i know i haven't blogged in a while - but, i just *had* to today after reading about the 13-month old twins who died late last week. and no, it wasn't an accident.
initially, there was a blurb about it during the friday daytime news - and, as i had suspected to df, said there wasn't something right about that. they had the police on, the alderman on - all saying that they 'were going to get to the bottom of all of this' - and all the while i'm thinking, "13 month old babies just don't die all of a sudden...and especially *both* of them at the same time..."
so i'm leaving home from work friday evening, and on the radio, they said that the reasons the babies died were because of environmental exposure as well as failure to thrive related to maternal neglect.
i knew something had to be up!
so in today's tribune, there was a story about it. it had mentioned that, although the girls' room had an air conditioner, it wasn't turned on. the only window to the room was blocked by towels. the bedroom was extremely hot & had no ventilation. living conditions were described as being "deplorable" - lttered wth dog feces, urine & dirty diapers.
i the sun time's article. they were 13 months old, yet they were only 13 lbs. each. the mother attributed their small size to the fact that she has another recently born baby who was premature.
she put the babies down for a nap at 10:00 in the morning, but apparently didn't think to check on them until the evening - and that's when she found them dead. you have got to be kidding me.
but the biggest, most slap-in-the-face statement of them all, by the baby daddy's mother:
i'm not going to discount the fact that she has been through a lot. i'm sure she has. she's only 22, and she already has five children. i cannot even imagine having one child now, and i'm almost 10 years older than her. *however*, what i don't like about this statement is, is that 'everybody makes mistakes' line...
a mistake?!? how can you possibly say that this is a mistake?!? i locked my babies up in an upstairs bedroom with no ventilation or air conditioning, and then, on top of that, left them there *all day long* - with not even a thought to check on them, change their diapers, or even FEED them?
a mistake to me would be something like, "oops! i let them play with nontoxic markers, and they drew all over the wall." or something like, "oops! i forgot their binkies at home." what's her excuse? "oops! i thought they were just taking an extra-long nap...that lasted all day." doesn't sound like an "oops!" kind of situation to me.
so i guess both of the families are fighting now, and each side is blaming each other. what i want to know is, is where were these people when she needed them around? there was an aunt or cousin that was interviewed on friday morning - and she had said that she had just been at the house & had just seen the babies that morning. but, apparently, she left, you know, after stepping over the piles of dog crap, urine & dirty diapers. how do you just leave a place like that, and don't think anything of it? or even to offer a helping hand? because obviously something is going on. now it's too late. coulda, woulda, shoulda. a day late, a dollar short.
as i mentioned previously, i don't have children. and no, i don't know how it is to have to deal with them along with all of the rest of life's complexities. no, i don't know how it feels to be overwhelmed with twins, let alone twins, another newly born premature baby in the hospital, and then, i have two more kids on top of that. i have no freaking clue. however, what i do know is, is that children have basic needs, and, this woman wasn't didn't even have the presence of mind to even *check* on her babies. for hours. i keep on getting questions during my review that ask which scenario would be considered negligent. i think this one would qualify, without a doubt.
but this is just my opinion...sigh.