I'll Have Mine Without Mercury Please

Every young couple has to make the decision eventually.  You know, the one everyone asks you about over and over.  "When are you going to have a baby?"  And then, you do have a child and the question doesn't stop, but becomes, "When are you going to have another baby?"  The question can get annoying, but you do have to make the decision of whether to have children and then, how many to have.  Ben and I still haven't completely figured that out.  There are days we feel God has completed our family and days when we think we may want more biological children.  We are also open to God calling us to expand our family in other ways, but right now, we are still undecided.

For us, the decision to have more biological children raises more questions.  Because Jack has autism, the probability of us having another autistic child is fairly high.  The studies differ, but it increases from approximately a 1 in 150 chance to somewhere between 1 in 50 to 1 in 12 chance.  WOW, right?  That's a pretty huge jump.  These figures aren't entirely reliable because autism is such a unique disorder and we really don't know what causes it and how much is genetics.  There really is no way to know for certain, but it is factual that families with autistic children are at a higher risk to have more autistic children.  Certainly, we have come to appreciate the wonderful things that come along with Asperger's  and the unique personality autistic characteristics have helped to create in our son, but at the same time, I feel that we should be proactive about attempting to lower these statistics in any way we can if we do decide to have other children in the future.

So, just in case, I'm having my fillings removed.  You know, the pretty silver ones that we got 100 years ago.  Did you know they have mercury in them?  Mercury is not good for any of us, but it's really bad for autistic children.  I try not to get all bent out of shape about things and I've never been considered an overprotective mother.  Actually, I think most of my friends and family feel I could be a little more proactive in the supervision and limitations areas in regards to possible physical harm:)  But, the more I've read about these fillings, the more I want them out of my mouth regardless of whether I carry another child or not.  It's sort of like reading about global warming, ya know?  If I believed everything Al Gore said, I would never get in a car again.  I mean, they'll scare you to death.  Well, the advocates for no mercury fillings are like that.  After all the information I've read, I feel like these things have been rotting my brain for years now.  Freaked me out.

After a few days, I was over the freak out, but I am getting them removed.  I'm always a little apprehensive about discussing something like this with a new doctor or professional because I have to go into the whole, "We have a son with Asperger's and we are more likely to have another autistic child but we don't know if we are going to have another child and I've heard there is mercury in the fillings and that's really bad for autistic children".... and on and on and on when what I really wanted to do was just get my teeth cleaned.  But this time, the minute I mentioned it, my dental hygienist and dentist were like, "Yep, we need to get them out."  That kind of freaked me out a little again because I was really expecting them to act like it was no big thing.  In any case, I'm getting rid of the mercury in my body.  If you think you may want to as well, read up on it.  If you don't want to replace your fillings, don't read it.  Because if you read it, you'll have no choice but to follow through.  They're rotting your brain, y'all.  I read it online so you know it's true:)