Last night's "Lost" episode . . . grr.

[Gena 22]

I'm a "Lost" addict, but last night's episode had me growling at the TV. In it, a new character goes into labor two weeks early and has a breech. Clearly, she needs a c/s!

It wasn't as bad as it could have been. In sweeps a character with some history in maternal health, "Juliette". Her first question is whether a external version has been tried. When the answer is no, she takes over care. In an unspecified amount of time, the baby is born healthy. The manner of delivery is left unsaid, not even implied by bloody scrubs or anything like it.

What did you think? Tactfully ambiguous or annoyingly mainstream?

[SublimeBirthGirl]

I'm hopelessly addicted to Lost (and I am considering flying to Australia regularly, in hopes that the island will bring down my plane and I can end up with Sawyer, who gets more irresistable every season). Their birth scenes make me CRAZY!

First, there was Claire. Kate telling her she had to push! Push! PUsh! Uh, how do YOU know it's time to push, Kate? Wild guess. As a mother, I wish someone saying "Hey you! Push!" would have made my babies pop right out.

Then, there was Sun. Distress! Distress! OMG! Surgery! Give that woman some drugs! The pain might kill her! Oh, wait, here's the baby. Oh cool. Baby's fine. Sorry for freaking you out there.

Then there was Penny. OMG! The blood! Run and get the town doctor. Whew! Good thing he carries FORCEPS in his black bag or else everyone would've died.

Then the new chick. You know what drove me the craziest? She's standing there talking to Sawyer, suddenly collapses and screams, "The baby is coming!" Yeah, because that's what labor is really like @@

I just have to ignore the birth stuff in the show, because *everything* else about it rocks!

[jeliphish]

OHHHH TV is sooo funny and dramatic!

[alison_in_oh]

Hello, SPOILERS??????????

Argh. I avoid every Lost and TV-related forum for the hours between airing and when I can watch, and I find spoilers on BIRTH AND BEYOND??

OK, I have seen the scene you were talking about now, and it was a minor spoil, (and I totally understand why you wanted to talk about it with people who feel the same about normal birth) but gosh. In the future maybe keep such threads to the TV board? At least for a day or two after the show airs?

[Veritaserum]

Oh, I know! It drives me bonkers. Dh sometimes says "please don't comment on the birth scene" if we happen upon one in something we're watching. He usually follows up with "I know their portrayal is probably not realistic."

Yeah, what is up with the suddenly-in-transition labors TV likes to show?

[Gena 22]

So sorry Alison!

But I'd watch anything with Sawyer, even an annoying episode . . . mmmmm.

[hunterofkyle]

This thread is cracking me up. I'll admit my first thought wasn't annoyance at mainstream drama, it was, "YES - that is what I want my labor to be. no pain, no pain, no pain, feeling good, and BAM - I'm pushing - two weeks early nonetheless."

[jennyfah]

Oh, don't forget about Ben's mother, who died in childbirth when he was born two months early on a hike!

I hope the whole pregnant-women-dying-on-The-Island thing is explained soon. It *really* annoys me that pregnancy is a sickness and birth is an emergency on TV, because it seems that's where the majority of people in our culture get their opinions about things.

ETA: I laughed out loud when it was announced that the baby was breech and that she'd have to leave the island for a C-section---I don't believe that was standard care for breech in the early '70s. One of the writers must have had kids recently!

[barefootpoetry]

Originally Posted by alison_in_oh

Hello, SPOILERS??????????

Argh. I avoid every Lost and TV-related forum for the hours between airing and when I can watch, and I find spoilers on BIRTH AND BEYOND??

OK, I have seen the scene you were talking about now, and it was a minor spoil, (and I totally understand why you wanted to talk about it with people who feel the same about normal birth) but gosh. In the future maybe keep such threads to the TV board? At least for a day or two after the show airs?

YES PLEASE. I hadn't seen this epi yet. We don't have cable anymore and I wait till the next day when it is posted online.

I do agree that this show is notorious for incredibly dramatic births. I wanted to spit when the doc got out the forceps with Penny! However, this is TV we're talking about here. A peaceful, NORMAL birth would have been boring.

[mamabearsoblessed]

I agree with the portrayal of birth in tv and movies being ridiculous and infuriating faaar more often than not, however~ this is LOST and everything about it is so far out of the realm of calm, peaceful and healthy, that I expected little else last night. That said~ if I were Claire I maybe would have had to fight the urge to have kicked Kate in the face had she screamed at me to push one more time~ girly-crush or not .
As far as Penny~ I was out of my mind with pain and screaming alot like her with my 2nd birth~ no forceps though, that whole thing was a bit odd... ... then again~ LOST.

just my .02

[~Sarah~]

Wait-----side note, for the "spoiler" people-----didn't the title of the thread tip you off that it would be discussing last night's episode?

The talking-to-Sawyer-then-suddenly-in-transition thing bugged me too. But I've realized since becoming educated about pregnancy and birth that there's just no getting around it. It's much more dramatic than "hmm.....I feel some tightening.....maybe it's a contraction and in 8-36 hours I'll give birth." Nothing exciting about that to a TV viewer!

And Horus would have been sober and awake by then, so yeah.....I guess the "emergency birth" was the only way to do that one!

[wombatclay]

moved to television

[SublimeBirthGirl]

Originally Posted by ~Sarah~

Wait-----side note, for the "spoiler" people-----didn't the title of the thread tip you off that it would be discussing last night's episode?

LOL! That's what I thought too.

I would not have had any qualms about kicking Kate in the head if I'd been Claire. I can't stand Kate. Or Jack, until this season really, when he's finally not Mr. Perfect anymore. I'm irritated that Kate's back (even though I also *wanted* them to come back to the island-I'm of two minds on this issue!), that Sawyer left Juliette at home without explanation. I was rooting for Juliette & Sawyer all along. He needs a woman with a strong hand to keep him in check. Juliette rocks.

[SublimeBirthGirl]

Originally Posted by BEJJ

I have another theory, did the say the name of the baby? because maybe that's Benjamin? though I'm probably wrong for a number of reasons.

Ben came to the island with his dad. His mom died giving birth to him. His dad was a drunk who told him he didn't like to celebrate his birthday because it's the day he killed his mom. Nice dad, eh? Ben killed him along with the rest of the Dharma people when the Others took over their compound.

[Mamafreya]

I totally agree that their birth scenes are ridiculous but..... I actually liked Claire's birth scene. :
Yeah, the pushing thing was annoying but I thought that they did a pretty good job for a tv birth with that one. Penny's birth was ridiculous but since it's tv I guess there's not too much hope.

I love LOST. I'm willing to overlook the birth stuff if I can watch Sawyer without his shirt on.

Did it bother anyone how it seemed so easy for Kate and Sun to just leave their kids? That seemed really unbelievable to me.

[Veritaserum]

Originally Posted by Mamafreya

Did it bother anyone how it seemed so easy for Kate and Sun to just leave their kids? That seemed really unbelievable to me.

Yeah, really. Sun is traveling around the world with her baby at home with her mom for what seem like really long stretches of time. When she decided to go back to the island I thought for sure she'd bring her daughter (because Sun might not ever get off the island), but she didn't. I'm not sure what to make of it. On one hand, she wouldn't want her daughter to be stuck on the island forever. On the other hand, if Sun were my mom I'd be pretty upset to learn that she disappeared out of my life by choice.

On the spoiler issue, I don't click on threads about shows I haven't watched yet.

[~Sarah~]

Yeah, Kate obviously had some bad time with whatever happened to Aaron----I think it'll probably be something awful like she had to kill him or he was killed by someone else or something like that. Whatever happened, both DH and I were turned off by the fact that she goes from saying "don't ever ask me about it again" to chewing off Jack's face. :Puke

But Sun? WTF? I totally agree----how can she just leave her baby like that? I mean, to travel, sure. But knowing that she's going back to the island, possibly for good? And knowing that the island is the only reason she was conceived? And knowing they "all have to go back", which, to me, includes the baby that was created there? I mean, the island isn't THAT bad! I'd take the baby along with me. Maybe she's got issues with the baby, like resenting it because she lost Jin in the process. I dunno. Just seems crazy.

[SublimeBirthGirl]

I'm incredibly curious about where Aaron is. Kate's reaction fuels my curiosity. I thought they ALL had to go back. That would include Aaron and, technically speaking, Sun's daughter. I'm actually more surprised about Kate leaving Aaron than I am about Sun, who never really came across as much of a mother to me.

I thought Ben killed John because he wasn't going to try to get Sun to go back. He had Jin's ring, and planned to lie like Jin asked him to. Didn't Ben strangle John right after he said that? Then Ben used the ring to convince Sun that Jin was alive & she needed to come back.

I've actually watched the whole series twice except for this season, and I still feel like there's so much I don't get. It never gets boring.

[holyhelianthus]

I dunno.. I've seen moms able to just send their infant with family across the country before for weeks at a time.

As for the birth scene- what can one expect? If they would have made it realistic it would expand a few episodes and I'd like them to get to the point.

[~Sarah~]

Originally Posted by SublimeBirthGirl

I thought Ben killed John because he wasn't going to try to get Sun to go back. He had Jin's ring, and planned to lie like Jin asked him to. Didn't Ben strangle John right after he said that? Then Ben used the ring to convince Sun that Jin was alive & she needed to come back.

If you watch the scene again, Ben's entire disposition changes instantly when John mentions that he needs to see Mrs. Hawking. If we remember back to the episode where Desmond meets her, and she's pretty brutal about teaching him the lesson that the universe will course-correct no matter what you do, so don't screw with it, the Ben thing becomes more logical.

He walked in on John trying to kill himself and stopped him because he thought it would screw everything up. But almost as if the universe was saying "undo what you've done NOW," Mrs Hawking gets mentioned. I think he was just making sure John would die because he suddenly realized that John was supposed to die. That's why he strangled him (as would have happened) and hung him up as if he had killed himself and let him be found by neighbors or whatever (as would have happened). If he had changed anything about the *outcome* of John killing himself, it would have course-corrected but possibly in a bad way. So he just back-tracked, kind of, and let the outcome happen after all.

At least that's what I got from it.