Cross-cultural marriage pregnancy - tests required?

sunnysideup

Registered User
Hello ladies,

I wonder how many of you are in the same marriage mix with me but would appreciate info and advice from any of you. Thank you!

I am Oriental and my husband is Caucasian. Are there any special test required for us during pregnancy and post-birth? I read, in Matilda's guidebook to having a baby in HK, that babies of parents who are of caucasian origin should have the PKU test when they are 6-10 days old. The test is for a rare condition occurring in about 1 in 10000 babies, that if left untreated, can result in brain damage.

I don't know if this apply to us since only one of us is caucasian. And also, are there any other tests required for a "mixed" pregnancy like mine.

Sunny :flower:
 
Your baby will need the PKU test if your husband is caucasian. I am Chinese and my husband is caucasian and both my children had PKU test. As far as I know PKU is the only test required for Eurasian children.
 
No. As far as I am aware PKU is the only additional test required for Eurasian children. Otherwise they have the same tests as other Chinese babies. I did not need any tests during pregnancy just because I was carrying a Eurasian baby.
 
Cross Cultural Marriage Testing

Hi,

My husband is Jewish, so we have had to consider a number of different tests. The most important is Tay Sachs which should be tested for really before couples begin concieving.

RT
 
I'm chinese and my hubby is caucasian
i have thalaseamia minor ( common amongst chinese and mediterraneans)
I was tested because my brother and his wife both have it and they have a 1 in 4 chance of having a child with Thalaseamia major.
I dont know that much about thalaseamia but I thought that the asian and med. versions were different.... but anyway my doc told my hubby to get tested (this was in Australia)

Also my Ob Gyn in HK told me that since my huband was caucasian he should sumit an aids test as well as me having one......
I just had to laugh it off, another one of those prejudices.
Hubby was not impressed to say the least!
 
bekyboo44 said:
Hi,

My husband is Jewish, so we have had to consider a number of different tests. The most important is Tay Sachs which should be tested for really before couples begin concieving.

RT

Er, what's all this about? My husband is half-Jewish, do I need to get special tests done? Having trouble finding info on this on Google.
 
Hi,

If your husband is only half Jewish and you are not Jewish at all then there is no need to be tested.
Tay Sachs is caused by a gene, carried mainly by Ashkenazi Jews.
There are other genetic tests- I shall have to ask my husband again what they are.
 
thank you! have now found some info that seems to indicate that Tay Sachs is the most common one, and that in a jewish-non-jewish couple there is only a 1 in 30,000 chance that the baby would be affected. So in a half-jewish-non-jewish couple, it would be lower again. Bottom line, no test, hurrah! One less thing to worry about...
 
cinnamon - your white husband should have an AIDS test??? Because somehow he is more at risk than all those local men visiting prostitutes over the border every weekend? I would have given the doctor a good piece of my mind and found another one sharpish. That's on a par with the doctor at Tsan Yuk asking me (unmarried, and yes, white) if, being unmarried, I only had one sexual partner...
What do people get taught here in school about other nationalities??? Actually please don't answer, I can guess.
 
My mother-in-law told my husband when we were dating that because I had large breasts (which are not large, but average for a caucasian person) that I would be after him for sex all the time. Needless to say he is disappointed that the myth is untrue!!
 
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