Monday
May242010
Lost Births
Monday, May 24, 2010 at 7:01PM
As a tribute and a farewell to a show that we loved, even if it left us with no real answers, Bonnie, Jill and I give you Lost Births.
Each image links to a photo gallery of births and birth-related scenes in the six seasons of Lost, including a few screencaps from the final episode.
What did you think of how birth was portrayed on Lost?
Reader Comments (40)
On the downside......all LOST women of course go into labor at the drop of a hat and they scream their ways through their entire 5 minute labors (from first "oh, something's happening" contraction to birth). And of course, all women need forceful direction on how and when to push.
On the plus side, it showed that birth can safely take place in hospitals, roadsides, and mysterious desert islands.
Another one on the plus side, at least most of them seemed really happy and elated after birth. Except, of course, the moms who ended up dying or getting immediately killed after birth. I guess you can't win them all.
I enjoyed the different areas, medical scenes and so on... it was nice to see the diversity in birth.
BUT, and it's a big butt... I will never, ever stop being bored to tears with the classic 'screaming banshee birthing woman' while attendants order, "PUSH PUSH PUSH" thing that TV/movies do. I *hate* it. While birth may be that traumatic for some women, it isn't the standard to be laying there screaming and screaming and screaming like you're being brutally murdered because the pain is so bad you think that brutal murder would be preferable to the last few pushes. Ugh.
What I wouldn't give for birth imagery of a woman quietly moaning, rocking, vocalizing and naturally giving into her body's reflexive pushes...
PS. I don't know why, but the two slides with captions, "Claudia asks to see her babies", "Mother hits Claudia with a rock" made me splorfle a little bit.
agreed. i do like that the show had birth happen normally, without complication and "medical" intervention in various scenes. but yes--can we please get a woman who has actually had a natural birth writing a birth scene on tv? just once? i have only birthed two children, but the last thing i needed for either birth was to be told to push. no woman, birthing out in the jungle or backstage or where ever else not in a hospital, would be lying on her back screaming while some one yelled "PUSH!" it just wouldn't happen.
I vehemently disliked the direction to PUSH! in last night's episode. This notion that a relative stranger who (we assume) has zero experience with birth, and let alone not being the actual woman doing so at this particular moment, has to be told when to push like that was just too much for me.
The out of hospital and unmedicated births were a refreshing change of pace, absolutely, but the laboring woman was always still shown as a helpless vessel who needed someone, anyone, to rescue her.
A resounding 'meh!' from me, I'm afraid.
"Another one on the plus side, at least most of them seemed really happy and elated after birth." - Augusta
So if they had portrayed a mom who wasn't happy after birth and failed to bond with their baby, that wouldn't have been realistic?
Up to 80% of women end up with baby blues. 20% go on to develop full blown mood disorders.
These disorders interfere with bonding, breastfeeding, and the overall well-being of both Mom and infant.
ALL of this is largely ignored and/or greatly sensationalized on TV and in the media. Moms with PMD's are largely portrayed as psychotic when in actuality there is quite a range of mood disorders on the Postpartum Spectrum. Just because Mom is depressed doesn't mean she's gonna go murder her child in some dramatic way. But alas, it's what gets ratings so that's what happens.
I would welcome a program that showed a mother realistically portraying a Postpartum Mood Disorder or failing to bond with her infant after birth.
But I fear it will be quite awhile before this happens on mainstream television here in America.
I have extremely passionate reactions to birth on television. My husband often has to remind me that it is make believe when I start screaming at the TV. With Lost, I was mostly okay. I definitely rolled my eyes and groaned at several things, but I had to give credit that most of the births were more natural and 'normal' than a lot of the stuff I see on A Baby Story. My biggest complaint was actually after a birth, when Amy was laying in a hammock with newborn baby Ethan, just a day or two after a c-section. ARE YOU SERIOUS?! I haven't had a c-section, but the very idea of laying in an not-really-supportive, constantly moving hammock, where you need strong stomach muscles to get yourself out, right after you just had your stomach sliced open, sounds beyond horrific to me. I yelled (a lot) at the TV about that one.
I loathe Lost Births. They are all the same, just like nearly every other TV birth: mom always goes, "ZOMG, baby's coming!" and is INSTANTLY in transition. Everyone freaks out and scrambles around while she screams and her eyes bug out. Someone swoops in to Save The Day and yells at her to PUSHPUSHPUSH! Sometimes they throw in a little medical non-emergency or a dead mom to spice it up a little. Then, a 3-month-old covered in jam and cream cheese (really, that's what they use for vernix on Lost) appears, and everyone cries and smiles. Yay! Ugh.
Claire's birth (the real one, not the alternate reality) was only slightly less aggravating and more realistic than the rest. She had false labor a few times. She was afraid when it finally happened and went off on her own instead of spazzing out and screaming for help. Kate was annoying with the coached pushing, but not nearly as bad as it was in the alternate world
Sun's birth: cord around the neck, we need to do a C-section?? :headdesk:
Ethan's birth: weren't they still doing vaginal breech births in the early 70s?? That REALLY annoyed me, that they were all, "ZOMG, Cesarean, it's breech!" I tried bringing this up on my Lost forum and no one really cared.
Penny's birth: ugh, I know we don't really know details, but the whole "here comes the doctor with the mighty forceps to save you!" just got under my skin.
Jacob and Samuel's birth: it really struck me as odd that, however many MILLENIA ago this was, they still portrayed a birthing mother on her back, with her legs pushed back, yelled at to push. I really don't think the writers have much knowledge of birth culture or history other than what they've seen on TV as well.
As much as I love Lost, it's disappointing to see birth continuing to be portrayed in in such an inaccurate, sensationalized light by the media. For many people, this is the only frame of reference they have.
I thought the best one was probably Claire's first birth (on the island). Otherwise, I had to chuckle at the sudden transition labor and delivery. I do have one friend with precipitous labor who delivered that way, but let's face it, most of us labor for hours and hours and hours before delivery, and it isn't "super painful panicking time" for at least most of that. In that way, Jim and Pam's delivery on "The Office" was much more realistic in that she was in labor for a very long time.
ITA that I hated the PUSHPUSHPUSH of Kate delivering Claire's baby at that concert. How would Kate know how to coach someone, anyway?
During the twin delivery of Jacob and Samuel, I said, "Wow, I like how they didn't make her stomach get flat immediately after delivering the baby. It's more realistic!" but then it turned out she had a second baby inside.
I think the relative normalcy in the Lost births is nice...but yes, I am SO VERY tired of the "Hmm....I think that might be a contrac...I CAN FEEL THE BABY'S HEEEEAAAAD!" And except for the chick in the room next to me during my first birth...I have NEVER EVER NEVER heard a woman scream like a nut when birthing...unless she was on one of those baby shows...and no one told her to shutup.
In an episode of ER, when Carol Hathaway goes into labor, Luka coaches her to make low moaning sounds. :) When I saw that (not ever having had a baby, but witnessed a few births) I actually cheered. :D
I rolled my eyes when a c-section was suggested for Ethan. And NO, 2 days post birth. you are not swinging in a hammock. My husband tapped my foot around the 48 hour mark...sent jolts of pain through my entire body.
KK- I might actually have to watch Claire's birth, then (ironic since my daughter's name is Claire). I had so many conversations/arguments with my husband when I was towards the end of my pregnancy because he wouldn't let me drive further than about 30 minutes because "I might go into labor in the car". I told him that was silly and that only happened in movies; most women were in labor for hours and there would be lots of time to get to the hospital. I woke him up at 3:30 am to say that we should probably call the doctor and Claire was born less than 1.5 hours later. I would say that the pain only hit when I was in transition, I just had no idea that I was in transition until after she was born!
Terribly ironic since I insisted to people that she probably wouldn't come on my due date and we'd have lots of time to get to the hospital- born within 5 hours of first contraction and 1 day post due-date.
Did anyone else read the story about the woman who gave birth DRIVING IN HER CAR. now that is awesome! Gravity works!
Agree that Claire's first Lost birth was pretty good and others not so fabulous.
I'll throw in some other TV births.
Good: on Grey's Anatomy, Dr Bailey has an unmedicated hospital birth over the objections of a skeptical OB. She spends 80% of the labor standing up and breathing/rocking through contractions. When its time to push, resident George sits behind her in a supported upright position straight out of a Bradley childbirth book sketch, and provides encouragement rather than yelling. Bailey's whole demeanor is determined, not panicked. (Except when she learns that her husband got in a car accident on the way to the hospital and needs trauma surgery - but it wouldn't be TV without some drama.)
Terrible: just this week on "V", Val has her half-alien baby in a spaceship attended by Visitor physicians. They are supposedly super-advanced, but the birth is straight out of 1950's with mom lying on a metal table, male doctors ignoring her, father required to leave the room during birth. As usual, mom is writhing in horrible pain while 2 cm dilated. At one point, the doctor walks up and without even having checked the mother, announces "she's crowning now." Perhaps he has x-ray vision? This is not explained. There is a lot of screaming. I suppose the good news is that baby does emerge normally, not through surgery or teleportation. The bad news is that the mother is deliberately murdered right after birth, and the baby is a lizard.
"The bad news is that the mother is deliberately murdered right after birth, and the baby is a lizard."
LOL! That is a bad delivery!!
I almost included a question about how mothers were viewed on Lost but I think the Disney-like theme of a child surviving in a motherless world was obvious enough. Now that the show is over, I want to read a badass sociological analysis of the show.
I can remember watching some show with a woman giving birth on it and my mother scoffing at the tv saying "oh please, you don't have to scream like that!" So it's been ingrained in me that every tv birth is rediculous. I was very annoyed that Claire's labor progressed so fast, I can only imagine the damage done "down there" since her body didn't have time to adjust for a baby coming out.
@Augusta, The closest I've ever seen to a real birth on tv was on Northern Exposure when Shelly gave birth, no screaming and she knew what to do and when to push. Awesome episode.
Sorry, I meant my last comment to be directed to Heather
The thing that kept making me crazy about Lost was all these babies getting separated from their mothers; how did they eat?! Seriously, what do you feed an infant on a deserted island if they can't breastfeed? Like in the episode where Kate leaves the island with Aaron, and he sleeps angelically for hours and hours in her arms... and after the twins' mother gets killed... What are people feeding these babies?
Dharma brand formula, of course.
Yes, you wonder how Aaron was so content without any food. And how Kate explained to her rescuers that Aaron needed a bottle and she wasn't breastfeeding. Maybe the shock of being rescued depleted her milk supply? (rolls eyes)
As for the hammock after the cesarean, people on the Island do seem to have an unusually speedy recovery from all sorts of injuries, so maybe it worked the same way with cesarean recovery? The 'healing capabilities' of the island stopped me from questioning that scene.
"And except for the chick in the room next to me during my first birth...I have NEVER EVER NEVER heard a woman scream like a nut when birthing...unless she was on one of those baby shows...and no one told her to shutup."
I was a screamer while pushing out DD2. I felt like I was a nut for screaming, but it felt better when I screamed. And no, no one told me to shut up. They were very supportive, even though most of those in the room had never seen a natural birth. After the birth, I apologized for being so loud, and they all insisted that I "wasn't that loud!" I', sure I have a few toher mom's on L&D that morning a good scare, or laugh!
Back to Lost though, the biggest complaints that I have are..they are all on their backs, and have to be told to push. Seriously, in unmedicated birth, it is the mother that knows when it is time to push, and no one else!