and PD. A very good question!
By all means don't let PD derail your life willingly, but don't be surprised if it does anyway, it has a habit of doing that, all the more considering how bad you get and how quickly you get that way.
I was 39 when dx'ed, had my 3rd child born two years before DX. There has been much degradation in my condition from 10 years ago. The younger one has never "known" dad without PD, my daughter was five and my eldest son was seven when i was dx'ed. My eldest is bitter, as is my wife; my eldest because he is mad that he never got the full advantages of a "healthy" father, my wife because she has had to pick up so much of the slack left in the wake of PD. WE used to work as a team, me working days, her working nights, and me taking care of the kids at night. Lets just say that it was a sad day when the grass didn't get cut unless she did it. That just about wraps it up for most aspects of the middle class life, where it takes a healthy team of mom and pop to properly raise childen. Now, if you are well off to begin with and/or have a lot of extended family to help pick up the slack. PD may not interfere as much in your life as it would in someone else's under less optimal fortunes.
I never regretted having kids, I only regret that I could not possibly give them a "normal" family life. I went for sinemet right away, to get 6 more years of earning a wage, before I retired. This was a "life-saver" for our family as far as financial matters went. And I made sure, at the very first sign of PD , that I was fully covered with life, disability and long term care insurance. That is something that I have preached on this blogg for many years. IF YOU HAVE KIDS, YOU MUST BE FULLY INSURED, not for you, but for them. Kids take tons of dough to raise properly in today's world. If you want to give them a fighting chance to get an education or a vocation, you don't want them having to start working at age 8 to buy their own toothpaste .
And as your children grow older, the more they demand in both physical and mental care. So, things might be OK in an early DX with one baby, but if you have more than one, the demands palced on both you and your spouse can be daunting. I'm hardly good for anything anymore expect sitting with my young one when my wife is working, helping a bit with the tons of homework kids are shouldered with these days, and if I'm having a really good day, do some cooking.
I think that you get the idea rd42. THe more that you MUST do with PD, the more likely that you are going to be stressed out, and stress is extremely bad for us. It can wreck a relationship in a second, even with two well meaning, dedicated parents. So, look ahead, take stock of your proposed future and look at how much children need by looking at other families.
And if PD has a genetic component think about this; none of us can be certain that there will be a cure for PD within 30 years. If my parents knew of my destiny, I would hope that they would have acted accordingly and not bought me into this world of suffrance. Life is good, if you are healthy and of sound mind, not so good if you aren't.
It's a very personal thing. You'll be suffering overtime if you have too many children and not enough of you and your wife to go around. So that's about it, don't be swayed into not having kids if you think you are up to the task (totally committed). It CAN work, and CAN be a very satisfying life action. Children are the most beautiful things in all the universe, on the scale of a marriage between two people. cs