My husband loves the AMC show The Walking Dead. If you aren't familiar with it, it's a bloody, gory zombie series. Definitely rated M. I watched the first season with him (I admit, some of it is too much for me, call me a wuss, I don't care), skipped the second, and I'm again watching it now for the third season.
What on earth could this have to do with Momaroo?
***SPOILER ALERT!! FINAL WARNING!**
**GRAPHIC**
A couple of episodes ago, one of the main characters (Lori) was very pregnant. Lori's previous child was born by cesarean. Well, during a controversial scene, and of course there were no doctors around to help, Lori went into labor during a zombie attack. Her (unrealistic - whatever) labor was crazy fast, "something" went wrong, and Lori was supposedly dying (? She was turning grey) from childbirth. Her son was with her (a tough as nails kid, about 10/12 years old). They said goodbye to each other before she instructed her friend to do a crude c-section to try and save the baby. No anesthesia. No medical training. No clean instruments. With the knowledge that it was going to kill her, and it wasn't even going to be necessary to close her back up.
This episode (4) is available here:
Her friend simply followed the scar from Lori's first cesarean with her knife. It was horrifying. I guess the only consolation is that soon after the gory, traumatic cut (which she did with finality, in one sweep) Lori passed out. Her friend got the baby out unharmed, alive. They cut the cord, and the scene was left that Lori's son apparently (? Unless you see it, it can't be said for certain with these shows) shot her to prevent her from becoming a zombie (and to end her suffering for which there was no help).
When Lori's husband saw what had obviously happened, his reaction was so raw and ugly it almost made me physically gag, it was so upsetting. Even though I was PISSED OFF at what had happened with Lori and the decisions made.
Here are my issues with the whole scene:
The way Lori's labor went (and it must have been 5-10 minutes in entirety before she was ready to push, if that) was strange. My problem isn't that it was simply unrealistic (it's a zombie show for heaven's sake). My problem is that after she labored, she pushed like twice, and then there was some blood and a statement that "something" was wrong. The next thing we knew, Lori was on the floor, having given up on a vaginal birth, resolving herself to a crude cesarean in front of her son and death. They didn't even try. It is just a show - I know. But I hate that the message is perpetuated, "once a cesarean, always a cesarean." With the consequence being that you'll die if you don't, and you likely can't deliver vaginally anyway - something is different about your body and your babies can only be cut out of your abdomen.
There is something, too, about the idea that the mother is of less importance than the baby itself. At all consequences to the mother, the baby must be saved. The problem with this is that a baby needs a mother, too. I can remember with both pregnancies and deliveries always being asked how the babies were, how the babies were so cute. Baby. Baby. Baby. Meanwhile I had just had major abdominal surgery (with one) or had just fought the world (and won) to successfully vaginally deliver my second. I'm not saying the baby isn't important, obviously. But sometimes, remember the Mama, too!
I know that my feelings on this show's episode were highly influenced by personal experience. Both because I'm a mother and because I'm a VBAC mom. But even besides that, I was disturbed (even more so than usual) by what I watched on TV.
Did anyone else watch this? Do you think Hollywood's portrayal of pregnancy and childbirth has an impact on the culture of what we expect?
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Comments (23)
That's one episode of the show that I have seen. I want to see more. It's a show about zombies. I didn't think about reality when I watched it. In fact, I was thinking that if I were there, and I was in danger, I'd leave her. I also thought, having a child that is not mine to take care of, especially if it were a baby, forget it. You have to carry them and they cry. If it isn't a weapon I'm not carrying it. To me, that would have been way more realistic (at least for me). Survival of the fittest.
the walking dead is awesome. ive seen every episode, and i see your point @Erika_Steele@xanga - but i couldnt just leave a new life to fend for it self. especially after Lori choosing her baby's life over her own...i couldnt/wouldnt let her last wish go unfulfilled..
btw. i loveee at the end when Daryl holds the baby , and calls her lil ass kicker. its fitting. :D
Placental abruption, anyone?
well as a parent myself, the series has many gut punches (I wept for Sophia - ~SPOILER warning for you for the second season~) and yes I too broke down during Lori's sacrifice, Carl's sacrifice, and when Rick realized what had happened.
all that being said, we have to take into account that *Don LaFontaine voicemode: ON*
'In A World where The Dead are Walking'
civilization as we know it has broken down; nothing is normal anymore. The Rick-Lori-Shane triangle was evidence to that as well and Lori was actually withdrawn from Rick because of what happened in the second season. She felt that her baby's life was more important than her own.
as an adoptive father, i have no VBAC experience (i do know the initials though) and is it possible that Lori just couldn't VB at all? (wait - I forgot that she was standing first through a contraction)
I'm unsure what went on behind Carl's C-section.
@o0oBrittanyo0o13@xanga - Maybe I would have more of an allegiance to the characters if I had seen the whole series, but I also know myself well enough that I would expect the others to leave me as well. If they saved my child, it would be their decision.
I'm not arguing with anything you said, as I agree with your points. I might point out that, in this show, due to the zombie virus that's infested the world, if anyone dies, they will become a zombie, whether they've had contact with zombies or not. If Lori's baby had died, it would've become a zombie and possibly would have done her damage while in the womb or during the childbirthing process. She realized this a few episodes before the episode she died and was worried about it. I was under the impression that she assumed she would die if the baby died, since it would be inside her and kill her from the inside, so effectively the baby's life was put first in order to give both of them a chance at living. There didn't seem to be any way of saving her at the baby's expense.
It did really bug me that it was just assumed she would deliver via c-section, which would more than likely kill her. Forget the lack of doctors....what about the unsanitary conditions? That wasn't brought up. And yeah, after 10 minutes shes ready to push, one push and then something goes wrong? Nevermind that it's a fictional and farfetched show. The idea that a woman's body is so incapable of what we were biologically made to do is a pretty ridiculous epidemic in this country and scenes like that just seem to add fuel to the fire. What an unnecessary tragedy that was.
spoiler alert...
in the comic book she has the baby just fine, but both of them are shot to death while trying to escape from the governor and his crew.. i'm thinking the TV version was a bit more palatable.
@lilcletus543@xanga - Exactly what I was thinking. I'd rather get shot than have zombie spawn eat me from the inside! >.<
I do think Hollywood has something to do with current ideas around birth.
Take a woman my age, who hasn't had children. If I wasn't intensely interested in birth and midwifery, all of my knowledge about birth would amount to seeing women screaming in movies for drugs. We've got a lot of fear and not much faith in our body's capability for birth. And I'm someone who has three younger siblings and lots of experience taking care of them, for a childless woman. Yet most of what I know is stuff that I searched out on purpose... the common "information" is so weird.this is one of the 2 or 3 episodes that i have actually seen. it IS disturbing. and i don't understand what people see in it. i hate this show. my boyfriend watches it all the time and i always leave the room whenever he does.
issues arising from this show are just not even worth contemplating.
Hollywood: Mother has one pain in the store, and everybody's screaming bloody hell. Rushing to the hospital with all their might. Barely makes it to the room, and the baby is born. That's the issue I have with movie makers. That, and when they have the actress "push", she isn't pushing, she's too busy screaming with all her might. Now, before you jump on me about screamers, I'm not blaming anyone for making noise during delivery. My point is the doctor in the scene in instructing her to push, and for the life of me, I can't remember being able to properly push and scream at the same time. Seems like if Mommy wants to go ala natural, she ought to be in a squatting position, making as much noise as she wants, and getting the baby out because she felt him/her pushing their way into the world. Further more, most women really don't push, because the body can't to it's thing naturally with an epidural in place. I know I know, the doctors and nurses play it up, and have you hold your legs in an upward position, and tell you to push, but what the hell? Do you feel the pushing?
In real time, yes, it was only 5-10 minutes. But think about it. In the time it took them to get from the yard, meander through the prison, find a safe room, etc, I can bet it was much more than 5-10 minutes. Remember, they're packing a bunch into a one hour show (that's really more like 40 minutes when considering commercials). When the poo hits the fan, things seem to happen faster than they really are, and I think that's what they were trying to convey with that situation.
It also doesn't take much time at all for things to go wrong. My wife didn't even have contractions, and things went from ok to "get her into the OR and get the kid out" in less than 5 minutes.
I've seen every episode of the series (I love the show) and I think there were a few questions about the baby, including wondering if the baby might even already be a zombie in her womb. Since, as another commenter pointed out, everyone is already infected. While I was watching, that was what I thought when "something" went wrong. I didn't think they were saying her body couldn't deliver a baby naturally, I thought they were scared that the baby could have been eating her body from the inside out, judging by the amount of blood. Either way, that didn't end up being the case, and who knows why they decided to handle it that way. I can see where you're coming from, but I can also see how that may not be the case for this particular show. As for the fact that she already had a c-section, I don't remember being informed about that until this episode... so it seems like it would just be an excuse for how the girl could open her up and get the baby out. Without a line to know where to cut, it would be even more unrealistic. Then again, it's possible it came up earlier in the season as a memory and since I don't have a personal relationship with birth stories, I didn't think anything of it or remember it as anything to keep in mind about the progression of the show itself. As it is based on a comic book, I know the TV show has handled a lot of things differently, just from speaking to friends that read the comic. It's possible, as someone else stated, that they are trying to handle the situation more... palatably. Then again, you'd think they would have both died during birth if that were the case. I just can't see it ending well with the baby. At least the little boy (Carl) is old enough to "man up" and have the physical ability to use weapons, run away - or even walk, for that matter. I don't see how a baby has a great chance at survival, at all. Especially since a crying baby would get the attention of zombies (as noise, in general, does on the show) wherever they go.
@sarahsmurfette@xanga - Okay, well, maybe I missed an episode and didn't realize it, because I don't remember that AT ALL. Haha. I'm not saying the level of blood was abnormal in realistic terms, but simply in terms of it being a TV show. But I guess that's your point. I don't really have a voice in this fight, it's just not something I notice as a non-mom.
That episode was gruesome; but the episode in a previous season when she discovered she was pregnant set this up. It's ironic that a show about the zombie apocalypse would push their "pro-life" agenda so hard. When Lori first finds out she is pregnant; she wants to get an abortion pill. She sends one of the guys to get one from the pharmacy; but then that guy tells her that it shouldn't be "just" her decisions. So she talks to Rick, he shames her and talks her out of doing it. Then, Rick kills Shane, who might be the baby's father. Even if she had lived through the birth, having a newborn in the zombie apocalypse probably is not going to be the best way to survive. They talk about the zombies being attracted by noise--having a screaming infant probably not the best idea. Then she has to die to give birth to the child; leaving not only the infant but her other child without a mother. So hard-hitting on the must sacrifice EVERYTHING for the baby.
It sucks cuz I really like the show; this aspect of it to me though is so misogynistic and anti-choice. It makes me mad. Thanks for the post; I have never seen anyone else address this and my husband is tired of me ranting and raving about it lol.
I like this show a lot. This episode was incredibly sad. I'm somebody who becomes invested in characters and feel like I know them personally. While I hated the bitch, Rick's reaction was a tear-jerker. I had no problem with the birth... it's just tv.
@Pollypinks@xanga - "Hollywood: Mother has one pain in the store,
and everybody's screaming bloody hell. Rushing to the hospital with
all their might. Barely makes it to the room, and the baby is born.
That's the issue I have with movie makers. "
LOL... that's pretty much exactly how my third child was born. I literally barely made it to the room.
Maggie? I think that's her name was raised on a farm by a veterinarian father... I think she may know something... or something more than the rest of us... but still I get your point.
Tired, God bless for surviving a harrowing trip to make it just in time. I get your post. I had a friend who had five children like that. When the 8th month arrived, her husband literally slept on a living room chair fully dressed with the suitcase in the car. One contraction, and twenty minutes later it was over. They lived 3 minutes from the hospital, and she gave birth on the gurney in the hallway each time, with baby's head covered in her pubic hair. Sorry for the graphics, but that's how it happened. I remember being jealous, because I went through so many long hours of horrid labor, sans pain relief. I only brought up the Hollywood connection because it's not the norm. I wish many times it were, just to be done with it. And like I said, God bless to you for at one point realizing you weren't giving birth in a car, and everything was fine. That's the end goal, right? Of course, now days, 35 years later, the doctors would induce a couple of weeks early, or, at least a week, for safety purposes. But back then, I like to refer to it as the stone age. But, that would have been my gramma.
I love this show! I know how you feel though, thinking it would be like the comic books it did add a twist. On the comic book she survived but hmmm? Maybe she didn't die.