Trainspotting

August 1, 2003 8:44 AM

Woman gives birth on a Boston train while refusing help from onlookers. While the story of the birth is unusual, what interests me is that her two other children were placed in protective custody. Was this warranted? [more inside]
posted by widdershins (19 comments total)

After all, the woman was a nurse and all she did was give birth in a public place on her way to the hospital. Is this a symptom of a society increasingly uncomfortable with the sight of a natural birth?
posted by widdershins at 8:47 AM on August 1, 2003

Oh no... Your first post, too.
posted by jonson at 8:47 AM on August 1, 2003

Definitely sounds like it's not your usual morning commute :-).
posted by coelecanth at 8:49 AM on August 1, 2003

Crapola! I thought I searched so carefully...
posted by widdershins at 8:49 AM on August 1, 2003

This is why cutesy wording ("Not Your Usual Morning Commute") on FPP's is stupid. Just say what your link is about, people.
posted by jpoulos at 8:51 AM on August 1, 2003

In other news:
• New Purported Saddam Tape Urges Attacks
• Unemployment Rate Drops to 6.2 Percent
• N. Korea OKs Multilateral Nuclear Talks
• Missing Girl Hoax Suspect to Be in Court

Oh, I'm sorry, we're posting yesterday's news.
posted by Outlawyr at 8:51 AM on August 1, 2003

In many cases, it's not so much about searching as reading. Skim the front page posts!
posted by Irontom at 8:52 AM on August 1, 2003

I'm w/jpoulos, descriptive posts help prevent this, as well as saving time for those who wouldn't be interested in the link but can't figure that out from the brief non-description on the front page.
posted by jonson at 8:54 AM on August 1, 2003

not to elongate the double post too much, but i think yes the protective custody was warranted, mostly because today the woman was committed for a thirty day psychiatric evaluation at the state hospital. the woman may have had a psychotic break, and at the very least was in serious denial about the labor -- she refused assistance, or even to sit down on the train, and at the next stop ran away from police and EMTs, stowing the baby under her arm and the placenta in her shoulder bag. she has two teenage children, and has been living with them in a motel for the past year. her sister said she has had mental health problems in the past, also. a sad story.
posted by serafinapekkala at 8:55 AM on August 1, 2003

I propose a Double-post Friday. Would definately have to include "This broom, it vibrates?".
posted by sharksandwich at 8:58 AM on August 1, 2003

Lots of things are natural. Some old geezer wackin'it is natural too.
As for being treated badly, all you nay sayers would be screaming if she was later busted for beating her kids and asking why she wasn't checked out after such an obvious display of weird behavior as not accepting baic assistance with a child birth. Our current low mortality rate is due TO assistance.
posted by HTuttle at 9:03 AM on August 1, 2003

sharksandwich - You forgot: I, for one, welcome our new childbearing, help-refusing overlords. Or: Woman Gives Birth to Child on Train, Refuses Pancakes.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 9:07 AM on August 1, 2003

Pike!
posted by shoepal at 9:30 AM on August 1, 2003

1. Baby on train
2. Mental breakdown
3. ???
4. Profits!
posted by Outlawyr at 9:38 AM on August 1, 2003

For what it's worth, here's a follow-up to the original story.
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:45 AM on August 1, 2003

5. News article
6. 1st MeFi post
7. 30 minutes later
8. 2nd MeFi post
9. ???
10. MeTa
posted by turbodog at 10:50 AM on August 1, 2003

Life imitates Art
This story gets posted twice and nobody references Almodóvar's Live Flesh (Carne trémula, 1997) which revolves around the story of a boy born on a bus in Madrid.
posted by shoepal at 12:27 PM on August 1, 2003

Note of correction, the nurse was a witness on the train, NOT the woman who gave birth. The article says the mother works in food services for the school system.

I have a friend who gave birth to her second child by herself in the car, in a parking lot. Of course her first son was on the phone talking to 911, and they waited in the car for the ambulance, after the birth.

Boy did that car have a funky smell in the summer though...you just can't wash amniotic fluid out of volvo carpeting I guess...
posted by nomisxid at 1:16 PM on August 1, 2003

you just can't wash amniotic fluid out of volvo carpeting I guess...

Heloise couldn't have said it better.


BTW, there was a post on another board by a guy who'd been on the same train as the childbirth lady. He reported that the only assistance she requested was to ask if anyone had a maxi pad she could use. Suddenly, the guy said, it was raining maxi pads. "Looked like hundreds. How many maxi pads do women carry in their purses at a time?"
posted by Oriole Adams at 1:47 PM on August 1, 2003