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Love is a beautiful and magical feeling that occurs without being expected. It invades life and thoughts in an uncontrollable way and when you least expect it you are already experiencing the beginning of a new story. One thing is very obvious and known to everyone, we do not choose who to love and it just happens and it can happen even within the family, among cousins. And when does this happen? In addition to family approval, the first other major concern that occurs is in relation to children between cousins, who we always hear about risks. Do they really exist?
Since the world is a world, it is known and you will hardly ever have heard it in your life, that the marriage of first cousins poses great risks in generating children and being born with disabilities. But that does not mean an affirmation, but a few hundred times more chances than normal, a fact that can occur even among a couple without any blood ties. Genetic problems are subject to occur in all couples!
Every couple, even if they are not from the same family, has a 3% chance of having children with genetic problems, risks that are increased to 6% in couples with the same bloodline and to 7 to 8% for couples who have the same genetic codes and defective, very common to find in first cousins. For the couple of cousins who already have recessive diseases in their family history or for those who already have a child with some genetic disease, the risk increases to 25%.
Let’s be clearer: If the woman has a gene with an alteration responsible for deafness and the man an altered gene, but responsible for blindness, the baby is not at risk of being born neither deaf nor blind. But if the mother’s altered gene causes deafness and the father’s too, the chances are good that the baby will be born with hearing problems. Genetic problems occur due to the junction of the altered genes of the same father and mother, so it increases the risk index in children between cousins, especially if they already have cases in the family. The most common problems occurring in children among cousins with the same genetic codes are: Cystic Fibrosis, mucopolysaccharides, sickle cell anemia, albinism and metabolic diseases . The occurrences range from changes in growth andchild physical and motor development even intellectual retardation. It all depends on the altered genes provided by the parents that trigger different types of diseases.
I married a cousin and I want to have children – what to do?
The decision to have children must come from the couple and all possibilities and risks must be discussed and even if the decision is yes, care must be taken. The first and essential step in the process is to look for a genetic specialist, who will do tests on the couple to analyze possible genetic changes and give complete genetic counseling. A heredogram will be made, where a genetic survey of the recessive diseases existing in the family will be evaluated.
After carrying out these heredograms, if the presence of altered genes is found and knowing the risks, the decision to continue and have children should come from the couple. It is worth noting that in Brazil, abortion is not allowed in case of finding genetic diseases during the gestational period, so it is a very serious decision and that must be taken in common agreement. So good advice and medical monitoring is essential to know the risks and chances before making the decision! Children are for life, always remember that!
See also: Do You Know Sign Language For Babies?
My name is Dr. Alexis Hart I am 38 years old, I am the mother of 3 beautiful children! Different ages, different phases 16 years, 12 years and 7 years. In love with motherhood since always, I found it difficult to make my dreams come true, and also some more after I was already a mother.
Since I imagined myself as a mother, in my thoughts everything seemed to be much easier and simpler than it really was, I expected to get pregnant as soon as I wished, but it wasn’t that simple. The first pregnancy was smooth, but my daughter’s birth was very troubled. Joana was born in 2002 with a weight of 2930kg and 45cm, from a very peaceful cesarean delivery but she had already been born with congenital pneumonia due to a broken bag not treated with antibiotics even before delivery.
