would expect some to pop up.

These squirrels just came right up to me in a public park. Never seen anything like it before. People in my town, interfere heavily with the squirrel populations. We have a cool, mutant white squirrel population, but people in town feel like the grey squirrels persecute them, so they gather them up and send them to live in a white squirrel sanctuary at one of the college campuses. Strange, eh?

Squirrel segregation.

I was diagnosed as type I at age 9 and was told to never get pregnant. As the years went on, things changed and I was told I could have a very healthy pregnancy if I kept my BG's under control. I never did have kids because my aunt (who was type I) had two kids who both were born with intellectual disability (formerly known as mental retardation)and I was frightened of messing up my own children's health.

There are five type I's in my family, My father and his sister, a cousin, my brother, and myself.

1/100? I like those odds!

I had one child before being diagnosed and one two years after and this was 40 years ago before any of the recent advances. Neither one have diabetes. Only difference was they made sure the second child had developed lungs and then induced labor two weeks early. Although my second child (now grown)has some auto immune problems.

I'm the only one in my family with T1.

I was diagnosed with T1 when I was 13 years old. I have two beautiful daughters. When my eldest daughter was 9, 3 1/2 years ago on Mother's Day, she was diagnosed with T1. My uncle is also T1. All four of his daughters do not have diabetes. Pregnancy was difficult but worth it.

I've had Type 1 Diabetes since I was age 3 and my 2 Brothers had Diabetes at age 4, before me. There are no other known Diabetics in our Families before us. Yes, it was terrible for my Mom...she repeats the seizure stories too often. Both of our Parents hated Diabetes, of course.

It was difficult sometimes while being pregnant and having Diabetes. Having a meter and knowing about carb counting would have been handy. But we didn't know about them then, so we couldn't miss them either. No one mentioned an Endo to me until I became pregnant, so that was a help.

My Brothers and I and my non-Diabetic Sister(twin) have 7 Kids in all and 9 Grandkids at this point. No Diabetes from these 16 offspring, so far, thank God.

Wow. Thanks for the info Brian! I continue to field the question myself from time to time. I'm 45 and about finished formally "breeding" (lol) but have two sons. One is 19, the other 10. So far --yes, I am knocking on wood-- neither seems to have inherited my type I tendencies.

I've read enough of your solid, data-driven advice to take you at face value but doubt anyone will take my word on it. Can you point me to reference materials? Muchos Gracias! ~dawn

(it made me smile to think of breeding my own little mutants but I'm funny that way..) ;)