Those Baby Shows

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

World BirthDay, A Baby Story, Bringing Home Baby.....what are your thoughts on them?

Love em? Hate em? Why?

This is your chance to rant about the shows or rave on your favorites!

Specializes in NICU, High-Risk L&D, IBCLC.
I heard a comedian once say...

"The filming of childbirth...who really wants to see that again? I mean, under what occasion would you pop in the tape and show this? After Thanksgiving Dinner? Having a few co-workers over for dessert?

Filming the Conception, however, has much more entertainment value"

I thought that was hysterical.

Oh, that is too funny!

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I still watch them and love it but before it was because I was so fascinated by birth (still am). Now I watch and giggle because it is so unrealistic. Still it does getr a little irritating when people say it is taking way longer on baby story and I tell them never to go by that show:p

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On admission.

Me: Have you taken any prenatal classes during your pregnancy?

Pt: No, but I've been watching "Baby Story" and reading alot of stuff on the internet.

Me: Groan and :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I 'd love to say to some of them. Oh great that's kind of what I did for nursing school. I just watched ER and surfed on allnurses.com!:wink2:

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Specializes in Labor and Delivery, NICU.

I tend not to watch these shows because I get enough of it at work. I don't really want to watch it on T.V. on my personal time.... :bugeyes:

Don't get me wrong, I love my job though!

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I still watch them and love it but before it was because I was so fascinated by birth (still am). Now I watch and giggle because it is so unrealistic. Still it does getr a little irritating when people say it is taking way longer on baby story and I tell them never to go by that show:p

Whew! I was getting a little nervous.....I'm so glad to see that a Nurse admits to liking them! I have this habit of comparing my thoughts/feelings to what the Nurses here say and I tend to get myself all worked up thinking it means SOMETHING about my potential Nursing skills :uhoh3: :lol2:

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I actually enjoy watching them, just because I like to have a good chuckle and sometimes a good cry...

I do think that those shows are damaging sometimes though. When I was a student doing my final 9 week rotation in labour and delivery, we had a woman tell us that she was preparing for childbirth by watching baby story. Needless to say, she had a very unrealistic expectation of her birth, and I HATE to see a woman dissapointed in her birth experience.:angryfire

Anyway, after everything was said and done she was able to laugh and point out that baby story doesn't show the 3 hours of transition and the two hours of pushing that she experienced. Fortunately my patient had a sense of humour!

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Specializes in LTC, Psych, M/S.

The one I have the most issue with is 'The House of Babies' where they (midwives) are assisting in natural birth - in the tub, ect.

I had a baby 6 months ago - a fairly difficult induced labor in which they pulled her out with the suction cup - it ended in severe postpartum hemmorage. Very heavy bleeding very suddenly after they removed the placenta. The next day the Dr. told me that had been one of his most difficult deliveries, and in referring to the PPH, said "that is a classic reason that women started having babies in the hospital. If that had been a homebirth, you wouldn't be here right now." I had a normal pregnancy, I don't see how they could have predicted that happening so I very well could have gone to a birthing center, done homebirth, ect. I thank God I did not. I mean, they had to be very fast and aggressive to stop the bleeding, and there were like an extra 3 nurses in the room right away (that is what my DH told me since I lost consciousness) how would a midwife handle the situation on her own??

I seriously would be interested to know if Ms. Headmidwife has ever had a case of PPH on her hands and what she did about it.....I wonder what the 'natural' way is to stop someone from bleeding to death??

BTW, for the experienced OB nurses, I know I had several risk factors (pitocin, vaccuum removal, long labor) but PPH could still happen unexpectedly, no?? And PPH is the leading cause of death by childbirth in developing nations.

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Specializes in NICU.
Anyway, after everything was said and done she was able to laugh and point out that baby story doesn't show the 3 hours of transition and the two hours of pushing that she experienced. Fortunately my patient had a sense of humour!

That's exactly what I don't understand - how in the world can these people think that labor and delivery only takes 15 minutes, like it does on the last 15 minutes of "A Baby Story" and other shows? Are we that poisoned by reality TV that we think every show we see is in realtime?

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I absolutely detest these shows! They seem to be scripted (A Baby Story), it's all the same. Start out with the couple, have a family get together, either start labor, go to the hospital, get checked, get an epidural, and it's over with a 5 minute pushing time. Or get induced, same thing when they go to the hospital. Either way, it's all over with in half an hour. In fact, many years ago when I was first starting out as a doula, I had a teen who said that she didn't want any pain meds. She then said, "Well, it's only going to last half an hour and I can take pain for that long." I told her that as a first time mom, that labor was far more likely to last about 12 hours. She said, "No, labor only lasts a few minutes, like on TV!"

She was very disappointed when she was in labor for 13 hours and kept on saying, "Why is it taking so long for me? Everyone on TV is done in half an hour! Something's wrong!!"

There's only one exception: I did like World Birth Day because it showed birth in other countries. That's the only one that had any merit of education to it. The rest? Garbabge. I tell my clients to avoid those shows.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

The sad thing is too many take TV shows too darn literally. They really think shows like ER and Baby Story are true mirrors to which we should hold our real life experiences. They forget quite easily, these are just for entertainment, not education. I have had to tell more than one family that these shows rarely provide a true depiction (30 minute "sounds bites" notwithstanding) of real-life birth and parenting experiences. Therein lies my problem with such shows.

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TV shows are all about the drama. So they're going to cut/paste clips together to make everything look perfect or hellish, depending on the feeling they're going for.

I know someone who was on a reality TV show (Real World on MTV...I don't watch it...lol) and had lots of interesting stories to tell about the editing process. They cut a lot of the more "normal" stuff out in favor of the wild and crazy.

As long as you're thinking while you're watching the shows, you should be ok.

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I did once as a sister to please leave the room because if I heard "I know all about ---- I saw it on A Baby Story" one more time I was going to strangle her with the monitor strip. She especially liked to watch the monitor and announce (in high-pitched, excited voice of one who has not had children) Ohhh, look! You're having another contraction! It looks like a big one! (no, she was not internally monitored) Did she think Mom didn't know?? Please feel free to offer your sister/daughter/in-law/neighbor/postal worker/whomever she is some emotional support and cheering but the equipment does not need your help or attention. (Likewise, I do not need to be "directed" or "produced" for your entertainment tonight. Even if you do have a camera)

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