Do you plan on having kids despite having bipolar disorder?

The best thing I think has happened to me in the last 5 months was my 4 year old niece grabbing me and saying she didn't want to go home, she wanted to stay with Aunt Jen forever the other night. She was just tired but it was sweet anyway. She also managed to be quiet when I talked to my mom on the cell and totally surprised me which was great. I had no idea she had come and actually shut her in the garage but quickly saved her when she cried. Poor little girl. But it was the BEST surprise! Little ones are amazing.

I do not plan to have kids. Its pretty evident my upbringing was the reason I struggle so much now with life, and have done for 18 years.

I constantly wish I was dead or never born and never put through the life I had - from the outside it looks like a "good" life, but the inner turmoil has not been worth it.

I would not put a child through this, I hate that I put the ones I love through this disorder. Even if the child didnt end up with BP, it'd be pretty screwed up from my mood changes.

If it was a girl it would have a high chance of PMDD and the same blood clotting disorder as me too and thats another hell I dont want to pass on.

Do you plan on having kids despite having bipolar?...
I always wanted to have kids as a child ,teenage and young adult and despite having episodes of mental illness prior to the pregnancy of my child I went ahead, naively thinking i would not have another 'bout' of mental illness in my life. My diagnoses at the time were schizophreniform pyschosis ,schizoaffective and psychotic depression.I tried again to have another child but with no fertility success.
When my child was 10 I had a psychotic episode and was diagnosised bipolar 1. This is the point where i decided not to have anymore children as it was a devastating time for my family and son.
I was unmedicated for 11 years.
This post fills me with regret but i have to accept all the decisions i have made in my life
Now another episode and 8 years later maybe i wasn't courageous enough as people deal with all sorts of things in life
I now feel sorry that my son is an only child and he is too having his own psychological/psychiatric difficulties. He blames me for lots of it
Although he has been the greatest joy in my life.

I only knew about my Bipolar with my third child. The doctors told us that we could not have kids again, then told us to abort because of abnormalities, then they wouldn't support the pregnancy because of my wife's illnesses.

But we have a most precious daughter now, who is just a bundle of joy, and gives me every reason in the world to keep taking my meds, to try to be positive and upbeat everyday and be as stable as I possibly can. She shows no signs of any mental illnesses.

For me, I know that kids die of all sorts of things everyday. Bipolar or not, there are no guarantees of a healthy child. Having said that, I respect and admire others that decide to not have children.

I too had my daughter before I was diagnosed as BP1.... Best thing I ever did in my life Not sure how I would feel about additional children, most likely not... Not because they might have a chance of being BP but for the fear I could not take care of them.

I will add that I honestly do not know where I would be right now if I did not have my children. They are the reasons I get back on the wagon (so to speak) every single time.

I absolutely plan to have children

I have four beautiful grown children. Had them all before I was dx'd. They are the ONLY reason I survived once and the only reason I don't try again. I always felt like a crap mom long before I knew what was wrong with me but all in all they had a good childhood and are wonderful human beings. They all have had bouts of depression and I 'watch' them now for signs of bp. I worry that I have passed it on to them but I can't imagine my life without them.

This is such a glorious and inspiring success story

I am alive because of mine as well. As often as I wanted to be dead, I needed to wait until they turned 18. Not wanting to put them thru shtt is also why I didn't kill myself after my first divorce. Then two years before my youngest son turned 18, I met and married a man that has helped me stop wanting to be dead.

Once I realized I wanted to be alive, but still had depressive issues, I began view my depressive times differently. Now, I see these times as the body's inability to create fight for survival adrenalin or something (some animal instinct thing I am lacking). Although my brain used to think I wanted to die, now I know when the depression happens that it is due to a lack of something. My mind remembers I want to live - So I feel my heart, beat - beat - beat and wait, feeling the lulling pull, with its hypnotic power trying to pull me in. I am amazed at the inability to will physical depression away, and glad that I am not in control of my lifes on/off button.

I honestly wonder if this is what animals feel like sometimes when they go off and die. Its almost luring, like being in a slow flushing toilet and helpless against the pull.