expanding your family despite RA

I'm not a parent, so I can't really say anything wise about that, except that it sounds like you have thought this through very early and that if you think it's the right decision for you and your family, then it is the right decision for you and your family.

I can give you a bit of practical information - last year, I wrote a post on parenting with RA which contains links to a website called Moms with RA and another website with information about tools and doodads that can help you with some of the practical aspects of parenting young children with a disease like RA.

Best of luck!

Hello,

While I've had joint problems for many years, I wasn't diagnosed with RA until after I had my 2nd child.  My rheumatologist told me that I was without the joint pain for the duration of the pregnancy & the breastfeeding time, but that as soon as that was over, I'd experience symptoms again.  Boy, was he right! It was really hard having a toddler & a newborn & RA.

A couple years later we discovered, to our surprise, that we were pregnant again (birth control only being 99% effective, *sigh*).  My joint pain went away again.  It stayed gone through the birth of my child and through the first few weeks of breastfeeding, but again *wham*  It came back worse than it'd been.  Of course by this time my oldest was in kindergarten, so I was home most of the time with just a toddler & a newborn again.  It wasn't easy, but what part of having babies is?  You have the brain fog & the pain after birth anyway.

I know this isn't really an answer to your question, but I thought you'd like someone else's experience.  Hope it helps a little, Lisa.