I will admit that I watch some questionable TV shows. I take a particularly perverse pleasure in watching a horrible show called I Didn't Know I was Pregnant. 95% of the people on the show are idiots, 99% are in denial. I love trying to figure out the creative ways they are going to explain away pregnancy symptoms or if...plot twist! a baby is born in a location other than a bathroom.
So last night as I was watching "my show" I was pleased that one of those stories went outside of the usual formula of someone who despite the fact they received no prenatal care, smoked cigarettes, did bourbon shots, climbed high ladders, inhaled paint fumes, and drove race cars for a living...wound up with a full term perfect 8 pound baby that they had no clue was roaming around inside of them! This particular subject had no clue she was pregnant until she went from pre-eclamptic to full blown eclampsia and her family found her seizing out and foaming at the mouth in her bedroom.
Aha, now they really had my attention.
They discovered she was pregnant and she had to have a 23 weeker via c-section. Now I know that no amount of prenatal care would have kept her from developing pre-eclampsia, but had she known she was pregnant and had prenatal care, she would have consulted a doctor when she started feeling bad and it certainly would not have gone into full blown eclampsia. At 23 weeks I did not look pregnant and I was thin, so I can ALMOST see where this could happen. Her baby was 1 lbs. 4 oz. just like Amelia.
What I did not like about the episode is that the mother said in her interview "If I had gone to the doctor before, she wouldn't have been this small" and I have no idea how that could be true. Someone needs to set that mom straight because that is a lot of guilt to be carrying around for no reason. Guilt about something you had no control over is a waste of time and emotion. Once you figure that out, it is so freeing.
All in all, I was pleased with the information presented about pre-eclampsia and the positive message it sends about getting prenatal care. It is a much more convincing argument when things don't always come out with a Hollywood ending.
2 comments:
I too will confess to having been lured into watching a program that seems to be outlandish, bizarre, unbelievable; but yet I am drawn, somehow, like a moth to a light fixture. And within that program a tiny bit of information emerges that makes you wonder whether stopping and watching it was Divine Intervention. This was one such program.
You found yourself in this same life threatening situation just two years ago, and you might just have emerged a much stronger woman for it.
Those in the same situation NEED to hear from someone they love and trust that it is nothing they did or didn't do. Bearing the burden of guilt (or allowing someone else to heap a load of guilt on them) is fruitless and nonproductive.
If this program disseminated information to even a small number of people with their message on pre-eclamptic pregnancies then I'd say time watching was not lost.
I too have watched that one, and I am even more ashamed to admit I watch Jerseylicious. It is nice to hear they finally posted something with a realistic ending. How did the baby do?
Post a Comment