Praise the Lord that both, mom and baby, are doing ok.
Posted on 12/04/2008 7:52:53 AM PST by Former Fetus
All too often, the congested roads of Greater Boston conspire with the vagaries of childbirth to leave a mother-to-be in a car on the roadside at one of life's most critical moments. A hard-bitten state trooper shows up and morphs into a highway midwife, clearing the newborn's nose and mouth, cutting the cord, and sometimes even saving a life.
This is not one of those stories.
Jennifer Davis was stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Nov. 18, her contractions just 3 minutes apart.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Praise the Lord that both, mom and baby, are doing ok.
Wowsers. She’s beautiful (each one).
caveat: I am not a lawyer and this is what I would do, not necessarily what someone else should do. One should always seek the counsel of a competent attorney in all matters legal.
It’s easy to demonize the officer, but on a forum that applauds individual responsibility, I’m surprised you didn’t point out that this couple put themselves in this situation. This was her second child, so she understood the progression of labor. And they should have figured out alternate routes ahead of time, particularly as they admit they had already thought about rush hour. Sure, people make mistakes, but it seems this couple are making excuses instead of accepting that their own lack of planning was a big factor in the situation. People’s natural sympathy toward mom and baby does not justify putting blame where it does not belong, in my opinion. They should pay the ticket and be thankful.
“Though the Davises live about 30 miles away in Dracut, Jennifer Davis, 38, wanted to have her baby at Mount Auburn, where she had also given birth to her 7-year-old son, Brendan.”
I’m sorry, but I have little sympathy. And I say that as a very pregnant person right now.
Do you know how many hospitals are between Dracut and Alewife, some of which they had to go right past to get to Cambridge? Or how many are much closer than 30 miles? I can name at least 5 and I haven’t enve lived in the area for years. This is not some rural area and this is the closest hospital. Not to mention Route 2 at that point is ALWAYS backed-up. And given Boston drivers, they should be happy they didn’t wind up in a crash as I’ve seen more than one person pull their car in front of someone speeding up the breakdown lane.
If you make the choice to go to a hospital an hour away, you take the risk of not making it.
And the police wonder why they get no respect.
I nominate this scumbag for “Biggest Douchebag in the Universe” award. Protect and serve my a$$. Fire the POS, he obviously needs to find work at the IRS.
And in that state, if you drink and drive with your adulterous partner in the car and go over a bridge and she dies, you get away with it. I guess it’s all in who you know... or something. Let’s just sit and judge what time they should’ve left the house and what hospital they preferred. After all, surely that cop had no better way to deal with the situation.
Hoodlum91 wrote: If you make the choice to go to a hospital an hour away, you take the risk of not making it.
Likewise, if you make the choice to go to work while in labor, you take the risk of rushing to ER.
That seems to be the way things work. Either way, the babies didn't really make these adult choices, did they? :)
I am a spirit of the law sort of guy. Letter of the law people observe the letter because it means they don’t have to make risky decisions. They do everything “by the book”. Problem is, the law is mindless and should only be a guideline.
As a “spirit of the law” guy, I ask, Why was the law written?” and then act according to the “why”. In this case, the law is there to save lives. If the couple uses the shoulder and an emergency flasher, the risk is that there could be a fender bender - not life threatening. However, if they can’t use this lane, the risk is that both the baby and mother die in childbirth during rush hour.
This is why the other cops made decisions and didn’t just rely on mindless rules. They thook the higher path.
Could the couple have done better? Yeah. On the other hand, when the time comes, thinking can get a bit foggy.
BTW, as a spirit of the law guy, I pretty much ignore left turn signal red arrows when there is clearly no traffic, no pedestrians, and no cops. It is totally safe. And it is all about safety.
Babies have minds of their own. I have delivered several babies on the side of the road. I have also delivered one at a Home Depot, and one in the parking lot of a grocery store.
The weirdest thing was a young girl and her husband that were probably still in their teens, but maybe 20. They came walking into the station, said they thought she was in labor, but they weren’t sure. She wasn’t having any pain. We moved her into a private area on a couch, I looked down to see the baby, cord attached laying on the couch. Mom never felt a thing. Unfortunately, my wife didn’t have the same kind of delivery.
They made their choices. Choices have consequences. Rather than dealing with their choices that unfortuntately led to breaking a traffic law, they decided to whine to the press. I’m guessing they’re democrats - always someone else’s fault.
I do. I think it may be just the six kids I have makes me a little “forgiving” of parents action when taking a pregnant woman to the hospital.
But my main focus (due to the way my mind works) is not the couple. It is the, in my opinion, purely stupid adherence to the rules by the officer. Some people do not do well together due to personality or other differences. In my case, I don't do well with letter of the law people and they don't do well with me. What that cop did irritates me. Almost irrationally so.
But the drugs are starting to kick in. ;)
Babies have minds of their own. I have delivered several babies on the side of the road. I have also delivered one at a Home Depot, and one in the parking lot of a grocery store.
I was thinking, "didn't she learn anything after the first couple of times?" Then, I realized you didn't mean your own babies. Doh! LOL
Quota system - fines for revenue - not behavior.
Spirit of the law... that’s the ticket. I love your answer. BTW, when you ignore the left turn red arrows, you are not doing to potentially save a life, are you? Most likely you are trying to save time/aggravation.
Sure they want the revenue but the husband has probably already paid a lot of fines. He’s been cited SIX times for speeding!
Over 20 years? That’s once every 3+ years. The guy’s not exactly a terror.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.