No Pediatric ICU Beds Available in North Texas as COVID-19 Cases Surge

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There are currently 73 confirmed COVID-19 pediatric patients hospitalized in the trauma service area E.

That is the highest level of pediatric COVID-19 patients ever treated.

It's a new variant and schools are starting soon where certain governors banned mask mandates. It's going to get so much worse if kids aren't wearing masks this fall.

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u/SomeoneTookUserName2 16d ago

Everyone dies eventually - MTG

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u/Arcade80sbillsfan 16d ago

Magic the Gathering going dark there I see.

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u/swodaem 15d ago

When was MtG ever NOT dark haha. Phyrexians, the Eldrazi, Gideon's story is pretty tragic, Garruk before Eldraine, and that's just what I remember off the top of my head.

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u/throwmeaway322zzz 15d ago

My og era: Apocalypse. Invasion. Hell yeah.

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u/MadScienceBro 15d ago

Remember when Gerrard wanted to skullfuck Urza in order to get Hannah back?

Pepperidge Farm remembers

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u/throwmeaway322zzz 15d ago

Urza was so lit. Man there's been some op eras of magic, good lord

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u/kinyodas 15d ago

I started when Legends was the big expansion - damn I’m old.

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u/Thrownawaybyall 15d ago

Um, akshually, Arabian Nights and Antiquities came out before The Dark... 😉

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u/swodaem 15d ago

Ah shit I walked into that one haha

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u/rcglinsk 15d ago

Reads like lazy flavor text for the next doom blade variant.

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u/permalink_save 15d ago

- Dan "kill your gran" Patrick

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u/badluckbrians 16d ago edited 16d ago

You need more than just masks.

You need hybrid learning.
You need to lower classroom capacity.
You need to bring back 6' social distancing.
You need to bring back sanitizing desks and hands every period.
You need to bring back outdoor classes and outdoor lunch.

Look, you need the whole package, because it sets the routine for kids. They know things are different. The classroom dynamic is different. The ritual is different.

If you go back to no sanitizing and no ventilation and no social distancing and full-capacity in-person classrooms––even if you mandate masks––it's gonna be kids jumping all over each other, pulling masks down, breathing all over each other, and even if masks are better than no masks, it's gonna be a shit show.

Once they start testing positive for covid, they have to quarantine and go online anyways. And once enough of them get it, the school gets shut down anyways. So let's cut the bullshit dreams of an all in-person school-year and accept the fact that we're not getting that no matter how bad we want it!

We know how to do this relatively safely, but we threw the fucking rule-book away back in April around the time we threw the adult mask mandate away, and it's not gonna work. CDC really needs to go back to March 2021 pandemic guidelines for schools––probably for everything, but especially for schools. This rosy 3ft, mask-optional, pack the kids into the room until fire-code, bullshit isn't gonna cut it. Whether you wish it would or not, whatever your opinion is, it's just not gonna work in real life with real kids in a real school.

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u/Kasperly10 16d ago

The fact that anti-maskers compare this to segregation is mind blowing

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u/badluckbrians 16d ago

The people from the region that did all the segregation and slavery...are the first ones to say everything is segregation and slavery...except actual segregation and slavery...which they'll tell you weren't that bad, actually.

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u/Mythosaurus 15d ago

The white people from the region.

Black people like my grandparents lived through Jim Crow in MS. My grandma also survived a year quarantined with tuberculosis as a child.

And they have consistently reminded me to trust the CDC and feds, and to ignore the conservative propaganda from Tate Reeves.

Bc southern black people know what it's like to be targeted by agents of the state for marginalization/ elimination. And mask mandates and vaccines ain't how that works.

Especially when rich white people are getting the same treatment.

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u/badluckbrians 15d ago

The white people from the region.

Absolutely true. Thought the white implication was clear from "that did all the segregation and slavery." Apologies for the imprecise language.

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u/Mythosaurus 15d ago

It's ok. And even then, there were white people like Newt Knight who tried ro make interracial democracy work in southern MS. But those voices were always drowned out by Redeemers.

And it is very frustrating to see conservative FB friends from MS and AL spam memes equating mask mandates to Nazis.

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u/jtatc1989 15d ago

Those people are in fact, ass backwards

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u/InsertSmartassRemark 15d ago

Also the first people to utter the phrase "I don't have a racist bone in my body," Failing to acknowledge that the only reason they believe that is because their bones are white and white bones can't be racist when they're surrounded exclusively by other white bones.

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u/Srnkanator 16d ago

Because it will be, and young kids won't know it. I have a first grader in LTISD in TX, there is no mandate and no tracing. There is going to be social pressure and division and they will naturally separate into the masked and unmasked, and won't know why.

I'm scared as hell, both of my son getting it, and the pressure to take off his mask. He doesn't have the choice of being vaccinated.

Masks only work if all kids wear them. My child protects your child if they are both masked, if one isn't then it's not possible to stop the spread.

Look at Palm Beach county in FL. They last TWO DAYS and had 500 quarantine and 50 cases, and now mandate masks.

It's why I'm up at this hour right now.

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u/secondtaunting 15d ago

Wait: no contact tracing? Are they serious?

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u/kaji823 15d ago

Our governor ensured that schools cannot be required to do anything sensibile.

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u/unearth1y 15d ago

Did you have the choice to keep them remote learning ?

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u/SeaOfFireflies 15d ago

Not this person but also in Texas in Killeen area. No, they removed the virtual learning option because of budget they said.

So essentially you either you go the homeschool route or you have to send them to school. It is nerve-wracking and frustrating to no end.

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u/Wakethefckup 15d ago

When it comes to infectious disease, that’s when segregation is a good thing.

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u/delfinom 16d ago

You need to bring back sanitizing desks and hands every period.

Eh, it's been proven and beaten to death that covid does not spread via surfaces easily at all. The original studies had such absurd concentrations of covid particles used in the study, that it was equivalent to somebody deep throating the door knob.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00251-4

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u/Boarderdudeman 15d ago

was equivalent to somebody deep throating the door knob.

Dont threaten me with a good time.

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u/FrisianDude 15d ago

I gotta knob for ya

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u/biggmclargehuge 15d ago

If the hospitals are maxed out in capacity it's probably not a bad idea to be clean in other aspects to minimize getting OTHER things that could land you in the hospital.

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u/badluckbrians 16d ago

I'm not arguing about the biochemistry or the virology. I'm arguing about the psychology.

Ok, Kids! Remember to keep six feet apart! Now wipe down your desks before class begins...Ok, class is over, wipe down and sanitize your desks!

Not only does this keep snot and gum and shit at a minimum, but it reminds children every period to be vigilant and not yank their masks down or climb all over each other or spit up everywhere.

The ritual matters.

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u/Send_me_snoot_pics 15d ago

I actually agree with this. My kid is autistic and the only way she will wash her hands or brush her teeth is if it’s the same routine every time. Tell her to randomly wash her hands and she’ll make a fuss. She’ll do it, but she’ll make a fuss about it.

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u/BackFromHell 15d ago

How does making the “ritual” more complicated with unneeded wiping down and hand washing make it better?

That literally makes no sense. Why not establish a “ritual” of actions that actually make a difference?

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u/forwardseat 15d ago

Honestly... maybe it doesn't make a difference for Covid. But... there's a million other things that always spread through schools like wildfire, and I can't help but feel like maybe these actions, if they become routine and ingrained, could help a LOT with just... common colds and strep and RSV and all the other things that fly around.

So maybe it's irrelevent to the current crisis - but... a good thing long term.

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u/BackFromHell 15d ago

Hmm yeah that’s not a bad point really.

Plus it helps teach kids to clean up after themselves in general , which as any parent knows is a nightmare

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u/TickTockM 16d ago

Although it’s probably rare, says Cowling, transmission through surfaces can’t be ruled out.

eh..i would keep sanitizing desks and teaching proper higiene

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u/miss3lle 15d ago

I don’t know, I remember I used to chew on all of my pencils and pens. I feel like if you needed a real life scenario to go with “absurd concentrations” I could have made it work.

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u/Globalboy70 15d ago

Delta produces a 1000x more virus particles, sitting is an enclosed space for hours I think mask may reduce load, but everyone is going to be exposed in that situation. Elementary schools...

Day 1- One person spreading ...6 get sick,

Day 2- Everyone in class infected

Day 3- People start feeling sick and testing begins.

Day 4- Everyone sent home.. and it begins in another class..

Day 5- Whole school under quarantine

And thats if people are on the ball with testing...not likely.

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u/wankthisway 15d ago

Too late. They let the cat out of the bag early this year and now even more people hate having to do all this. The government fucked up SO BAD, even under new leadership. This shit should have lasted until vaccination rates were like 70%.

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u/ajaxfetish 15d ago

New leadership has ensured vaccines are available to everyone and pushed hard to get people inoculated. Blame the anti-vax crazies, blame MAGA, blame Q-anon, blame Fox, blame congressional Republicans, but it doesn't make sense to put this on the Biden admin.

The vaccines we've got provide effective protection against all the current variants, and if people had cooperated, we wouldn't be dealing with the current surge, society would all be back open, and in-person school would be no problem.

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u/tinacat933 16d ago

When they came out and said the kids need to be back in school with no * that it may be a shit show they did wrong . Just like the dumb unvaxxed People don’t need masks. They have dropped the ball at every turn in terms of messaging. Don’t they have one physiological who works for them?

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u/mces97 16d ago

I just went camping with my friend and his family (we're all vaccinated). His kid sneezed when he was eating food and food flew all over me, and my friend. I got pretty peeved. Although my friend had to get a covid test the next day because a client of his requested one before coming into his home. Negative. So no covid. But I used that example cause kids are walking germ factories.

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u/ShoutLevon 15d ago

He wouldn't test positive the next day anyway - but still be able to carry it. Incubation periods homie

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u/badluckbrians 16d ago

Exactly. All these smart asses telling me about how the virus spreads don't realize how much kids cling and climb and ooze and wipe and stain and put in their mouths, etc.

It gets exponentially worse the more of them you put in a room too.

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u/buggiegirl 15d ago

Even with masks, kids don't wear them right, kids suck on them, heck I had a kid pull his mask down to sneeze! Like that is the entire point of the mask kid, to block your sneeze. And this is not a 5 year old, he was like 10 and said he didn't want his mask to get all snotty inside.

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u/3dchart 15d ago

I’ve seen several full grown adults do the same thing.

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u/langis_on 16d ago

You need hybrid learning.

Please God, not again

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u/badluckbrians 16d ago

It sucks. It sucks for everyone. It sucks for teachers. It sucks for kids. It sucks for parents. Lord does it suck.

But you know what parents are gonna hate more? Shelling out their full deductible plus some on hospital bills, wondering if there was anything more they could have done to protect their kids, wondering if there's anything more the school district could have done, and probably no small number suing over it, if and when the worst happens.

Pediatric ICU beds are in shorter supply than adult, and kids don't have vaccines at all under 12. You can't just let covid rip through them. By the time 60 or 80 in a school have it, it's gonna shut down one way or another.

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u/langis_on 16d ago

Then they should be all online. Hybrid learning is the worst of both worlds.

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u/badluckbrians 16d ago

You might have a point there. I rarely cry crocodile tears for school admin, but I see those kinds of decisions as tough. You get some % of kids who for whatever reason kinda need to be there as much as they can. And you have all the school staff from lunch ladies and janitors and bus drivers and beyond who get canned if that happens. So it can't be an easy call. Still, I imagine more online-only programs will be popping up.

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u/SuurRae 16d ago

Came to say this. Hybrid is by far the worst option. Either have all kids masked and everyone who is eligible vaxxed, or go online.

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u/bobone77 16d ago

It’s not though. It’s terribly inconvenient, but the average middle/high school kid cannot handle fully online schools. The failure rates were ASTRONOMICAL when we went full online in March 2020. Like, high to the point of us being told we couldn’t fail anyone for anything. Never once showed their face on zoom? Here’s your C. Showed up to zoom class but never did a single assignment? Here’s your C. With the hybrid model we went to in the fall, at least kids felt somewhat more accountable.

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u/SuurRae 16d ago

I taught online all of last year and I completely agree with you. Kids need to be in in-person school, but they also need to be safe AND have structure. We can do that with masking and vaccinations. Starting in person and ignoring CDC guidelines to the point where you are forced to go back online for 2 weeks at a time is just...asinine

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u/TickTockM 16d ago

in our school district kids that were fully virtual tested better than kids that where in person

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u/foxyfree 15d ago

Where I live that’s because it’s open book and the adults in their lives are helping them pass their classes, even doing entire assignments for their kids.

The parents I work with who do this don’t see it as cheating even though they’re cheating their child out of actually learning the material. People have become cynical about the government, schools and a society they see as rigged. Cheating culture is here to stay

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u/TickTockM 15d ago edited 15d ago

oh I'm talking about standardized testing. where the kids had to go into school and take the test

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u/scottywh 16d ago

Online is great with participative and supportive parents.

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u/buggiegirl 15d ago

My twins did the end of 2nd grade online and the entirety of 3rd grade. Both times I took a leave of absence from work after trying to do both for a bit because at that age there was just no way for them to do it without me supervising and helping out. So yeah, at least for elementary schoolers you need not only a participative and supportive parent, but someone who is basically a facilitator, which doesn't mesh well with an adult working from home.

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u/InformalWish 15d ago

As a single parent who works from home and had a 1st grader doing virtual school last year, this. All of this.

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u/lucifer-ase 16d ago

You can thank the anti vaccination dumbshits thank for that. There are plenty of vaccine doses for everyone. But thank you these brain dead morons we can’t stamp out this pandemic. The Deep South should be renamed Dumb South

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u/hopeandanchor 16d ago

It's bad everywhere. I live in Jersey (but in a red part) I get looks wherever I go for wearing a mask. The local news comments are filled with people who refuse to get the shot. It's insane.

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u/Cursethewind 15d ago

Don't forget in middle and high school those kids make out as often as they can. One moment where there isn't a teacher directly observing them, they'll be eating their partner's face.

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u/neatgeek83 16d ago

They already started

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u/ericchen 16d ago

Better hope no kids are hurt in a car accident or falling off a playground, because there won’t be any beds for them at the trauma center.

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u/happydaddydoody 15d ago

On old family friend doctor went into his kids do fine with covid speech, “there’s no need to stress the vaccine with them. 99.98% of kids survive.” Yeah. Well. Until they don’t. I teach and I’m NOT looking forward to the fall.

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u/awj 15d ago

That number assumes access to life saving care.

That aside, there are roughly 50 million children in the us under 12. Writing off up to 10,000 of them out of hand is barbaric, not to mention all the long term effects we still don’t understand.

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u/TaliesinMerlin 15d ago

Oh, the schools have started in some of these places. Schools in the South commonly start at the beginning of August.

I'm in the weird mental place I've been for the past year and a half of hoping for the best, expecting something bad, and getting either that or worse.

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u/-CraftCoffee- 15d ago

If/when kids start to die due to lack of precautions and care, change the legislature for reckless manslaughter.

Don't want to wear masks despite overwhelming benefits? Join the people that decided to go drive while drunk despite decades of warnings.

These people are so closely related to domestic terrorists and war criminals it's starting to get hard to tell them apart.

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u/elfastronaut 16d ago

Ya but they are sacrificing their children for a good cause; its nearly the elections and this will score big with a large contingent of voters who are psychopathic.

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u/iwoketoanightmare 15d ago

We have mask mandates in my state. Drove past the HS yesterday and at least 50 kids were outside within a foot of eachother doing PE. only two appeared to have masks on. It's going to be a long winter.

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u/Bicentennial_Douche 15d ago

"Just let people not get vaccinated, they are only hurting themselves!"

Sure, I could get behind that. If those fucking dingleberries also agree to not head to hospital when they are gasping for air with their failing lungs.

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u/permalink_save 15d ago

There was a post floating around from /r/facepalm where this guy went on a rant, basically that if they are refusing the vaccine and they refuse to let doctors help prevent them from getting it, they (the people catching COVID) should stick to their guns and refuse getting treatment for it too. Like seriously, that's got to be the most pathetic move, refusing to take basic safety precautions then scream for help when you do get in shit. It's like that stick in the bike wheel meme. Even more fucked up, Abbott is doing the same thing on a wider level, trying to prevent mask mandates then has the gall to ask for help for the state to bring in outside nurses. Like who the fuck would want to come here after Abbott fucked us over.

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u/DrClearCut 15d ago

I'm obligated to treat them, as an ER doctor. I make it painfully clear that they're hypocrites and here because they chose to be sick.

"Did you get the vaccine? Why not? Okaaay... Well, the "treatment" for COVID isn't nearly as tested as the vaccine, and has way more side effects. Is it safe to assume since you didn't want the vaccine you wouldn't want the treatment options? You would? Ok, just so you know, we don't really know if any of it works, unlike the vaccine."

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u/Kether_Nefesh 15d ago

And not infecting children too young to be vaccinated.

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u/NeighborInDeed 16d ago

No ICU beds in Wichita. ks

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u/Festive_davidks2009 16d ago

Oh shit. Didn't realize it was that bad here. I guess I look at too much national/international news that I forgot about the local news

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u/NeighborInDeed 16d ago

its easy to do...overlook the local i mean. https://www.kwch.com/2021/08/11/zero-icu-beds-available-segwick-county/

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u/Festive_davidks2009 15d ago

Hell, think about the big things too much and you miss out on enjoying the things in front of you.

I'm definitely gonna get in the habit of checking the local news in addition to the craziness going on out there.

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u/whereami1928 15d ago

At the end of the day, it's (most) of what really affects people. Vote in your local elections fam!

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u/Myfourcats1 15d ago

That’s so terrifying and sad. Those children don’t deserve to suffer like.

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u/lucifer-ase 16d ago

These imbeciles are literally sacrificing their own children for politics, it’s nothing short of bizarre

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u/shady8x 15d ago

Well to be fair, most of them are sacrificing other peoples children. And even those that are sacrificing their own, they are under the impression that it won't be their children, but some other children. After all, they are a good christian family that doesn't miss church every Sunday, why would something bad happen to them?

Only when it does happen to their family, do they change their mind and become supportive of measures to save us from this terrible plague which is apparently real after all.

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u/Rectangled1 15d ago

But don’t tread on me....

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u/DanYHKim 15d ago

Not just their own. Kids cannot get vaccinated yet.

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u/hopeandanchor 16d ago

At the height of this thing, I would read comments from parents about how schools needed to be open without any restrictions. My take away from some of them was "these people really don't care about their kids" and now they seem to want to prove that.

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u/ItFromDawes 16d ago

Must be worth it to own the libs

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u/JohnnyBoy11 15d ago

Beyond politics…sounds cultish now.

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u/sinfoid 15d ago

But they are PrO LiFe

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u/tehmlem 15d ago

It's a suicide bomb. For as much as they bitched and moaned about China intentionally spreading the virus, that's become the core of the conservative platform. "Make sure this virus can keep spreading! It's freedom!"

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u/SewAlone 15d ago

Kinda like a.....cult.

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u/ct_2004 15d ago

The parents fighting for their kids to go to school unmasked is mind-blowing. They're literally fighting to have their kids be able to have an increased chance of getting sick and dying. How the hell did we get here? It's one thing to not care about your own safety, but to disregard protecting your kids?

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u/americasweetheart 16d ago

As a first time pregnant lady, I am so fucking scared about what's going to happen when I need a hospital room.

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u/lts_talk_about_it_eh 16d ago

Please also be aware that there's now data showing that pregnant women are much more susceptible to COVID-19. Please take all the precautions you can (still continuing to wear mask, distancing, fully vaxxed, etc.)

Stay safe, and good luck with your pregnancy!

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u/whichwitch9 16d ago

Stressing the CDC has recommended pregnant women get vaccinated in response to the data. If anyone is nervous, they should talk to their doctors, but outside of rare situations, the recommendation will be vaccination.

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u/glaarghenstein 15d ago

And the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine issued a statement encouraging doctors to enthusiastically recommend vaccination to their pregnant patients and recommending that all pregnant people get vaccinated.

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u/americasweetheart 16d ago

Yeah, our immunity response is depressed so our bodies don't attack the fetuses. Yay! Stay safe out there preggo friends.

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u/jellycatattack 15d ago

I’m being forced back to five days a week in the office in a few weeks. Scared out of my fucking mind.

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u/americasweetheart 15d ago

While pregnant? That really really sucks. I am so sorry.

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u/bobfossilsnipples 16d ago edited 15d ago

As a pregnant lady being induced right this second, our labor & delivery (and lots of others around the country) is completely jam packed because of a pandemic mini baby boom, not from actual covid. There’s just no way to freakin win!

Edit: thanks for all the well-wishes, strangers! Somehow an 8 pound baby came out of me this afternoon, with surprisingly little fuss. Good luck to all the other pregnant/postpartum/child-adjacent people during this terrifying time.

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u/MBThree 15d ago

We just got induced four days ago and are now at home with our little one. It really is crazy out there with the baby boom!

We had a scheduled induction at 10pm but when we showed up no rooms were available. At a hospital that averages 600 births a month! So we waited in this tiny exam room for about four hours until the L&D room was available.

Luckily there were plenty of staff working, all the nurses were great. It just doesn’t matter how many nurses you have working if you are limited by number of rooms available.

Anyway, best of luck to you and sending good thoughts your way!

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u/Octobersiren14 15d ago

I was sent to the hospital straight from my OB office due to high blood pressure. I had to wait 2 hours to go to triage, once there it took about another 5 for an actual room to open up but I might have had higher priority because my BP was 185/110 and I needed emergency care which led to an emergency c-section a couple of days later.

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u/MBThree 15d ago

Jeez! Hope you’re doing much better now. Was your BP higher during most of the pregnancy as well or just towards the end?

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u/Octobersiren14 15d ago

Mostly towards the end. It started climbing at 24 weeks but it wasn't high enough to treat and just slowly rose up and I was admitted a few days past 30 weeks, gave birth right at 31. Since then it has decreased drastically with meds. At 28 weeks I was sent to a high risk doctor for other reasons and I remember the top number was 154 when my vitals were checked. While I was in the hospital they were struggling to keep me under 160 as I would spike up to 171 in my sleep. It eventually led to me taking 3 pills every 8 hours which worked. Since I didn't have any symptoms they asked if I had a preexisting condition but I think it was just a gradual increase that I couldn't really tell anything was wrong.

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u/bringmemybag 15d ago

Same. We had a scheduled induction a week ago but no beds were available so they pushed us a day. It was extremely busy. Very large hospital.

The entire time we kept hearing how many pregnant women were in the covid ICU (not labor and delivery) and they were dealing with lots of premies in the nicu.

I was vaxxed in third trimester and got lots of kudos from the doctors. Definitely recommend to pregnant women.

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u/secondtaunting 15d ago

Good luck! I was induced a Ling long time ago. Be well!

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u/KobashiMask 15d ago

The only thing I could do was ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long.

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u/ShortFuse 15d ago

We had our baby during the previous height of the pandemic in NJ. Mother/Baby wasn't affected at all. They have their own beds and OR. Research the hospital a bit to calm your nerves. They also test you then and there to see if you have COVID and if you do, and are having a C Section, they'll use a special HEPA filter.

If you can get the vaccine, it's recommended you do. Remember the mRNA ones aren't live viruses, so it's not actually COVID you're getting even in a weakened form. Also, risk of having a preterm delivery is increased if you actually do get COVID.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/severe-covid-19-pregnancy-associated-preterm-birth-other-complications

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u/oatmealparty 15d ago

You will be OK, L&D is an entirely separate wing in every hospital I've worked in or visited. Had a baby last year, that wing had its own entrance, own security, own everything. The only thing you need to worry about is if too many other mothers show up at the same time.

Also, the nurses are tested daily I think and the patients are tested when they arrive.

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u/Jingle_Cat 15d ago edited 15d ago

My daughter was born May 2020 and I was very nervous about hospital capacity. My doctor reassured me that due to covid, staff wasn’t “floating” between units so it’s not like they were all sent to the ICU for covid response while the maternity ward was left with no one. And typically the maternity wing has specialized nurses, so they stay with the moms! It ended up being a surprisingly good experience, and we were discharged a little early. Good luck!!

ETA: I saw someone mention alternative birthing centers below. Just to add my story - I was working with a doula when all the hospital restrictions came out a month before birth, and at that point I was terrified that not even my husband could be at the hospital, let alone my doula. My doula encouraged me to look into birthing centers (which would allow them both) because I was young, healthy, and low-risk. I looked into them but ultimately decided I would feel safer starting in a hospital because a surprisingly high number of moms laboring in birthing centers end up being transferred to hospitals during labor anyway. I also had always assumed I’d get an epidural. At 40 weeks I was induced (mostly due to being done with pregnancy, no medical reason for the induction), and all went pretty well, no tearing, pushing was quick. However, I had a big hemorrhage right after the placenta came out. Because I was at the hospital, I was immediately given clotting agents and examined by my OB and a team of nurses to ensure I didn’t have retained placenta or anything like that. I ended up losing almost 2L of blood, and it was scary, but ended up completely fine! Needed some iron transfusions but not a blood transfusion. It would have probably ended up fine if I were at a birthing center BUT it would have involved an ambulance transfer and probably losing a lot more blood, to the point of needing a blood transfusion. Hospital versus birthing center is totally your call, my event was a weird, rare fluke, and many women birth outside the hospital and are fine. However, the risks of not being in the hospital weren’t worth it to me, and I’m so happy I decided to go with the hospital. Anyway, not to scare you at all, just wanted to give you one woman’s perspective!

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u/americasweetheart 15d ago

Not scaring me at all. I really appreciate your perspective on the birthing centers. Thanks for sharing it with me.

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u/[deleted] 15d ago

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u/Jingle_Cat 15d ago

Sudden, unexpected things can happen during any birth - glad you were at the hospital and got prompt medical attention! A scary situation can turn into a dangerous one when you’re not at the hospital, not to mention all the extra trauma.

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u/svetkuz 16d ago

Was in your shoes about a month back…thankfully gave birth without any Covid-19 related hitches but I’m scared for you given the new variants. I’m keeping my 5 week old obsessively sheltered because of insane heatwaves and a pandemic and I’m terrified for her future.

On a separate note - congrats! Motherhood is ridiculously amazing. Can’t wait for you to meet your baby!

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u/HoodooSquad 15d ago

My wife gave birth a few months into the pandemic last year, in Texas. L&D is it’s own section of the hospital. The only problem you may experience is that your list of approved visitors might be very short- I was the only person allowed to visit either my wife in her hospital or our little boy in the NICU. Everything is gonna be great!

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u/SasquatchTwerks 15d ago

I’m going to offer some advice. Pregnancy is difficult enough as it is. Please don’t let the state of the world get to you. Get an N95 mask and don’t concern yourself with the rest other than your standard procedures for keeping safe and everything should work out fine.

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u/americasweetheart 15d ago

Yeah, I know what you mean. There's just knowing and actually doing. You know what I mean?

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u/ShirosakiHollow 15d ago

Best of luck to you! My wife and I are expecting our third in January, I’m extremely concerned about what hospitals will look like this winter.

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u/ThisIsBanEvasion 15d ago

Have you considered a kiddie pool in the living room?

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u/MBThree 15d ago

We just have birth four days ago at a very busy hospital. It went smoothly! COVID wasn’t the main concern in the traditional sense, rather there has been a big baby boom going on for a few months now thanks to COVID.

Our hospital averages something crazy like 600 babies born per month. They are built for high numbers. But still we had to wait for a labor and delivery room, despite having a scheduled induction!

So your main concern should be all the other babies being born around this time, not COVID. Definitely not toddlers with guns. Luckily our hospital has the two COVID-positive pregnancies well separated from the rest of us, in a completely different wing.

Please DM me if I can answer any questions about the process! I’m happy to talk about it.

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u/americasweetheart 15d ago

Thank you. I'll save your comment in case I have any questions in the future. I am an American though, so I live in constant fear of toddlers with guns.

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u/MBThree 15d ago

Oh I get that. Especially depending on your state. Here in California they are slightly less of a threat.

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u/SmokeyShadow17 16d ago

I'm so sorry for the stress you must be going through. I'll pray for you, or send best wishes if that's your thing, but I wish you the best! Hopefully it's not something you ever have to deal with.

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u/americasweetheart 16d ago

Thanks, that's really nice of you. I mean, who needs more things to stress about when you're pregnant?!

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u/SmokeyShadow17 16d ago

Exactly! Whatever helps I'm all about, lots of resting too!

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u/americasweetheart 16d ago

Yeah, that tiredness is real. Until it's bedtime and then I suddenly can't sleep. 🤷

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u/SmokeyShadow17 16d ago

Lol, the same reason why I'm awake when I have to be up in 5 hours! I can't imagine how much more amplified it is being pregnant though

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u/SomeoneTookUserName2 16d ago

I'm starting to see a pattern here.

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u/No_Difference9753 16d ago

Who coulda seen this coming...

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u/ssjviscacha 16d ago

It’s like that scene in Austin Powers where he is coming down the hallway slowly towards the guy with a steamroller

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u/photenth 16d ago

The funny thing about that scene and how it fits even better is that it's not even a hallway but a hall and he could just take two steps to the side.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_PrZ-J7D3k

rofl, top comment "The world's response to the Coronavirus."

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u/ThisIsBanEvasion 15d ago

I didnt realize he just stops as soon as he hits him and gets off.

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u/photenth 15d ago

This must be a TV cut or I'm tripping balls here, because I can remember a shot of the man being more or less fully run over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag_AFraxj-4

ha

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u/SnortHotCheetos 16d ago

garyoldmaneveryone.gif

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u/TheDrunkKanyeWest 16d ago

To be honest, I didn't.

I'm blind though.

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u/008Zulu 16d ago

Not Republicans.

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u/BillSeacaster 16d ago

They knew it. They just don't give a shit.

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u/existential_antelope 15d ago

The grift that keeps on grifting

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u/Kregerm 16d ago

they've done absolutely nothing and they're completely out of ideas.

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u/Aviri 16d ago

It's more likely they've done everything they can to spread the virus.

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u/No_Difference9753 16d ago

They blocked mask & vaccine mandates... that's something

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u/electricool 15d ago

It's like someone showed them a picture of a bunch of dead kids and then they started furiously masterbating to it right in front of it.

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u/quangtran 16d ago edited 16d ago

They did see this coming. They did it away because they realized that downplaying this pandemic is politically advantageous.

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u/BillTowne 16d ago edited 15d ago

I have been told repeatedly that it does not affect children.

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u/Grogosh 16d ago

They are hardly experts.

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u/Pikesmakker 15d ago

“Kids don’t get covid.”

“Kids don’t get bad cases of covid.”

“Kids aren’t dying of covid.”

“Not that many kids are dying of covid.”

What’s next?

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u/Second3mpire 15d ago

"my kid doesnt have covid and fuck your kid" would be my guess...

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u/ShabbyKitty35 15d ago

“It’s not COVID, it’s RSV.” /s

Just like when it was adults it was pneumonia and flu with comorbities. The mental gymnastics it takes to deny the pandemic are astonishing.

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u/Doctor420Strange69 16d ago

The blood is on Greg Abbott’s hands. He could have signed a mask mandate, but he refused.

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u/Sempreh 16d ago

Like he gives a shit

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u/HenCarrier 15d ago edited 15d ago

Someone is bound to snap from the stress of the pandemic, loss of job and unemployment benefits, eviction, and then losing a child to this bullshit. Abbott deserves to be in prison and should be soon before anyone tries to murder him.

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u/shady8x 15d ago

I am honestly shocked that these things haven't happened yet.

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u/merlinsbeers 16d ago

The GOP is killing children now.

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u/Stay_Curious85 15d ago

Oh they could care less. After sandy hook, you could throw 50 kids a day into a wood chipper and they’d still defend it.

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u/BewBewsBoutique 15d ago

They were before, too.

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u/ImVeryOffended 15d ago

In more ways than one...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/12/california-father-killed-children-qanon-illuminati/

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u/unopposablethumbs 16d ago

Only children that made it past the 8 week incubation period. Fucking dumb fucks. I hope they all get it

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u/WishIWasFlaccid 16d ago

As a Texan with an 8 month old, this shit terrifies me. All because we have a governor who is in a pissing battle over mask mandates and a bunch of yee-haw cowboys who don't trust science.

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u/cokolooo 15d ago

Oh but they sure trust it enough when they check in to the hospital for help. Fuck those assholes.

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u/raistlin65 16d ago

And your state leadership's not indicating they are preparing to do any sort of lockdown measures. So without any mitigation measures, the infection rates not going to change until the Delta variant burns through a significant portion of the population.

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u/Nate01 15d ago

Some of the county leadership is fighting back. Dallas County just reinstituted mask mandates. The little counties don't care though. They seem to think it's all a hoax...

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u/raistlin65 15d ago

They seem to think it's all a hoax..

I sometimes wonder if the local leadership truly believes that. Or they stick to the party line because that's what they feel is in their best interest politically.

It's just hard to believe that so many local leaders swallow the hoax BS. But maybe they are that gullible and dumb.

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u/loveforwild 15d ago

Covid anti-vaxxers need to be denied hospital admittance if they get it. They don't trust the doctors enough to take the vaccine, so why should they trust the doctors to treat them.

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u/beautifulsloth 15d ago

Don’t get cancer or anything, kids. The totally unavoidable Covid cases are rolling in

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u/Vismishi 16d ago

That’s the case all over the world. Covid isn’t the only thing making people sick. But it is causing beds to be filled up needlessly if the rest of the eligible population would just get vaccinated. This is now a preventable illness.

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u/Chariotwheel 15d ago

With the difference that most countries in the developed world still have meassures up to prevent this very scenario. We still haven't forgotten how Northern Italy looked like at the beginning of the Pandemic.

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u/raistlin65 16d ago

So what I want to know is, how far does this have to go before Texas leadership backs off on their stupidity?

If they don't start doing things to slow down the infection rate, it's going to keep going, and going, and going.

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u/SamsquanchShit 15d ago

I’ll tell you exactly how far.

Until someone close to Gregg Abbot gets covid and dies because there is no room in the hospital.

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u/minus_minus 15d ago

Or gets in a car accident.

Or has a heart attack.

Or falls and breaks a hip …

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u/travelbugs 15d ago

Wouldn't count on it. The mom of someone I know believe in all the anti vax propaganda and it's proud to preach it to the world, I asked this someone whether he knows those are lies, he said yes but his mom is an adult who can make her own decisions and if she dies from covid because she was mislead then that's her freedom of choice. That was the moment I realized there's no science in the world to convince stupid.

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u/unsavvylady 15d ago

The problem is people who are anti vaccine or anti mask don’t believe the government should be able to tell them what to do. However when they get sick they do want the government to bail them out

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u/raistlin65 15d ago

Yep. While also being the same people who complain about the evil liberal "socialism" policies.

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u/SpiffAZ 15d ago

As an American, I can, or think I can, totally understand the "My Freedoms" point of view on this, the It's My Body! thing makes a certain amount of sense. As a parent, IDGAF and feel nothing but contempt and rage at those adults who are putting children at risk.
The kids CANT F****** choose to get the vaccine but adults in Texas, FL, or wherever else can.

It's 100% fine with me if you want to race around drunk AF in your car on your own private island. But not on the streets of my city. It's fine if you don't wanna get the shot, but you better be on your own island by yourself or else you're a fuxking asshole.

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u/unopposablethumbs 16d ago

So can we change the abortion timeframe back now since the fucktards are okay with actual humans dying at 60-72 months?

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u/ishitar 15d ago

Heck with total and global ecological collapse and GOP alignment with the fuckers that put out climate change denial and hoax propaganda they've been okay with human death at -10, -50, -100 years, so fuck ANY moralizing on human life from the right whatsoever.

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u/Warufiko 16d ago

There are no “staffed” ICU beds. We have beds left just no staff to staff them

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u/Dunbaratu 16d ago

Which is a much worse problem. You can throw money at the problem and buy more equipment, but no amount of money can cause a human being to compress years of schooling into a week. You can't quickly change how many qualified ICU nurses exist.

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u/DrBasia 15d ago

THIS.

There is also *nothing* about the current situation that would entice someone to join the profession right now. If anything, this problem is going to get much, much worse. (Speaking as a healthcare professional who has seen burnout skyrocket over the last 18 months.)

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u/foxfayce 16d ago

ICU staff are a different breed, with all my respect to them. To adequately care for someone in ICU and especially covid, when you’re having to prone patients, intubate, etc, you can’t throw any old nurse in there (at least responsibly). So yes, there are literally beds left, but there are not people that can safely care for the patients.

source: me, a fledgling nurse

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u/whichwitch9 16d ago

Worse off because this is also a pediatric icu, so that further limits the pool of nurses.

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u/minus_minus 15d ago

Former peds ICU patient. Ped ICU nurses are angels without wings.

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u/whichwitch9 16d ago

73 at once is also crazy high, though, so that amount of staff is typically not anticipated

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u/fiverrah 15d ago

So this is going exactly as the GQP planned. Gov Death Santis in Florida said " Our hospitals are open for business" Rand Paul hoped to profit from all the sick people that he encouraged to go maskless and vaccineless. Bidens target was not met, so they can celebrate owning the communist libs. I wonder how these people sleep at night with all those deaths on their hands.

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u/IfIKnewThen 16d ago

But wait, kids don't get covid. Or if they do, it's very minor...

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/donald-trump-covid-19-vaccines-children

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u/PleasantWay7 16d ago

I literally got downvoted a few weeks ago for calling out someone on their false claim that “kids can’t spread covid.”

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u/TaylorSwiftsClitoris 16d ago

That seems pretty bad.

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u/BluehibiscusEmpire 15d ago

This is absurd in such a wealthy and well developed country with the largest economy around.

Get the vaccine, wear a mask. And save yourself and your loved ones. Stop being an idiot.

None of those fancy preachers and leaders will come save you when you need that help. And the geniuses from internet telling you otherwise are probably worse off than you.

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u/L00pback 15d ago

We are starting to run out here in Raleigh NC. School starts back in 10 days and my county passed a mask mandate for teachers and students. I don’t think it’s enough. It barely passed with a 4-3 vote too.

My comment to the assholes who don’t want to comply is “You’d better prepare a few obituary/memorial pages for the yearbook”. Let that reality set in on them (for some it won’t matter and they are the ones that will fuck this up).

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u/gonzo650 16d ago

I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area. At a zoom meeting two days before school started we were told that 70% of staff was vaccinated. You could decide to choose distant learning but were told there may not be a place for you at the same school if you decided to come back to in person learning. The chat included such statements and questions as, if both parents are covid positive but the kids aren't symptomatic, can we still send our kids to school? If they're quarantined how are the children supposed to learn? And we were told that there will be no attempts made to socially distance or enforce mask wearing. It wasn't a huge confidence booster to the parents who are already nervous about sending our kids back to possibly unvaccinated teachers and possibly sitting uncomfortably close to someone who's family takes zero precautions against infection. As someone who has been on the more cautious side of things and has sacrificed relationships in service of my family's safety, it really sucks to be in a catch 22 situation where I must choose between being a hypocrite or sending my kids into the line of fire. Fortunately California is implementing vaccine or weekly testing mandates however it's entirely possible that things get bad before they are implemented (there's already been a covid positive teacher in the district)

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u/dis_ABLED 15d ago

More evidence of republican attacks on the lives of innocent children

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u/TheOldGuy59 15d ago

I wonder when children start dying in job lots, if the Republican parents are going to realize they're being led by morons? Will that finally be the life changing event that opens their eyes?

It's sad that it's probably going to take something like this. It will be sadder if they just continue on like nothing happened.

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u/cLuckb 16d ago

And the fucked up part is that the beds will free up in a few days, not because people are getting better, but because people are dying.

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u/archregis 16d ago

The problem is, from my own experience treating covid patients - they don't. That's the problem. They remain intubated for WEEKS. And because they oftentimes get better, it's not like you can just give up on them. Eventually the inflammation goes down - it just takes a really fucking long time. Sometimes they die, sure - but the problem really does come from the people who don't.

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u/ProgressNo7848 16d ago

The Tx Gov is a joke. This is on him.

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u/artcook32945 16d ago

Up till now, I had thought the GOP could not get any more evil. I was wrong. They now are a party responsible for children needlessly dying. If there is a God in Heaven, I would hope that he saves a special place in Hell for these GOP Child Killers.

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u/TheDrunkKanyeWest 16d ago

Just take some of the adult beds and cut them in half. Problem solved.

/s

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u/existential_antelope 15d ago

In Texas or all places? Surprised pikachu face

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u/Eastern_Ad_4441 15d ago

Just wait till school starts. It will get much worse. Hopefully the Governor will change paths but I doubt it.

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u/melowdout 15d ago

Those kids are heroes. They are sacrificing themselves for the freedom of others to not wear a mask. They are a new breed of Patriots…. because someone had to do it, and it wasn’t going to be the adults.