Some stories for your Thursday afternoon:
I played volleyball all through high school, and I cannot understand why this girl thinks its a good idea to play while pregnant. We were constantly diving on our stomachs-not a good idea while pregnant! Sweetheart, you’re a pregnant teen, you’ve got bigger things to worry about than playing volleyball right now. Just shows the maturity level of this girl-and her mother!
- Jessica on
I fully support the decision of the pregnant teen.
Jessica, I don’t find her to be immature at all. She was discriminated against because of the stigma involved with pregnant teenagers. Her doctor, a certified professional, evaluated the situation and told her she could play. If you watched the video, he told her as long as she kept her heart rate below 140 and didn’t dive for the ball, she’d be fine. As a setter, she would be able to do this.
It’s also not as if she was nine months pregnant. The video says she’s currently five months. When she was kicked off the team, she was only 12 weeks.
Good for her for standing up for herself.
- Liliana on
Liliana, I was a setter and believe me, I dove for the ball plenty of times. What if someone crashed into her? What if she got hit in the belly with the ball? She was nothing but a liability. So what, she can dive for the ball, harm her baby, then sue the school district? Besides, in the middle of a game, you aren’t constantly checking a heart rate monitor either. There are a lot of “what-ifs” that your “certified professional” cannot control. 12 weeks or not, she’s responsible for keeping that baby safe. I was in a minor car accident at 12 weeks and was sent right to the ER for monitoring. I absolutely still think she’s immature in the fact that it’s her responsibility to be keeping her unborn child safe and she’s being selfish and is more concerned about her high school volleyball team.
- Jessica on
I think this pregnant young girl is picking the wrong battle but I don’t blame her.With so many big changes comming her way she will lose a lot more than volleyball and other fun parts of her high school experience.It must be hard to let go of a sport she is clearly passionate about but sadly,she no longer has the freedom to simply be an active teen and play a sport.Leaving the team is just a part of the many changes comming her way and she will soon learn that the school,the team and other people around her cannot accomodate to her needs or sustain the fantasy of the experiences she is about to lose.
- eva on
well said Eva!!
- Jessica on
I play college volleyball right now and I’m a right side/ Middle hitter. Our setter had more digs than our liberos and was on the floor more than anyone. Volleyball isn’t viewed as a contact sport, but people are constantly rolling and diving to the floor. 3 girls on my team ended up with concussions this year and two of them for setters! Im 6ft tall and honestly have rammed through the other girls to get back to my position. Its not football or rugby but its not golf or tennis either. Plus, if a regular athlete wasn’t allowed to get a heart rate above 140 they probably wouldn’t be able to play.
I would not feel comfortable playing with a pregnant girl at all and I genuinely do not think they’re discriminating against her. A pregnancy is a medical condition, and most public schools will tell you playing is not an option at the HINT of a medical condition because they don’t want the liability. Perhaps they should implement a liability waiver so pregnant girls can play and the school cannot be sued.
- Electra on
I can’t get over the 15lb baby myself. I think I may cry if I gave birth to a baby that big. It’d feel like giving up the entire first part of infancy and that tiny squishy baby. I’m always baffled by these stories of babies this size to begin with. Most often, even if regulated throughout the pregnancy, the mothers are diabetic or have pregnancy diabetes. This couples other children certainly didn’t appear to be large children.
I also noted the feeding tube and the heart monitors which makes me question whether the mother’s answer of “Axel is doing fine” was really an honest one.
I certainly hope he’s just a big healthy baby. I know plenty of 9 or 10 pounders that do fine, but I really have to wonder how these babies that weigh 13 lbs or like this, 15 lbs, end up doing in their infancies. I never hear anything past them being born big.
- Rachel on
Rachel, they said the other children weighed 9 lbs. and 11 lbs. at birth. 9 lbs. isn’t horribly unusual but 11 lbs. is probably more rare. And the feeding tube and heart monitors are because he was 3 weeks early (just think how much he would have weighed if he was delivered at 40+ weeks) and they really didn’t want to deliver him but felt they had to because of his weight. Though I would have thought at 37 weeks he would be considered full-term so I’m not really sure why they were reluctant to deliver him.
- legemc on
The 15-lb baby can’t be healthy. Not just because of his early delivery, but that size isn’t right. I fear he may have diabetes for his entire life.
- mp on
I see nothing wrong with her not being allowed to play. Maybe if she thought about the consequences of having a baby (one of which is putting the child before yourself) before she had sex, she wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with.
- jayne on
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