Covid-19, Part XIII

[Roy Tucker]

Like 1 second after they were born, I realized I had no real idea what I was introducing to my life, both unbelievably great and unbelievably terrifying.

I call it the festival of life.

When my son was born (our first of three), we had been through the big day of birthing and all that happens on that day. Finally, my wife had fallen asleep and they took the baby to the nursery for the night. I decided to stop by for one last look before heading home.

I must have had a oh my god what have I gotten myself into look because and nurse came out to talk to me. She said “don’t worry, you figure this out and everything will be fine. I see a lot of first time dads with this look”. And it was. Just that you’ll not ever think just for yourself again. But I wouldn’t trade fatherhood for a million bucks.

[Boston Red]

Wait, you went home the night your firstborn was born?

[RedTeamGo!]

Like 1 second after they were born, I realized I had no real idea what I was introducing to my life, both unbelievably great and unbelievably terrifying.

Yep.

Getting confronted by stuff like that when it’s actually happening is pretty wild. Absolutely nothing can fully prepare you for these kinds of life moments. Right now we are dealing with my daughter going through all kinds of developmental testing, it started with her speech being delayed and we didn’t really think too much of it, because she seemed completely “normal” socially, smiles, looks us in the eyes, laughs, she’s physical at the playground, loves her brother and us parents, etc. Now we have speech therapists telling us it’s likely she’s on the spectrum. It’s all very surreal while it’s happening. It’s even more difficult because she’s only 2.5 years old, so we are getting different opinions by everyone. Our pediatrician and the developmental pediatrician both say she’s not showing signs of autism, but these therapists all seem pretty sure it is. Its all very confusing and surreal.

[Roy Tucker]

Wait, you went home the night your firstborn was born?

Yeah. It was 1988. There weren’t birthing suites or anything like that yet. I could have slept in a chair. They pretty much told me to go home.

It changed pretty rapidly after that. My 3 children were born on a Wednesday, a Thursday, and a Friday respectively. But each time, they came home on a Saturday. I think I spent the night for our second. For the third, we had 2 at hone that needed to be taken care of.

[RedTeamGo!]

Yeah. It was 1988. There weren’t birthing suites or anything like that yet. I could have slept in a chair. They pretty much told me to go home.

It changed pretty rapidly after that. My 3 children were born on a Wednesday, a Thursday, and a Friday respectively. But each time, they came home on a Saturday. I think I spent the night for our second. For the third, we had 2 at hone that needed to be taken care of.

That’s wild she was in labor for 72 hours!

[Roy Tucker]

That’s wild she was in labor for 72 hours!

No. It’s more a comment on insurance coverage:

Zach was born on Wednesday and came home on Saturday.
Jen was born on Thursday and came home on Saturday.
Lizzy was born on Friday and came home on Saturday.

Insurance let them stay at the hospital less and less.

[Wonderful Monds]

Wonder, only a short time ago, your anxiety level regarding Covid was exceptionally high. So high, in fact, that I don't think it's a stretch to say that you were obsessed with getting vaccinated- to the point where you were willing to go to extreme measures to protect yourself by becoming vaccinated.

Yet now, while others are suggesting caution, you appear to be implying that their takes are unreasonable.

I would think, that given your initial level of concern, you really wouldn't have a proverbial dog in this fight. You care to explain?

I mean I think covid was pretty serious at one point, I just think that some people have gotten invested in the pandemic as kind of a culture war thing though, and I think WV is a good dude, but posting whack jobs like Feigl-Ding is a step in that direction. That’s kind of all I’m seeing.

I don’t really have a dog in that fight beyond just kinda pointing out things as I see it I guess. I feel like doing the whole “the pandemic isn’t over with us” bit every couple days like it’s remotely possible we could return to 2020 or winter 2021 levels of danger is kinda silly and not really based in reality. With the level of immunity we have built up between vaccines and prior infections, the only real thing the Delta variant is going to do is get us to herd immunity faster tbh.



Edit: I guess to be more concise, I have zero investment semantically whether “covid is over or not”, I’m vaccinated and as it pertains to me the world is moving on and I can do pretty much anything I wanted to do before the pandemic except for travel internationally or something like that. If people want to take precautions because they have children or are worried based on that, or have concerns about whatever variant, then have it. But just as I had little tolerance for 5G microchip vaccines or plandemic conspiracy BS, I have little tolerance for sharing stuff from the center-left equivalent of Alex Jones grifters who seem invested in the notion of covid never ending for whatever inane purposes.

[RedTeamGo!]

No. It’s more a comment on insurance coverage:

Zach was born on Wednesday and came home on Saturday.
Jen was born on Thursday and came home on Saturday.
Lizzy was born on Friday and came home on Saturday.

Insurance let them stay at the hospital less and less.

I was just kidding!

[BernieCarbo]

No. It’s more a comment on insurance coverage:

Zach was born on Wednesday and came home on Saturday.
Jen was born on Thursday and came home on Saturday.
Lizzy was born on Friday and came home on Saturday.

Insurance let them stay at the hospital less and less.

Our first five were born though a midwife and we went home the same day. My wife was 37 for our last kid though, and the midwife still did it but it was at a birthing center at the hospital. They required her to spend one night there.

I don’t know if midwives are more common in Europe, but we didn’t even think twice about it.

[Boston Red]

We had three c-sections (well, my wife did), so there was clearly no going home the first couple of days.

[RiverRat13]

Yep.

Getting confronted by stuff like that when it’s actually happening is pretty wild. Absolutely nothing can fully prepare you for these kinds of life moments. Right now we are dealing with my daughter going through all kinds of developmental testing, it started with her speech being delayed and we didn’t really think too much of it, because she seemed completely “normal” socially, smiles, looks us in the eyes, laughs, she’s physical at the playground, loves her brother and us parents, etc. Now we have speech therapists telling us it’s likely she’s on the spectrum. It’s all very surreal while it’s happening. It’s even more difficult because she’s only 2.5 years old, so we are getting different opinions by everyone. Our pediatrician and the developmental pediatrician both say she’s not showing signs of autism, but these therapists all seem pretty sure it is. Its all very confusing and surreal.

This is very similar to my son. His speech delay is pretty severe. We had him evaluated for autism when he was four. They told him to bring him back when he was seven to be evaluated. When he was seven they said he was too old to be evaluated. At one time he was receiving PT, OT and speech services. Now just down to speech, which I expect him to continue for years to come (he's nine now). If you need to know what to expect in future years, just let me know.

[RedTeamGo!]

This is very similar to my son. His speech delay is pretty severe. We had him evaluated for autism when he was four. They told him to bring him back when he was seven to be evaluated. When he was seven they said he was too old to be evaluated. At one time he was receiving PT, OT and speech services. Now just down to speech, which I expect him to continue for years to come (he's nine now). If you need to know what to expect in future years, just let me know.

I will keep this in mind. Thank you, genuinely.

[Sea Ray]

You’ve moved on? Seems like you talk about it more than anyone on this site…

Indeed, I talk about this subject a lot but in my life, I've moved on. I don't live my life any differently now than I did before C19 except in areas where I'm forced to such as flying but I don't fly very often

[Boston Red]

South America is where the real Covid action is these days (and has been for a while). In Peru, over .5% of their population has died of Covid. That's crazy. 4 of the top 19 countries in deaths per capita are South American countries now. The rest, of course, are in Europe.

[Plus Plus]

Yep.

Getting confronted by stuff like that when it’s actually happening is pretty wild. Absolutely nothing can fully prepare you for these kinds of life moments. Right now we are dealing with my daughter going through all kinds of developmental testing, it started with her speech being delayed and we didn’t really think too much of it, because she seemed completely “normal” socially, smiles, looks us in the eyes, laughs, she’s physical at the playground, loves her brother and us parents, etc. Now we have speech therapists telling us it’s likely she’s on the spectrum. It’s all very surreal while it’s happening. It’s even more difficult because she’s only 2.5 years old, so we are getting different opinions by everyone. Our pediatrician and the developmental pediatrician both say she’s not showing signs of autism, but these therapists all seem pretty sure it is. Its all very confusing and surreal.

I work in disability services and can confidently say that both this experience and RiverRat13's aren't terribly uncommon. I'd also be happy to help in any way that I can, answering questions or helping with resources.