Shark Bytes

Why are you all so bitter? More importantly, why are you looking to your television for a depiction of reality? TV stopped that in the 60's. I've been watching this show off and on for 11 years. The reality of these couple's stories is that they are in fact having a baby! Why do you so cruely judge their lives and blatantly bash them in favor of a more sad, somber story of a child's birth? Yes TLC should show all sorts of stories of a baby's birth BUT when on TV do we ever really get the real story about any subject? If you say the news than I think you should go back to watching A Baby Story reruns because at least the fluff there is more transparent to you. You all would be wise to cheer up and wish someone well for once, whether or not their stories mirror your life or the lives of those you know.

I enjoy watching each new baby being born on the program.
However, I must say, that watching ALL of the new dads hover, cook, clean, encourage and wax endlessly about their newborn cuts me to the quick.
My husband didn't show that kind of caring, and it kills me to watch these husbands. Am I the only one who didn't have a homecoming like those on the program?

I love this show! I have 3 sons of my own and I love watching this show and all the emotions that are involved. So many of the shows have brought tears to my eyes but what I would like to see is more single moms and showing them at home caring for the baby. I went thru a divorce while pregnant with my second son and did it on my own the day I came home from the hospital..I had a 3 years old and a newborn and went back to work FULL TIME when my newborn was only 3 weeks old. It was tough but I would'nt have changed it for the world. I have 3 great, grown sons now 26,23 and 18.

I just watched an episode the other day and was so disturbed by it. The mother went on and on about how her first birth, a baby boy, was such a letdown. "Horror of horrors", she had to have a csection with him, and this crazy woman could not get over it. Was all she talked about, how awful it was, how disappointed she still is. She insisted on a VBAC for this one, didn't care if something happened, just had to have her perfect vaginal birth. She gets to 42 weeks, 3 days with the pregnancy and will not be induced, because " the baby should determine it's own birthdate, and my first child didn't get that." NUTS!!! The most distubing thing is how she treats the 3- year old born via csection. After baby is born, she says "My 3 year old son is potty training now, and I just don't have time for him anymore". WHAT??? She says she has to "sit on the couch all day with the baby at her breast, that that is what is important". She totally treated the son like a second-class citizen. Even after baby is born, she continues to talk about how awful the son's birth was. She was just nuts! I have seen some crazy couples on this show, but not one this nuts. Please, someone needs to call social services on this crazy chick.

What's wrong with a show about loving couples (of various types) that are looking forward to having a baby? I guess those are the people the PC crowd hates...

Lighten up people! If you don't like the show, change the channel or.... actually turn off the TV!

I think it's rather interesting!

I've been getting kind of annoyed with this show lately. I like the older episodes where it was really a "story." They would go through and talk about who the mom and the dad are and show them interacting with their older kids, friends, and family. Now it feels like it is the birth and that's it. You basically get to see the mom and dad on the way to the hospital, them having the baby and a clip at the end from two weeks later. I liked it much better when you got an idea of who the family was. I think TLC is getting lazy, or maybe they lost part of their funding for the show or something.
To those who think it is gory or graphic...it is not. It is actually a pretty watered down version of what goes on in the delivery room. If you've seen a birth, you'd know that this show isn't very gory at all. Birth Day on the Discovery channel is much more gory and graphic than this.
To those who think they should show a lady having a miscarriage...are you NUTS!!! Would you really want to watch that??? That is just a complete invasion of privacy. I'm sure some of the shows they taped probably ended in miscarriage, but they are kind enough not to air them, as no one is going to want to have a visual record of such a harrowing experience. I for one, would never want to see that on tv.

Jumped day one

OMG, so I was watching this show the other day, and there was this poor woman who was in labor, with what was probably the worst pain in her entire life and her HUSBAND WOULDN'T LET HER GET AN EPIDURAL!!!!!!! His reason was that the "women in his family deliver naturally" or something along those lines! Finally the poor girl told him she HAD to have the epidural because she just couldn't take it anymore, and he reluctantly "gave in." I felt so, so bad for her. I can't believe she had to have her husband's "permission" to receive pain relief! Lateron, he admitted that it was "probably" the right choice, but I still felt so bad for her...and I was pretty disgusted with him!

Jumped day one

Reading some of these posts amaze me.

So many are judging the worthiness of the show based on whether or not they agree with who is in the delivery room and what the parents name their child! WHAT?!?!?!?

Who is in the delivery room, the choice to have ones children present, or grandparents, or friends, whether or not to have an epidural, and what the baby is named has NOTHING to do with how good the show is. Everyone doesn't have to agree with YOUR preferences in order for the show to be worthy of being on the air and being watched.

Some of these posts are so closed-minded that it amazes me.

As for the show "showing too much" or being "gory," ...what century are we in? I've watched this show for years and my kids have seen many episodes over the years and they have never once said it was "gross."

Sheesh.

I have been watch this show for about 7 years- since i was 10, and i still love it. i don't think there's anything wrong with the stuff they show, it's all natural and it's about babies being born. it's not gross or anything i mean it's not like they show the baby coming out like you know the whole thing..but whatever, everyone has opinions, mine is i love the show...and another thing, i dont think they mostly show California.. every time i watch it they're either from new york or new jersey or something..it would be nice to show another state but whatever...great show.

This show jumped head first into the shark tank from the very beginning. I guess TLC decided to make it a little more interesting after a few years of airtime by sharing time between the East Coast and West Coast when the producers decided to tape couples from Phila-NY-Jersey. All this did was depict rich yuppie parents-to-be from their mammoth homes or penthouses in Bucks County and Manhattan to drive to hospitals in 4 feet of snow. Want education? Have we not all seen the dreaded childbirth movie in high school health class??? I've had 3 children of my own, and I don't recall an open invitation to the birth for my entire extended family. When my 3rd child was born, I remember the nurse coming in to check on me at 2 a.m., shaking her head in dismay and telling my husband and me that she wished A Baby Story would be taken off the air! She had just called hospital security to throw out about 20 people who had ordered 6 pizzas and a case of beer to the maternity ward where they were all waiting to see the newest member of the family! There were kids running through the halls and people taking up every inch of the waiting room, not to mention sneaking in to the labor and delivery suite. Good Grief! The Rodeo Drive baby showers and happy, happy families are unrealistic. I won't deny that the birth of a child is a happy occasion for most, but what about the poor folks whose babies died or were born with problems? You don't see these stories on this show. Now there's reality! Where are the cameras when the mother has been up all night nursing her baby all night, while the husband lounges on the couch watching ESPN? Where's the cameras when the house is a total disaster and the parents are killing each other from stress? Where's the post partum depression? The episodes that freak me out the most are the home birth stories or the "our kids are all in college now and we enjoyed uninterrupted sex so much after we finally got some peace and quiet that we forgot the rubber and oops . . . We're having our 4th child in our late 40s." It may be The Learning Channel, but how about some real, low-to-middle class reality????? This show is major shark bait.

I don't mind so much that the couples featured on this show are usually middle-class, or okay, upper-middle class couples. There are enough shows featuring unwed, 15-year old girls who are pregnant and don't know which of their trashy, cheating, abusive ex-boyfriends is the father.(think Maury) What really perplexes me about this show is how nobody seems to have a full-time job. I can understand if one of them stays at home, but both? But here we have shots of BOTH mother and father-to-be, taking mid-morning/afternoon walks, hand in hand...going to the "special yuppie-type" baby toy stores during the week to pick out "special yuppie-type" toys...and spending hours in their beautiful nurseries folding beautiful new baby clothes and discussing which names they like best. Oh, and let's not forget about the completely staged, totally scripted scenes where they assemble the stroller or crib or car seat or baby swing or whatever together...H: "Okay, it's time to put the crib together." W: "Oh, I am so excited. I can hardly wait." H: "Me too. This is so exciting." He then proceeds to assemble said furniture as she reads the instructions to him. They never argue, they never get frustrated. He never yells at her to just get out and let him finish, she never points out how he is doing it wrong...nope, just happy, happy, togetherness. And then when they are done building the crib, they always make the cheesy statement, "Oh, isn't it just great?" "Yep, now all we need is a baby to put in it." (Giggle, giggle, Hug, Wink, wink...) Oh please, can we say "scripted"???!!?