How to get moved to the front of the line at the food stamp office

[Nunavut Pants]

Which doesn't keep about half of us from trying!

[Kit-Ginevra]

..the female body is designed to give birth but a 7lb object doesn't exit a 10cm hole too easily,

...its a lot less easy to put it back in again afterwards

[Tanasi]

When my first daughter was born I was nervous after that not so much. Also on the first youngin my wife labored for 19 hours the other four we had to make sure she carried a pillow to throw down so the kid would have a soft landing. Our oldest son (kid #3) was out in a hour after the first contraction.
I grew up on a farm so seeing things getting birthed is disconcerting at first but the new wears of quick.

[RichS]

Back to the thread, I am very amused by the 2 camps I see with the responses. There is Team "Nobody has ever been killed witnessing childbirth" and Team "Oh, hell no! I will choose surgical options first!"

I remember when my 4 daughters were born, and I was on both camps; 2 of them I was , and the other 2 I was good, even helping my wife during childbirth.

[Slave to the Phone]

Please, please tell me the police and CPS were called, and that the baby was checked over by a doctor.

From what I have been told by a witness (who we all in the office have diagnosed as being high-functioning Asperger's, who always tells the unvarnished truth).

Security was instantly involved and tazers and handcuffs happened quickly. A client grabbed the car seat before it stopped sliding and took baby into the restroom and braced herself against the door to keep anyone out. (baby was fine, just scared) Cops arrived, custody of woman went to them and once the woman in the restroom was convinced that it was safe to open the door, CPS (who just happened to work in our building) were there to take custody of the baby.

For anyone who thinks that applying for government services includes a reasonable expectation of privacy, you are wrong.

We learned within half an hour that she was currently 6 months pregnant with her 4th child. The other 2 babies had been removed from her custody, one before she left the hospital due to her holding the baby in the air and threatening to throw her on the floor if the hospital staff didn't start treating her with more respect.

Sadly, a lot of our clients are not playing with a full deck, but as a usual rule, even if they only have 17 cards left, they don't deliberately put their kids in danger.

Back to the thread, I am very amused by the 2 camps I see with the responses. There is Team "Nobody has ever been killed witnessing childbirth" and Team "Oh, hell no! I will choose surgical options first!"

I appreciate the calm and reasoned responses about why I was probably pretty safe due to timing. You folks are all right. I know this. Doesn't matter, if it happens again, the only thing that will change is that I have paper bags stashed so I won't need to go to the store. (which will help my rep, Slave is so calm and prepared that she has paper bags to breath in while watching someone give birth.)

[morgana]

12+ hours from "oh a contraction" to "holding kid and beaming" isn't at all unusual). There would be plenty of time for EMS to get there.

On the other hand was the coworker who went to her appointment with the ob/gyn when she was two weeks out from her due date, got asked why she hadn't gone to the hospital instead, how close were her contractions now?

She responded, "what contractions?"

The kid was crowning . . .

Oh, and I'm another who was so traumatized by watching a birth that I went out and had my tubes tied . . .

[sstabeler]

that's probably not actually helping...

[WishfulSpirit]

I hear you about the labor bit. It's scary to even think about, like what if I'm in the elevator like in earlier 90s sitcoms?

Even if it is not a first child, unless there's rare complications like a serious preterm labor, kids take a long time to come out. Since this person was full term it's likely labor would take a while (several hours best case scenario...the female body is designed to give birth but a 7lb object doesn't exit a 10cm hole too easily, 12+ hours from "oh a contraction" to "holding kid and beaming" isn't at all unusual). There would be plenty of time for EMS to get there.

[Mental_Mouse]

I am no longer the main topic of conversation now, though. Someone else's customer got so mad about being questioned about income that she threw some chairs and then slid/tossed her baby (in a car seat) half way across the lobby.

My co-workers will never forget, though. When it comes to embarrassing moments, we all have very good memories.

Long before "15 minutes of fame", there was the "nine-days wonder"....

[greek_jester]

I am no longer the main topic of conversation now, though. Someone else's customer got so mad about being questioned about income that she threw some chairs and then slid/tossed her baby (in a car seat) half way across the lobby.

Please, please tell me the police and CPS were called, and that the baby was checked over by a doctor.

[Slave to the Phone]

I would have been scared of you too! Pregnant women are scary! Even when they aren't going to give birth within a month, they still tend to be rather unpredictable. While I am perfectly fine with holding someone's hair while they puke, the mood swings tend to leave me feeling shell shocked.

I am no longer the main topic of conversation now, though. Someone else's customer got so mad about being questioned about income that she threw some chairs and then slid/tossed her baby (in a car seat) half way across the lobby.

My co-workers will never forget, though. When it comes to embarrassing moments, we all have very good memories.

[Rayndel]

Psh. If I had waited for the whole "five minutes between contractions before going to the hospital" I would've had my daughter at home. ....well, no, the contractions were terrible so I would've been at the hospital for the pain, but still. Mine never hit a steady time. The nurse was horribly confused. I'd go 10 minutes, then have 2 in 2 minutes. *shrugs*

(13 hours exactly, no complications, slept for a good part of it. Yay epidurals!)

But don't feel bad, Slave. I was scared of me when I was pregnant too! ^_^

[Slave to the Phone]

Of course, the local drama queens will hate you because now they don't get to talk about "a woman gave birth in the waiting room, OMG!"

Nah, they still get to mock me for panicking without "reason" and then talk about when they would have called 911 with discussions of water breaking and timing labor pains. (The mocking will all be good natured, and it really won't last that long because my good natured reaction is to agree that it was pretty funny and remind them how frightened I was of Sup A and Sup B during the last month of their pregnancies.)



I get to go back to my quiet cube for the next 4 months tomorrow. I am SO happy. I can interview an in labor woman over the phone while messaging a sup to call 911. All of the messy stuff will happen outside locked security doors!

[Kit-Ginevra]

This..

[Sliceanddice]

]... I wanted to be a Midwife back in the day...
I have sat through surgeries and the like...
So I dont understand the panic but I understand why, i understand why people can be freaked out by blood and stuff.
Me? I can't handle watching a needle enter my skin any more.
I can handle watching a real time knee replacement surgery but a needle going into my arm?
I am always on verge of panic

I'm pretty sure there are exits in the ceilings of most elevators ... and as non-athletic as I am at the ripe old age of 62, I would bloody well levitate myself out of there if I had to

I'm sorry to be the one to inform you this, but those emergency exits?
Are locked from the inside the elevator and only accessible from the outside.
Why? So that people without the proper training and equipment can't crawl around on the top of a dangerous piece of equipment with the potential of crushing or falling injury.

Why do you think you never really see them? They hide them behind panels and lights to eliminate the temptation to try.