(no subject)

[oakenguy]

For you out-of-town friends who might not have heard about this:

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/212/nation/Refusing_help_woman_gives_birth_aboard_T+.shtml

Several notes:

a) That's MY train! I might have been on that!

b) I can see people I know doing this. It's an extreme case, but this whole "refusing to ask for help under any circumstances" stubbornness....it's very Maine, for one thing. I had a grandfather who dug a bullet out of his own leg rather than go to the doctor, and he was proud of it until the end of his days.

He was proud of his wooden leg, too.

c) Why does the fact that she grabbed the placenta off the floor and tossed it in her shoulder bag bug me so much? Is it that I know how hard it is to clean out the inside of one of those? Or that I'm just so curious what she would eventually have done with it?

Comments

[keelie.livejournal.com]

It bothers me more that she gave birth standing up, the baby fell out and SLID ON THE FLOOR OF THE FLITHY T, hit some seats, stopped and THEN she picked him up. You'd think she'd at least have been like "Can someone catch him?"

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

Or that she would've sat down on the floor. Or squatted. Or something.

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

I confess that part of me thinks, "Geez, she could've at least sat down or something..." and part of me thinks, "Why the hell are people so freaked out? Another sign of the horrific sanitization of America!" But the first part of me wins; her behavior seems to be... lacking in maternal concern. If she'd at least tried to minimize the fall that the kid was going to have, I would've been a little more sanguine about her state of mind. And her behavior with the MBTA police and paramedics wasn't particularly rational.

They do say that the third baby tends to come extremely fast and easily. But going from water-breakage to childbirth in fifteen minutes or less seems rather odd, and it makes me question the veracity of the eyewitnesses.

[keelie.livejournal.com]

Nah it happens. My uncle drove my aunt to the hospital because she was going into labor, he went to park the car, ten minutes later he went into the hospital to see to her.

"You've got a fine son!" a nurse said to him.
"Yeah we do. This time we're hoping for a girl," he told her, since they had an older boy back home.
"No," the nurse said "you've got a brand new baby boy, he was just born three minutes ago!"

From all accounts, it sounds like this woman wasn't exactly in her right mind. If you don't want to lessen the toll it takes on you, for chrissake, lessen the poor trauma of the baby and sit the hell down!

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, the water does not in fact break until well into the second stage of labor.

[spenceraloysius.livejournal.com]

Sometimes water doesn't break until the child is actually being delivered, ie the head is crowning.

[spenceraloysius.livejournal.com]

Your version/article is a lot more sensationalist than the other one I read.

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

I can understand refusing help from strangers who may or may not know what they are doing, if you actually feel you have the situation under control. Refusing the medical help on arrival at the station I understand much less.

Nevertheless, I hope to have enough time to get to the hospital when my sprout's ready to emerge!

[hazeleyedfae.livejournal.com]

I am truly disturbed and disgusted...

I don't know if I should ride the T after this! :-X

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

I dunno. I'm more disgusted and appalled by the 4"-5" long cockroaches in Downtown Crossing...

[rantarn.livejournal.com]

c) Why does the fact that she grabbed the placenta off the floor and tossed it in her shoulder bag bug me so much?

Well it bugs me cause I just started eating lunch when I read that. Ewww..

random person writes:

[onenakedhippie.livejournal.com]

I agree it's very icky and somewhat scary - I'm really sure it was a psychological problem, rather than a moral one ... it was said she was stressed and had "spells" of odd behavior; pregnancy only complicates pre-exhisting psychological matters, what with the additional stresses and hormones.

and to c): Because it's placenta - who in this day and age just grabs a placenta non-chalantly and keeps walking? Maybe it's a little different if it's your own placenta...but still...the world may never know.

[shutupbetsy.livejournal.com]

The wise women in vaginapagina report that you're supposed to bring the placenta with you to the hospital if you give birth en route. I don't think her behavior is normal, but I don't know that she deserves to have her baby taken away. As heavenscalyx theorized, it is possible she had been raped, she was exhibiting other signs of shock and trauma.