To think the canoeist is wrong for freezing her eggs so she can delay having kids until after the next Olympics?

[pagi]

Just caught the news about the canoeist who is 36. She's had her eggs frozen so she can delay having kids until after the next Olympics. She doesn't have a partner at the moment.

I'm not sure what I think she is - naive, maybe? I just don't think there's a great hope of IVF working at 40.

In my book, if you are single and want kids, and you're getting older, then you cross everything that you'll meet someone. You then uncross certain bits and hope for the best. It wouldn't occur to me to drop some eggs in the freezer, Olympics or no Olympics!

Perhaps my reaction is just a reflection of my post-motherhood lack of ambition which has been reduced to hoping to get through a week at work without falling asleep at my desk! Or maybe it's because I was told at age 30 that I was showing the signs of an early menopause and to try immediately if I wanted kids. I did, and I was lucky enough to have my son, but it does mean that you don't take motherhood for granted.

[HRHSaintMamazon]

YABU.

the woman has a talent that only a rare few have. she has teh chance of getting an olymipc medal, something even more scarece than a lapdancing virgin.

being a mother is something that most women take for granted. yes there is teh possibility that she may have fertility problems but that is a risk i am sure she has considered.

She want's to be a mother and an athlete. bneng an athlete has a much smaller window of opportunity than motherhood.

[compo]

'I think it's her business and no one else's.'

exactly... so why go public then? why feel the need to share an intimate part of her life with the nation ?!

[jimjamshaslefttheyurt]

Of course YABU

As long as she's understood that it's not guaranteed to work by any means then it's her choice. Article in a paper about it this week (not the canoeist a 34 year old who hasn't met Mr Right and doesn't want to settle down yet). She seemed sensible, understood that her best chance of getting pregnant was to settle down with someone NOW but also knew that wasn't an option. She saw the egg freezing as a backup, not a fail safe backup, just another chance.

[Janos]

YABU - her business and nobody else's!

[ScottishMummy]

really it is her choice,she has to weigh up the pro's and cons. i have no strong feelings about this.

hope her dreams come true

[motherinferior]

Compo, I would imagine that the story was not made public by the woman herself; someone somewhere along the line leaked or released it.

The more I think about it, the less I'd respect her (like it's my business, yes, I know ) if she'd decided that no, she would abandon her hopes for the Greatest Joy A Woman Can Have, gazing into her little one's eyes, yada, yada, yada.

[beanieb]

"I just don't think there's a great hope of IVF working at 40."

really!!??

[ScottishMummy]

i know of 40+ ivf mum's bet plenty others do too

[beanieb]

I wish I had frozen my eggs at 36, or earlier. 39 next year and TTC my first. good for her basically.

[compo]

really motherinferior?
I've never heard of her until today!
why would someone leak it, and if it is that personal she could have just denied it
I assumed it was all self promotion... maybe she wants advertising deals for something,

[wb]

Well if she doesn't have a partner right now what do you think she should do? Go it alone, one night stand, hang around in bars hoping to meet Mr Right?

Freezing eggs seems quite sensible to me. OK it may not work but maybe the Olympics are more important to her - that's fair enough isn't it?

I would not have put off having children for the Olympics (fat chance anyway) but I wouldn't have had them unless I'd met someone I wanted to be with for life. I wanted them but not at any cost. That was my choice, this is hers.

[ScottishMummy]

maybe she has also acknowledged her gruelling training schedule and motherhood wont work right now so yes is postponing being mum

plenty of us do in RL eg wait until certain grade/salary/settled etc

[FAQ]

I doubt she has time for many advertising deals, not with her "day job" as a primary school teacher, as well as her training for the canoeing.

She has also been quoted as saying

"she could still consider having a family before the Olympics if she meets the right person"

Would appear she just wants to keep her options open, and leave as many avenues as possible there.

I wonder if this had been reported "primary school teacher freezes eggs so she can delay having kids" whether there would even be a thread on it (would it even have been reported???)

[nappyaddict]

it seems to me she is actually delaying it until she mieets the right person as opposed to being solely because of the olympics.

[unknownrebelbang]

YABU.

[jabberwocky]

YABU

It's her business and no one else's

[tigermoth]

YABU - as long as the canoeist is seeing the egg freezing as a back up, and not counting on it 100% working in four years time.

Anyway, just because she has had her eggs frozen does not mean she won't change her mind and get pregnant sooner. If she realises she is not going to make the next Olympic team, she may decide to try for a baby earlier.

[Baconsarnie]

I think good for her. I hope she wins a gold medal in 2012 and then has a baby a year later. If it was a male athlete freezing his sperm it wouldn't even be an issue.

[Peachy]

wella sshe is single now she really is just heding her bets isn't she? presumably the training etc makes meeting a partner / sustaining a new relationship pretty hard?

so given that being a Mum clearly matters to her and she has the double dilemma of genuine talnt and being single post- 30, I admire her decisio0n taking abilities. Yes it may not work, but it's a damned sight more likely to work than if she does othing at all isn't it?

[Blu]

If she has no partner with whom she wants t start a family, and doesn't want toset out t be a one parent family, then to a certain extent, the Olympics is a red herring.

And as I and WWW said, plenty of us are fortunate enough to get pg naturally a few years beyond 40.

IMAGINE being a child and being able to tell your friends that your Mum was an Olympic gold medallist! Good luck to her, I say!

[FAQ]

"wella sshe is single now she really is just heding her bets isn't she? presumably the training etc makes meeting a partner / sustaining a new relationship pretty hard?"

I should imagine so - especially with her "day job" taking up time as well.

[cupchar]

imho - if you're putting a sporting event first now - before having kids - then what about when you have them? Sounds like her canoeing is the priority in her life. Children need an unselfish approach.