I think for me at least that I didn't fully understand the connection or great love you can feel for a child until we had ours. It is one thing to be protective and love family but another to have or adopt a child of your own. Nothing can FULLY prepare you for it and there are definitely challenges but I think most people step up to that challenge as they face it (Parenting) and it is super rewarding. I've always enjoyed kids and babies and such but it wasn't quite the same, even seeing children in perilous situations in movies gets to me more now. Watching an interview with our President about what he felt was his greatest failing during his term (Not being able to move congress to more gun safety control after events like Sandyhook) and hearing him talk about the loss of those 1st graders made me cry. I was extremely sad when I saw it on the news the day it happened but revisiting that moment just the other day with a child of my own got to me in a new way now that I'm a parent if that makes sense.
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ParentGaf OT: Birth, Bib and Beyond
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I think for me at least that I didn't fully understand the connection or great love you can feel for a child until we had ours. It is one thing to be protective and love family but another to have or adopt a child of your own. Nothing can FULLY prepare you for it and there are definitely challenges but I think most people step up to that challenge as they face it (Parenting) and it is super rewarding. I've always enjoyed kids and babies and such but it wasn't quite the same, even seeing children in perilous situations in movies gets to me more now. Watching an interview with our President about what he felt was his greatest failing during his term (Not being able to move congress to more gun safety control after events like Sandyhook) and hearing him talk about the loss of those 1st graders made me cry. I was extremely sad when I saw it on the news the day it happened but revisiting that moment just the other day with a child of my own got to me in a new way now that I'm a parent if that makes sense.
We mainly switched to soy because she was just having a hard time with dairy formula. Went from normal formula, to sensitive, then soy. We were advised to wait till one year then swap to whole milk and see how it goes.
We cut the Whole Milk with half milk and half soy formula till we ran out. Took about a week or two I think and haven't looked back since then.
I could not even imagine what that is like and you must have a steel constitution. I hope everything works out for you and your family!
How does your daughter do with the oxygen mask? Strange comparison but my little one around 10 months started rejecting hats and throwing them whenever we tried to bundle her up, so i can't imagine what that would be like for something far more critical then a hat.
Our sons are around the same age! Mine just turned 6 months a few days ago. It's absolutely crazy, how quickly its gone by. Also, I relate to everything you said (as I'm sure most parents do). Anything that makes me consider the prospect of losing him, tears me apart. Hell, it doesn't even have to involve children (although things having to do with children are still especially bad). There was a 45-year old man murdered in a nearby city, and the news tonight showed his elderly mother crying. It tears at my heart now, in a way it never could before. I feel such sadness for anyone in that situation, because they're living through my absolute worst nightmare. It sounds so cliché, but having a child feels, literally, like having your heart outside of your body, in another person.
Knew it was going to be hard but didn't anticipate how much pain my fiancée would be In, she's in floods of tears every time she has to move and can't get comfortable to sleep or feed.
It's really hard but trying to stay positive. Unfortunately Leo was slightly under target weight so we've been told to cup feed some formula from time to time, sounds easy but he's so sleepy all day and falls asleep during feeding, so I'm having to wake him up just to finish the cup, takes ages!
It's really hard but trying to stay positive. Unfortunately Leo was slightly under target weight so we've been told to cup feed some formula from time to time, sounds easy but he's so sleepy all day and falls asleep during feeding, so I'm having to wake him up just to finish the cup, takes ages!
Feel for you mate. My missus is sore, but thankfully sounds like she has it easier than yours. Really difficult to get Sully to feed regularly. We get mini breakthroughs where he's a champ, and then long spells where he won't latch on properly and is either asleep or crying from hunger. Just speaking with the breastfeeding advisor from our NCT programme which should hopefully help improve things.
For feeding Leo formula, have you tried a syringe? Might be an idea. We did a little of that from the breast in hospital to get him going. They're sold at most chemists.
GlamFM
Banned
29 week delivery here. No lung problems, but we had a heart monitor for almost two years.
She´s four now and a perfectly fine kid.
My wife and I had this same problem when our Mia was first born. I'll tell you what I wish someone had told me - It's totally normal, and it will get better.
If you haven't already, consider trying a latch shield, but only as a last resort. For a long time it was the only reliable way to get our baby to feed, but long-term, it also messed with her ability to get milk. Now my wife has weened her off and has her sucking on the bare nipple.
For the record, we had similar issues with feeding, latching etc. in fact, the hospital had already shown us how to cup feed formula from the first week and that damn cup is the most stupidest thing ever. Takes ages and the baby has no idea what to do lol.
That combined with the stress of parents being equally new and they knowing what to do makes for a really anxious time.
Some advice that helped me was knowing that babies are resilient and adaptable. It's mostly your own sanity at risk.
But yeah I remember those hours long attempts at feeding making those rare times where they did a decent feed and just pass out just feel like a huge victory.
Pleased to say it's gotten much better throughout the day. We're feeding him every 2 hours for a minimum of 20 minutes each time. The more he feeds, the stronger he gets and the more energy he has to be awake enough to feed. He was looking a little yellow earlier in the day and that's already seen a noticeable improvement so fingers crossed we're turning a corner.
As for sleep deprivation, it's a toughie, no doubt. He cried every time we tried to get ourselves some sleep and then fell asleep the moment we actually wanted to feed him. Tricksy baby. Oh well, onwards and upwards!
As for sleep deprivation, it's a toughie, no doubt. He cried every time we tried to get ourselves some sleep and then fell asleep the moment we actually wanted to feed him. Tricksy baby. Oh well, onwards and upwards!
Thats for the comments! I always feel similarly, but I always wonder if there's a bias on my part.
Hang in there!
crashnburn
Member
Had to subscribe to this thread. My wife is 34 weeks today with our little boy. Its our first one and we're both anxious/excited.
Fortunately she has had a very trouble free pregnancy. We actually went through a miscarriage (~7 weeks along) March of last year, so having a healthy pregnancy this time has alleviated a lot of the fears we had trying again.
I'm sure I'll be back in here to share the good news and cope alongside like minded parents. Things are flying by so quickly already!!!
Fortunately she has had a very trouble free pregnancy. We actually went through a miscarriage (~7 weeks along) March of last year, so having a healthy pregnancy this time has alleviated a lot of the fears we had trying again.
I'm sure I'll be back in here to share the good news and cope alongside like minded parents. Things are flying by so quickly already!!!
Tricky babies, I remember cleaning my living room while my wife was with our baby I think in our second month with her and I just year "F'N Trickery!". Sleep deprivation is rough but good team worker can curb it.
Ah glad it's gotten better for you mate, were still really struggling, using a syringe and a combination of pumped milk and aptimil stuff. We were back in hospital yesterday as he'd lost too much weight but thankfully he was weighed today and has started to put it back on.
We really want to breastfeed but right now it's just seeming impossible. Hopefully it gets easier as he becomes a bit more active, he's so sleepy all the time he just falls asleep as soon as he gets latched on
Great stuff. We found the latter stages of pregnancy absolutely flew by. Good times ahead for you!
I feel for you. We quickly saw the vicious cycle of not feeding -> Tired baby -> not feeding because baby was too tired. Thankfully we had some great help/tough love from the NCT breastfeeding expert and also the community midwives and we're into a bit of a pattern of him feeding for about 20 minutes every 2 hours. The trade off is our sleep, but so be it.
It's so much easier said than done, but we're trying our best to not let him finish a feed until he's at least done 20 minutes. Sometimes that means stripping him off, tickling him, making him cold and pissing him right off until he's awake again. It feels cruel, but it is working.
Midwife is coming today. We're hoping his bilirubin count has gone down. He's still a little bit yellow but we feel like it's better than it was when he wasn't eating well. Either way, it's not a huge cause for concern, but we just want him as well as can be.
God we felt the opposite. The last month of the pregnancy felt longer than the whole year after his birth.
OG Shaka Zulu
Member
I need help with a situation. How do you non violently discipline a 2 year old? I have infant twins and my 2 year old keeps hitting them. Whenever we reprimand him for it he doubles down, and hits even harder.
Just now I was reading to him and a baby. He was visibly annoyed that the baby was noisy and a minute later slapped her on the forehead. I picked him up and yelled at him (he cried) then I grounded him.
This has been going on for like a week. It's shitty because I'm getting annoyed with him and it feels like all I've been doing is scolding and grounding rather then spending fun quality time. Do two year olds normally hate being told what to do and purposefully test parents with the double downing? Is he too young to understand he shouldn't hit? I never wanted to spank my kids and he's gone spank-free so far but I'm very protective of the infants and he's testing my patience.
Just now I was reading to him and a baby. He was visibly annoyed that the baby was noisy and a minute later slapped her on the forehead. I picked him up and yelled at him (he cried) then I grounded him.
This has been going on for like a week. It's shitty because I'm getting annoyed with him and it feels like all I've been doing is scolding and grounding rather then spending fun quality time. Do two year olds normally hate being told what to do and purposefully test parents with the double downing? Is he too young to understand he shouldn't hit? I never wanted to spank my kids and he's gone spank-free so far but I'm very protective of the infants and he's testing my patience.
H.Protagonist
[-_-]/
This sounds very frustrating and I don't actually have any experience with it (yet), but would it be possible to do the opposite? Reward anything good he does to the babies and thus perhaps foster a that protective/caring feeling in him instead of focusing on punishing? It sounds like he might be acting out because the attention now has to be shared with the new ones (quite common, I hear) and the only attention he's able to exclusively get is when doing something bad. Maybe make a big show of asking him to say, fetch a baby toy or book or bottle for the babies and then give him big hugs/exaggerated praise when he does it and explain that his help is essential? Just wondering if you might get more results with this, and as you said, you want to spend fun time with him. Spanking when you're frustrated is probably the worst time to do it, as well.
This is very reasonable.
Try not to yell (I know it's hard), because at that age they learn by observation. you yell in frustration, that's how they will end up penting as well.
they are feeling lots of emotions, and they don't know how to control them yet.
Something we introduced for our toddler was a "marble jar" reward system. have a jar that you fill with marbles (or other) and explain that when it fills up they get a treat of some sort. Every time they do something good or bad, fill and remove as you see as corresponding to the act. It's up to you how to implement, whether to rapidly fill for small rewards, or keep it slow and have big rewards.
The point is a reward system WITHOUT making it seem like they are doing something for only gains, and it acts as a penalty as well without actually doing anything particularly bad as a punishment.
JeTmAn81
Member
I'm pretty sure the average two year old is mature enough to understand when her parents tell her not to hit. Mine certainly understands. She's getting more willful by the day, but my strategy remains the same:
1. Tell her when she's doing something she's not supposed to do and ask her to stop.
2. If she continues to do so, she's told that I will count to three and at three she gets a time out.
3. Start counting. Usually she backs down by this point, but if I get to three, she goes into time out. She doesn't like time out.
Works pretty well so far but she's not really that headstrong...not yet anyway. But she does hit and throw things sometimes, and we come down pretty fast on her for that. Depending on the nature of the offense, we'll sometimes send her straight to time out. Usually if it's something pretty bad that we know she knows is not ok.
It's definitely a tough situation. I do think 2 years old can understand about hitting is bad. Though at that age I would probably reinforce the idea even if your son is not hitting the babies. Encourage what you feel the proper way he should interact with his younger sibling as well. I would do this often and not just when he is hitting them. I am not sure the doubling down is a sign of testing. It feels to me more as his inability to express how they feel when upset and reprimanded even further while upset. My 3 year old son sometimes do the opposite of what he is told when he is really upset. Tho he usually know he has been bad and further calm talking gets through but he does need to be reminded often. Words of encouragement helps too when he does interact nicely. As side in posts above, reward system is an option too.
Edit: just to go into detail, my husband and I taught our son to pat his baby brother and that hurting his baby brother is bad. So if he is doing something dangerous around the baby, he will stop if we tell him that will hurt his baby brother. When having the baby close to him, we make sure there is enough room for us to react and stop him if he reaches out suddenly. When he gets even closer than that, we make sure to remind him to be nice and will remove one or the other if potential for conflict arise. We have been fortunate he hasn't been upset with his baby brother at all thankfully
We had our first 'all the way up the back' nappy explosion last night. Felt strangely proud of him!
Today is the first time we'll leave the house properly with him, so that's a welcome relief. He's going to have his routine hearing test which I think will be fine and also we're going to register him. Excited to make him 'official'.
Today is the first time we'll leave the house properly with him, so that's a welcome relief. He's going to have his routine hearing test which I think will be fine and also we're going to register him. Excited to make him 'official'.
How old is he?
Ah, yes, that "all the way up the back" poop.
The first time for our daughter... middle of the night, soaked through all layers. Code Red 3am bath time.
Hearing tests are carried out while still in the hospitals new borns over here.
Yeah same here in Australia. Hearing specialist just showed up in our ward on the second day and did their thing with our son. All paid for by the government.
I took a photo because it was so adorable.
So today has been both frustrating and a break through at the same time. Leo has been struggling to latch on so we were told by the hospital to syringe feed him to get his energy levels up and his would help him latch on more. Since then he has gained weight and we've felt like we're getting somewhere.
We went to a breastfeeding cafe thing today where the experts are and they were disgusted that we'd been told to syringe feed! Everything went back to square one and we were told to go back to hospital for him to be fed through tubes.
I refused this and we spoke with both the midwife and a doctor. Myself and the Mrs then decided to try bottle feeding and amazingly he chugged down 75mls in like 40 minutes, way more than he's ever done.
I am absolutely horrified that the midwives were so against bottle feeding that they would rather send us to hospital for tubes to be stuck down his throat, it's despicable and I am really angry that nobody has ever just said to us "try a bottle" but instead suggested every other alternative.
Rant over, hopefully we're on a positive now we've got him feeding and he'll start piling the weight on.
We went to a breastfeeding cafe thing today where the experts are and they were disgusted that we'd been told to syringe feed! Everything went back to square one and we were told to go back to hospital for him to be fed through tubes.
I refused this and we spoke with both the midwife and a doctor. Myself and the Mrs then decided to try bottle feeding and amazingly he chugged down 75mls in like 40 minutes, way more than he's ever done.
I am absolutely horrified that the midwives were so against bottle feeding that they would rather send us to hospital for tubes to be stuck down his throat, it's despicable and I am really angry that nobody has ever just said to us "try a bottle" but instead suggested every other alternative.
Rant over, hopefully we're on a positive now we've got him feeding and he'll start piling the weight on.
When you say, "try a bottle" are you talking about breastmilk in a bottle, or formula?
The big discussion when my daughter was born was that giving her a bottle should be the last resort, because it could cause "nipple confusion" which would apparently make breastfeeding in the future problematic. That said, we wound up doing a fair few syringes and bottles, and Mia hasn't had any nipple confusion as far as I can tell.
Here's the thing, though - Everyone has something different to say about feeding your baby. Do what works best for the baby, the Mrs, and you, in roughly that order. Don't worry about what other people think, because their babies are different.
Our first time was in the middle of the grocery store, and it went down into the car seat. THAT was super fun to clean up.
There are the obvious benefits of breastfeeding but do NOT let priorities go astray of just feeding your baby. There are certain groups of breastfeeding proponents that are such strong advocates that they will steer you away from decent nutrition just to ensure breastfeeding is done.
I think our midwives and plunket system would suggest you do what you need to rather than resort to extreme methods. We cup fed, syringe fed and all sorts of weirdness that first couple of weeks. It was horrible. While it's true there probably is such a thing as nipple confusion, and that feeding on the breast creates a mother infant bond greater than not etc, those things are probably not as important priorities than actually getting your baby the proper nutrition it needs.
Babies are resilient and learn rapidly. Start with the best option you can, work at it, but if it's not working, be flexible in approaching other solutions.
Definitely true. Babies AND parents are different. Our first kid was not a great latched and we were supplementing formula and bottles from early on. Second kid was a champ in that area (and I'm willing to bet we as parents had more experience and were more relaxed about it too making it work better) and never touched a bottle or formula well after half a year.
Yeah same here in Australia. Hearing specialist just showed up in our ward on the second day and did their thing with our son. All paid for by the government.
I took a photo because it was so adorable.
Lol cute!
Did you have Leo check if he is tongue tied? Being tongue tied can affect ability to latch. It is unfortunate to hear your experience with breastfeeding has not been great especially with the support network. Breastfeeding is good for mom and baby but I feel sometimes professionals are not equipped for non ideal situation. Hopefully once your son is older, the latching will be easier.
Just want to say to all parents having difficulty with breastfeeding that it is quite common to struggle with it especially in the first week. Bottle feeding, syringe feeding is not a bad thing especially if the baby is not feeding at all and underweight. If desired, those methods can be used along side with breastfeeding and pumping. There is also nothing to be ashamed to use baby formula either. It is not ideal but it's better than baby starving. Always examine what professionals and books are saying with the bigger picture of what's going on with the baby in mind.
I was quite confused and hopeless in the first month of breastfeeding my first son. I was on IV for hours in the hospital as the doctor tried to induce labour. That led me to have a lot of water in my body after birth. My legs and feet were very swollen. My son had troubles latching and my milk did not come in as it should have and was not enough. (My suspicion is that this was due to the amount of water already in my body) This led to my son not getting food he needed and went into downward spiral of sleeping and not feeding and losing weight. I called the hospital and health hotline for help. Thankfully we eventually got a nurse who actually suggested bottle feeding. My husband and I dug up sample formula and jammed the baby bottle into our son's mouth and did what we could to try and wake him up to eat. He eventually came around to proper weight and was not so sleepy anymore. Still the whole ordeal was not over since I did not have sufficient breastmlk. I was actually ridiculed by a doctor for suggestin that I don't have enough breastmilk. There was very little information on insufficient milk supply. Anyway, I combined breastfeeding, pumping, bottle feeding and formula for few weeks. I would breastfeed him for as long as I could. Bottle feed him any pumped breastmilk I had, topped off with formula until he won't eat anymore. Then I would pump to help increase milk supply and any that I did pump out would go to his next feeding. During that time I monitored his wet and poop diaper closely to ensure he is getting enough food. Eventually my son breastfed exclusively even if it was only on one side.
Thank you all for your replies, to clarify we are still using a pump but topping up with formula too.
Clearly breastfeeding exclusively is the ideal but the support we were offered had no "plan b" and I wonder how many other new parents are struggling along, in and out of hospital just because they have not been offered a solution that clearly works
Clearly breastfeeding exclusively is the ideal but the support we were offered had no "plan b" and I wonder how many other new parents are struggling along, in and out of hospital just because they have not been offered a solution that clearly works
Skellig Gra
Member
It's a lot, tons of women give up on it because there is very little support structure for it in our society.
H.Protagonist
[-_-]/
Just waiting for the hospital to call and tell me to come in for my induction. They stripped my membranes yesterday and I've been super uncomfortable since, but haven't had any contractions. Hopefully I'll have a baby before this time tomorrow
Good luck, Soulfire! May it be swift~
Book 1 cover is due next week! ^_-
We saw a lactation specialist several times, and called a hotline once or twice but it just did not pan out at all. I felt terrible since it was super important to my wife to breastfeed but watching our daughter struggle also wasn't really fun.
Hopefully you all don't get the side eye from people for bottle feeding some. Some of my relatives throw ALOT of guilt at my wife for not being able to breastfeed. Family is the worst sometimes.
There's a big push for breastfeeding these days, but sometimes it really does feel too strong.
Just waiting for the hospital to call and tell me to come in for my induction. They stripped my membranes yesterday and I've been super uncomfortable since, but haven't had any contractions. Hopefully I'll have a baby before this time tomorrow
Best of luck. Looking forward to the good news.
Had a great day with Sully today. Took him to the registrar so he's now officially official, had has hearing test which came back all clear and then had his bilirubin count done (indicator of jaundice) which has continued to fall significantly. He's also feeding consistently well after a difficult start around day 2/3. The only drawbacks are quite frequent hiccups (not ideal for him) and some sicky moments (not ideal for us). Oh and we've had a couple of interesting nappy explosions to tend to!
Yep, that poop sounds familiar! Just glad his bowels are doing their job! He's 6 days old. Hearing test would have been done in hospital as standard, but they don't offer them on Saturdays (the day after he was born), hence the need to pop back.
So around my son's first birthday he pretty much nailed walking... wasn't quick by any measure but could cross the room without falling down. For about 2 weeks he was walking as his preferred method of getting about.
Then he stopped... He's now almost 14 months old and seems to just want to crawl everywhere again and seems to have no interest in walking, even for short spurts.
Part of me thinks maybe the novelty of walking wore off and he reverted to crawling as he can cover more territory more quickly, but even if so, I'm worried that means if the incentive to resume walking is now non-existent for him, will he bother trying?
There appears to be no physical impediment... he has no issue standing up when he wants to mooch at our food on the coffee table or grab something on a shelf. But if I hold his hand and try to get him to walk more than 3 or 4 steps he gets annoyed and sits down in protest.
Should I be worried? We took him to the pediatrician a few days ago because he had a virus and I am kicking myself that we forgot to ask about the walking.
Then he stopped... He's now almost 14 months old and seems to just want to crawl everywhere again and seems to have no interest in walking, even for short spurts.
Part of me thinks maybe the novelty of walking wore off and he reverted to crawling as he can cover more territory more quickly, but even if so, I'm worried that means if the incentive to resume walking is now non-existent for him, will he bother trying?
There appears to be no physical impediment... he has no issue standing up when he wants to mooch at our food on the coffee table or grab something on a shelf. But if I hold his hand and try to get him to walk more than 3 or 4 steps he gets annoyed and sits down in protest.
Should I be worried? We took him to the pediatrician a few days ago because he had a virus and I am kicking myself that we forgot to ask about the walking.
Not walking yet isn't considered a "problem" worth checking until they're 18 months. Kids are weird, and often revert back during the process simply because they feel more comfortable that way. 14 months is still young!
Funny you ask this, because my daughter will be 18 months soon and only walks on her knees. She's been doing it for many months. She's been standing against furniture for very long, and started cruising early. It also seems like she can walk, she just hates it. She'll only walk if I hold her hands. Sometimes I slowly let go, and she walks perfectly, but drops down to her knees when she realizes I'm not holding her hands. Or she'll just stop up and sulk. lol
Either way, as long as they show no sign of slow development otherwise, you shouldn't worry. I promise your doctor will say it's normal.
We can relate...My wife had a really painful experience breast feeding with our older child. Had plenty of support breastfeeding... but was just so anti bottle. My wife had cracked nipples to the point they would bleed every feeding along with being super painful. Finally I just told her we were going to switch to pumping & bottles even though it was less than a week home from the hospital and it was fine after that.
It's really weird how they push things. During the hospital stay for our first child 4 yrs ago we sent the baby to the nursery every night and they encouraged it. This gave us the chance to get some sleep which was a godsend. Here recently for our younger child at the same hospital they are now pushing to keep the baby with the mother and having all this skin to skin stuff the whole time and actively discourage from using the nursery. I stayed home with our older child the first night and when I went back my wife looked like a ghost cause she hadn't slept in over 24hrs including the delivery. I had to have a stern talk to the nurses to take the baby so she could get some sleep.
Yeah, my wife had a hell of a time trying to breastfeed and ended up with severe depression and anxiety. The breastfeeding fundamentalism at the hospital certainly didn't help. Our son spent his first 3 days or so crying from hunger until I flat out told the midwives that we're switching to formula for the interim.
Long story short, our son ended up formula fed completely from then on out - he's doing great. The judging and shaming of women from the cult of breastfeeding is unbelievable. Everyone is just trying to do their best for their child in their particular scenario. It's no one else's business.
Thanks for the reassurance. Feel a lot better now. I'm sure he'll work it all out in his own time.
Long story short, our son ended up formula fed completely from then on out - he's doing great. The judging and shaming of women from the cult of breastfeeding is unbelievable. Everyone is just trying to do their best for their child in their particular scenario. It's no one else's business.
Thanks for the reassurance. Feel a lot better now. I'm sure he'll work it all out in his own time.
Not sure where I stand on the nersery thing but at the hospital we used they actively discouraged it unless you were in bad shape. I watch too much crime TV so I was so paranoid I didnt sleep a wink the first night. Not sure if I would have taken a nursery option if given to me.
Some of my wife's friends had horrible delivery experiences though where they ended up so physically drained they couldn't easily care for their baby for up to a day. Different strokes right?
Some of my wife's friends had horrible delivery experiences though where they ended up so physically drained they couldn't easily care for their baby for up to a day. Different strokes right?
Deliveries are weird. My daughter was born at 10:30 PM with a midwife at a birth center and they sent us home in -40 weather at 3 in the morning and followed up with home care the next day.
And Breastfeeding advice from any one is always so hit or miss. You just do what works and go on down the list. I've heard of people who pretty much get shamed by nurses if they say they won't breastfeed and all kinds of other stories like that. On the other end of the spectrum it sounded like my Mother-in-law felt that if our baby ever fed more than once in a 4 hour span she would essentially turn into a Koala on my wife for the rest of her life.
I was surprised at how careful our hospital was to prevent any possible shenanigans. When my wife and I were struggling to have kids, (for many years,) my wife would look at me with tears in her eyes and say, "I want a baby," and, trying to lighten the mood, I would smile and say, "St. Joseph's Hospital is just down the street. I'll go pick one up, what color would you like?"
NOPE. WifeMG and I had ID tags with serial numbers that were checked against a serial number on BabyMG's ID tag any time she left, and any time she came back, plus she had a GPS sensor attached to her belly button that would sound an alarm and lock all the doors to the maternity ward if someone tried to leave with it. Honestly, I was kidding about going to the hospital and stealing a baby, but even if I had been serious, there's no way I could have gotten away with it.
In case you didn't know the whole reason these systems were in place was cause of Gloria Williams who kidnapped a baby from a hospital 18 years ago. She has been all over the news cause they just found her.
http://www.news4jax.com/news/newborns-abduction-forever-changed-hospital-security
BriareosGAF
Member
It's an insane overreaction, on par with the 'razors in the candy' silliness with Halloween. C'est la vie, somebody made a bundle selling these systems to hospitals.
I wouldn't call it an overreaction. Stolen babies and swapped at birth stories probably happen rarely but for those do get affected, it is just a nightmare and calling it a nightmare is probably understating it. I would rather hospitals be extra careful like this rather than have higher risk. There actually have been incidents of stolen possessions at the maternity ward I was at but thankfully none of that were babies. My husband and I were always careful that our sons in one of our view at all times at the hospital despite tags on us. I just can't imagine having to go through that. Wonder how liable hospitals are in such cases.
Congrats soulfire!! Sounds like it went as smooth as it could, hope all is well with you both
Congrats.
When we were in triage my wife almost broke my hand so yeah epidurals are amazing. Oddly enough in one of the other triage bays someone was moaning really really loud. So the contrast of my wife screaming and squeezing my hand with hulk strength and loud moaning next door was something to experience.
Congrats!
Yeah we had bells and whistles tour when we were looking at the hospitals. Cameras, id tagged babies, alarms so on. They told us that the mothers would have to OK visitors that came to the maternity ward door. All sounded pretty cool... Then we found out you just buzz and walk in lol... I still have my daughter's id bands and the tracker thing in a little book.
Congratulations!
So, by the way, new parents in the USA - If you send a copy of the birth announcement to the White House, by tradition you will get a card back from the President and First Lady. (I kind of wish I'd mentioned this a while back. I assume it will continue under Trump, but who knows.) We sent ours not long after BabyMG was born in October, and got a card today "signed" by Barack and Michelle Obama. Kind of a funny coincidence that we got it on Trump's inauguration day.
You can also supposedly send an announcement to Disney, and get a response from Mickey Mouse, but that hasn't come back yet.