On Thursday night my cell phone blew up with text messages. Some variation of "I hope you're not watching Grey's Anatomy" scrolled across the screen after each tiny ping. In the episode referenced, Callie gives birth to her baby prematurely, at just twenty three weeks gestation.
Also, did I mention it was a musical episode in which the cast was singing while this occured? Right. I don't usually write pop culture commentaries here, except in the case of telling Miley Cryus to put on some pants, but this episode in particular has me on a bit of a soapbox.
They were singing, y'all. Singing. And that, for me, cheapens the premise of the episode entirely. Maybe if Sara Ramirez had just been singing to herself during her out-of-body-experience (way to recycle material, Grey's Anatomy writers) then it would have been touching and heartfelt. Maybe.
Instead it felt like the writers were all "GLEE! GLEE has great ratings. People must like shows where the characters sing. Let's do that in our hospital drama! Never mind that there is no realistic basis at all for our characters to burst into song! GLEE! Ratings! Singing! Yaaaay!"
I propose the writers hire me to just sit in the corner of the writers room and spray them with a water gun when they throw out ideas like this, sort of how I trained my cat not to jump up on the kitchen counter.
Now that I've gotten my issues with the singing (did I mention I hated the singing?) out of the way, let's talk about my feelings watching a sliver of my real life transpire on the television screen.
I hate that they didn't give Callie steroid injections to mature the baby's lungs. Out of all the doctors in the room, no one thought of that? Really? Maybe it's because they were all too busy singing. I hate the way the show portrayed the doctors as stupid regarding the baby because I am forever indebted to the team that saved my daughter's life upon delivering her and for weeks thereafter. They worked surely and swiftly, they didn't stand around wide eyed and act like they'd never heard of things like steroid injections for pre-term labor at 23 weeks.
I hate that Callie woke up saying "Yes, I'll marry you." The entire scene prior she is looking at the baby, realizing she needs her, and attempting to wake herself up because of it. She'd be asking about the baby. She just went through a windshield. She'd be asking about the baby.
I hate that the little plastic baby looked excellent for being born at 23 weeks. Since they consistently show gory medical scenes, I'm unsure as to why they went gentle on the look of the baby, rather than realistic.
This makes me trepidacious for the following weeks. 23 weeks is typically the earliest a baby can be delivered, most hospitals will not save a baby born any earlier. The risk of permanent disability is severe. The chances for survival are slim. In our NICU we have a wall of hope, numbered with weeks 23-40. Clustered around each number are photos of the graduates born at that gestational age. There are a handfull of babies tacked around the number 25, where we will add Scarlette's picture the day we leave. There are less than eight photos surrounding the number 23.
The journey of a micro-preemie mom is what I am most curious about. How will they portray it? I know it's prime time television but I am hopeful they will show it for what it is. Hard. I hope they do it justice. I hope that it provides a glimpse into this life we lead behind heavy doors in an isolated building, holding the tiny hands of our babies in plastic boxes and breathing nothing but prayers.
But they started off with an episode in which, at one point, some cast members were driving around in clouds while singing to a montage of other cast members making out. So that didn't set the bar for my expectations super high.
And even with all of that? It was still impossible for me to watch with any sort of control over my emotions or my tears. Even as frustrating as I found it, this experience is still incredibly raw for me.
What did y'all think?
photo via ABC. snarky captions via me.
