cereality

Well fresh from the NICU both Hazel and JadON have had their newborn photo shoots w/ various fundie Bates stalker photographers. Good let's invite more people into the home. I mean we can't just have a few thousand pics of the newborn that we take all day long since our phones are glued to our hands. We must have "professional" pics. Pandemic, RSV, and NICU be damned. The earth may spin off its axis if we don't get 10,000 professional pics with a few poster sized to hang above a piano. Those Balka genes are strong. Both daughters look just like Kelton. Nothing you can do but it's not an attractive look for girls. Something about his face is very punchable and he's passed it on to his girls too -- I think it's the lips. Not that anyone wants to punch babies, but just not cute. Hopefully it's a look both girls grow into by the time they're teens.

So Tori's on deck, huh? Hope hers is a regular drive by delivery, not the 7-9 day NICU stays her sisters' kids just got. Why does Tori keep saying -- Bobby will be a good girl dad but IDK if I'll be a good girl mom; IDK if I'm ready to be a girl mom. She's said it in multiple episodes. What's that about? Is it one of those -- there's only once princess in this castle and now oh $hit I have to share the spotlight (i.e. Bobby's attention) with my own daughter? She even joked when they went to paint home decor stuff with Chad & Erin that when Bobby comes home the daughter will be all over him and he'll totally forget about her. Insecurity??

They’re home. Let the visitor parade begin. Maybe it’ll be fewer people bc Josie and Kelton seem a bit aloof/don’t like her family. But probably not, it’s still a precious BABY and goodness knows this family hasn’t seen enough of those 🙄. Fear not aunt Katie has arrived in the house, is in the baby’s face, and touching the baby’s face repeatedly. I wonder if they wash hands before that type of thing?!

When is Tori due? I wonder if it makes a difference when in the pregnancy the mother had covid. Hope she and the baby end up being fine but yeah Bobby and Tori had it. They weren't at the Bates' massive Christmas celebration - when covid was widespread last year in the holiday season - bc they had it.

Interesting how the Josh arrest was close to Mother’s Day and the kids seemed pissed enough to say nothing - at least the older daughters. At the 11th hr Jana and Jinger posted one old pic with Michelle and basically said nothing. Contrast Father’s Day - greetings (pics and words) from Jana, Jinger, Joy Ann and even a few brothers got in on it - Justin and Jed. Jill made a whole IG post with 10 pics of Derick and then just threw in a happy Father’s Day dad. So she’s still the least interested. Jessa seems to have sat the whole thing out but she didn’t say anything to Ben either. So are the kids holding more of a grudge against Michelle than JB for enabling Josh?! I mean they both enabled yet they suck up to daddy??

Yeah I mean no one knows and I’m sure in their minds it’s all about God’s will not Covid, nor their own actions. So much is unknown about Covid - they’re still learning so who knows what they’ll find as effects from a mom who has Covid while pregnant (Whit) or has a pregnancy just after Covid (Josie). I mean there are certain viruses where you’re advised not to get pregnant for months afterward - for Zika it was determined that you shouldn’t get pregnant for six MONTHS after the MAN has Zika - you only had to wait for 2 months if the woman had it. Thing is these things just aren’t known about Covid yet bc they’re just trying to stem the public health emergency worldwide, it’ll take them years to sort out the effect on every body system. J&K got pregnant last summer, had Covid, had a miscarriage, and got pregnant again like 2 seconds later — bc the birthdate of that baby and Hazel is only 3 mos apart. Now it’s totally possible this is just a blood abnormality that has always existed so this would’ve happened anyway but who knows bc Covid is having an affect on blood and vessels. Jadon IDK to me that sounds more directly Covid related - she gets it during pregnancy and he comes out with lung issues? Seems like a direct link that it affected his lungs. Yet all of last year and certainly this year - travel, eating in restaurants, masks only if absolutely required and even then as a chin strap or as the daughters do it - a mask 3 sizes too big so you can still see their whole face, no staying home, big family gatherings bc FAMILY as we saw their Christmas gathering where they even announced oh Bobby and Tori aren’t here bc they’re sick but still sat around like fools singing indoors. Like hasn’t any of this scared them into pulling back - Erin with long Covid and 2 babies that they consider soooo precious in NICU?! Maybe consider a vax or staying in more even as the world reopens or a mask? It isn’t over as the new delta variant circulates. I wonder if any Bates have quietly gotten vaccinated. IDK who would besides Michael & Brandon - while fundie they seem a touch smarter than the family, they seem like they read, Michael may have gotten info from nursing school re vaccines protecting her on the job and that could have convinced her and maybe even Brandon bc she could bring home who knows what from the hospital. IDK something about them seems more "independent" lately -- in a good way; like they do their own thing more, don't seem to hang with the family nearly as much in this last year, which I assume is pandemic related with -- I'm too busy studying for nursing school and Brandon for his certification -- being good covers. Totally random but I follow a bunch of ER/ICU drs on Twitter bc they've provided good info all yr. One happens to be at Vanderbilt in Nashville and just tweeted this morning that all his ICU patients are unvaxed. He asks them if they ever consider the vax and he says the majority say -- I really wanted it but my spouse/mom/dad/sibling/friends/coworkers told me it was dumb, talked me out of it etc, I wish I didn't listen. He says the negative peer pressure to not get the vax is huge in places like Tenn. Which is why if any Bates got it, it would be someone who is quiet and independent and just snuck off to do it.

So Josie has confirmed that the blood incompatibility they have is not one where they can give the standard Rh shots. Time to stop procreating and leaving it in gods hands. She’s still in the hospital but improving. They’re on day 5-6 of the NICU stay, longer NICU stay than Kelton implied at first for a minor issue. She’s going to end up rivaling Jadon’s 9 day stay.

And we now have a pic of the kid with Uncle Law. Lord knows where he's been this week - Cali probably. Thing is they are ALL dumbasses. Usually if the parents are naive or inexperienced and are like -- woohoo home from the NICU time to show off the baby and get pics of everyone with the baby on insta, there's a mom/dad/grandparent/sibling who pulls them back and tells them -- are you sure, it's a pandemic, everyone has been going out daily to Target and salons and job sites, I really don't think you should, just give it another couple weeks. Here though it's Kelly and Gil -- if Z&W were to say sorry no guests for a few weeks, you know G&K would be the first to accuse them of not having enough faith, needing to turn back to God and pray blah blah. Like they wouldn't without commentary say -- I think you're right to be careful, we'll put the word out to the family that everyone can see Jadon when you all give an invite so that people aren't texting and asking you every day.

I don't have kids but I always though parents (and certainly what I've seen in my friend group w/ people who are parents) were SCARED.TO.DEATH regarding the health of their infants esp if that infant is at all vulnerable. Like I've seen people who are otherwise chill absolutely lay down the law with their own parents (i.e. baby's grandparents) that they are not visiting for X weeks/months bc the dr. has said the baby is not to be around people (esp heard this with premature babies w/ NICU stays esp in flu season) OR if the grandparents don't get vaccinated for certain things (maybe TDap?) they are not visiting etc. These are people who are otherwise normal, rational, and have good family relations but when it comes to their vulnerable infant they follow drs. orders or even "suggestions" to the letter -- knowing full well that if a vulnerable infant gets so much as a sniffle in the first 2-3 months, it means back to the hospital, spinal tap etc. I know people tend to relax with later kids but I've never seen a relaxed parent with a NICU infant -- even if that kid was no. 3 or 4 or whatever. Both Bates grandkids are/were in the same NICU - and likely have some or all of the same drs. The drs. must be beside themselves at 2 related families who are just SO STUPID!? One seems to think -- masks nah; visitors that's just a suggestion, it's FAMILY not strangers at the mall holding him. The other seems to think her blood and her baby's blood are at war in some super rare complication that the drs have never seen before -- when it's an Rh issue that every pregnant woman is tested for routinely!? Is it possible that they said ok Jadon can go live his life -- with no other NICU instructions? IDK what hospitals are telling people on discharge right now with the pandemic. It would seem far fetched with the pandemic not over esp in low vaccine states like Tenn + with widespread RSV in Tenn. Like I would think they said SOMETHING about visitors etc.!?

Was too optimistic -- Alyssa posted a pic of 3 of her kids with Jadon. Alyssa is holding Jadon not the kids but clearly they're not keeping sniffly toddlers who've been traveling all week away from a fresh from the NICU infant. Genius awards all around.

And now Alyssa is visiting and holding Jadon. I mean of course. She probably returns to Fla in a few days, she can't NOT go see grandchild number 16,000. Never mind that 2 days ago both she and Carlin spent the entire day at Target (unmasked of course) with Katie for her wedding registry. Then yesterday it was an entire day at the zoo with tons of unmasked children -- theirs and the other random kids at the zoo yesterday. NBD that the pandemic is still ongoing esp for people who are unvaccinated which I am 99% sure these fools are and having had covid doesn't fully protect them anymore as this Delta variant now doubling every 2 weeks in the U.S. is different than last year's variants. NBD that RSV is widespread right now too in the state they're in. I mean the kid just got home for a 9 day NICU stay for LUNG issues but hey NBD, God etc. I assume they think they're being safe because neither Alyssa nor Carlin brought their gaggle of toddlers. Usually we'd see OMG Aly has to hold him and now Zoey and now we need a pic of Layla kissing him blah blah. So maybe that's Z&W's "line" -- adult visitors only -- though IDK if that really matters because sure you don't have 2 year olds kissing him but guess what the adults kissing him JUST kissed their 2 yr old before driving over to you!? Seems like Josie's kid and Z&W's kid overlapped in the same NICU for a day or so bc last night at discharge, Josie and Whit both posted a picture hugging each other. Was interesting to see that Josie was masked and Whit wasn't. Leads me to believe that masks ARE required but Z&W just went with -- oh these drs/nurses are too nice to say anything so I don't need to wear one but if they say something -- you know in between running from incubator to incubator to save lives -- then sure I'll put one on. So this is who Jadon has looking out for him . . . .

I mean many of the Bates act very modern in terms of clothing and social media whoring and home decorating, but let's be real they are uneducated. Very very uneducated. When the drs. were explaining Rh incompatibility, how it appears in pregnancy #2, how it causes jaundice at birth -- you know it was over their heads entirely. Sure right now it may be over their heads bc of exhaustion from labor and delivery, their baby being transferred to another hospital etc. But this is very much a known issue that had been discussed with drs. over 9 mos in much calmer settings at regular appointments and you know they just don't "get it" -- like they can't explain it back to you so that's why it's about mom and baby's blood "fighting" (WTF!?), this is SOOOO rare (it's not really - it's one of the standard things they test for), and God speak - God is testing us and Hazel blah blah . . . . I mean I know Kelton went to "college" but it's not much of a college and he and Josie were both schooled around their dining room. There's years of critical thinking, reasoning, being able to understand/ask questions that they've missed out on. They don't magically just catch up bc he put a ring on it and they're making babies.

Sounds like it's Rh incompatibility between Josie and the baby (or could be Josie and Kelton too and then the baby gets her blood type from Kelton and becomes incompatible with Josie). Interesting that it's something that does NOT affect a first pregnancy -- something about giving birth the first time with that baby's blood having contact with the mother's blood at delivery is what makes the mother's body aware that it's incompatible with (some) future babies. Jaundice at birth is one of the things it causes. I mean I get it. It's scary when it's YOUR baby in the NICU. But to hear them blather on and on on the show and in these posts about this being their rainbow baby and how they didn't know if they'd be able to get pregnant again (while announcing a pregnancy 3 mos post miscarriage) blah blah -- uh you were Rh incompatible and that's what caused that miscarriage. Then all the testing was done, it was known, you got the 2-3 extra shots you needed to get in pregnancy and here we are. It isn't AS big of a deal as they make -- with OMG mom's blood is fighting with baby's blood and God's hand is in there too . . . . That being said sorry G&K but your daughters are not built to make 10+ babies each. Between the clotting disorder that Erin, Tori, and Carlin (I think?) have; Alyssa's heart issue which doesn't affect pregnancy specifically but it isn't advisable to be pregnant and give birth 35 times with any heart issue; Michael's nonspecific infertility (though who knows could be Brandon); and now this Rh issue of Josie's -- and who knows maybe some younger sister has it too -- yeah these daughters will have 4-6 babies max. If G&K want 600 grandkids, they better hope they get some hearty daughters in law with birthing hips and bodies. Whit seems to be, Esther probably is too; not so sure about Tiffany -- she seems a bit petite and not particularly hearty.

So apparently Hazel is also in the NICU per Kelton’s IG. He says Josie will provide the full update. I had a feeling bc the pic w Katie was with Hazel in those eye goggles they put on kids when they need to put them in those lighted incubators like for jaundice. Kelton says she’s recovering quickly so it doesn’t sound like a Jadon type of thing. What’s going on though?? You have to wonder if the moms having Covid impacted the pregnancies.

Well hopefully she's left bc her IG post says exactly where the child was born, who the dr. was etc. These girls do all rush home the moment after they give birth, even if they have underlying issues, so if she was born 6/14 they may be home already -- as her IG post also talks about meals being delivered and I'd imagine those are after birth though maybe not. I think Alyssa with her heart condition has run out of the hospital and that office like birthing center within hours (for the birth center - that may have been before the heart problem was known) and then next day with the latest kid. They may have to mix up where they deliver the next kid. I know she says she delivered at a hospital birth center (sounds like a hospital owned center anyway), but did she actually deliver in an exam room? The computer and cabinet right behind Kelton don't look comfortable at all, not to mention her bed looks like an exam table not a hospital bed. And usually the wall behind the patient at a hospital has a thousand different plugs and ports -- even if not in use, it's all built in equipment just in case a patient were to need O2 etc.

Can someone tell me what our favorite felon (or alleged felon I should say) has been up to? Any court hearings since his bond hearing that made him Mrs. Reber's problem? Is trial set or any other pre trial court dates? Has Anna been visiting? Have they brought the kids? I basically haven't seen anything since the bond hearing so I'm curious where this is at.

A&J have said before that John absolutely cannot and does not take time off in the summer because summer is primetime for HVAC in Florida. John has said very honestly that he works for his family's HVAC business but it is a small business and if someone calls you with an HVAC issue in heat of the summer and you can't get out a tech out there today/tomorrow, guess what they're moving on and calling another company and you lost that business. So they're very careful to have all their techs working all summer, working overtime, and not having them take time off for whatever they want to do with their families. I feel like a couple summers ago Alyssa went up to the Carolinas to stay with her grandparents and ended up staying a few weeks w/ Grandma Jane/Papa Bill and John came up on like one random Sunday and that was it. It seems like the sons in law at least have some worth ethic.

Yeah no posts since Thursday and no Sunday church pics from either her or Kelton talking about how blessed they are? Yeah she's delivered. I imagine it's about magazine timing now -- I also wonder if you don't want to break the news on the weekend bc you get less eyes on those websites and our own Insta. They may be waiting until Monday. There have been sizeable delays from this family lately -- Jadon's birth was announced 2 days later (though I get that maybe they didn't have the bandwidth with the NICU) but also Nathan and Katie’s engagements were both announced almost a week after they happened which to me screams magazine/website/insta timing to get the most people viewing so that next time the magazine is like yeah their last birth/engagement got x hits of course we'll cover the next one.

I think that's exactly what this is. Lots of places in the house are still empty -- family room, rest of the kitchen etc. But the places that are furnished are totally Ikea type cheap furniture -- because she posts links to where she buys everything as her leg humpers are desperate to know where she buys all her stuff. The rug is from like rugs.com; the table is from some "furniture mart" type of place. The weird looking cart on the side with a few mugs/plates/cookie jars are all from places like Hobby Lobby, Home Goods etc. Like a grownup with money buys a sideboard/china cabinet, not a way too small bar cart for a formal dining room. They are furnishing their house as if they are playing house. Though I think that's basically what her sisters Erin/Carlin do as well -- cheap furniture with abundant amounts of crafts with cheesy sayings and wedding and family pics everywhere and then every few years you change out the cheesy crafts and wedding pics for different cheesy crafts and wedding pics, paint the crappy furniture and now you've "redecorated." And I've never lived in Fla. but my understanding was even inside the house you get bugs due to the heat/humidity and bc of how much doors open and close with kids running to and from the pool; why would you be setting mugs and plates out in the open like that!? J has said before that they both have trouble sticking to a budget and they both like to buy impulsively (I'm guessing clothes/shoes for A and the girls; and prob electronic gadgets for J) so I imagine if they have a goal of save $x for furniture in the next 3 months, that isn't happening as money is squandered on other things like random crafts and blowing up pictures of themselves to decorate.

Yeah Z&W's IG yesterday made it seem like there was a ways to go. He came off the vent sounded like on Friday night. Then they said they'd do an xray sometime Saturday/Sunday to see if his collapsed lung is healed enough to take the chest tube out -- so maybe that happened today? Then the central line needs to come out. They said these were the big 3 things -- vent; chest tube; central line -- but then after that there's a number of smaller milestones he needs to meet -- presumably they meant he needs to meet those to go home. He was born 6/7 -- it's going to be at least a week in the NICU if he can meet all of those next steps by tomorrow, which probably isn't super likely.

Alyssa seems obsessed with the picture perfect house and living out the fantasy of all the nice things she didn’t have growing up, function be damned. Formal dining room with a glass table and all white upholstery in a home with 4 young kids, check. Coffee bar area for her and John, check. Informal kitchen dining table with kiddie placemats you can wipe down so kids can eat inside when it’s a 105 degree heat index in Fla., nope. A family room with furniture, nope. I mean it’s clear they can’t afford a house and all new furniture all at once but priorities?! Even as of 2 wks ago when C&E visited and then she planned her dumb anniversary, the family room was EMPTY. Like no furniture - bc that’s where the “chiropractor” set up her table. Yet the formal dining room is done?! I assume they put the one couch they had upstairs and now need family room furniture but wouldn’t it make sense to have someplace for the family to sit and also to eat before you ordered your picture perfect formal dining room furniture?!

It’s east Tenn so the drs from there are prob used to this, but I can only imagine the residents etc who may not be from Tenn but are just training at this hospital. “We think Jadon will be in the hospital for X more days so we recommend you two get vaccinated ASAP even today bc we can’t vaccinate him but you can protect him somewhat that way + some antibodies do pass in breast milk + we can protect him further with RSV shots before we discharge him” — “nah thx for all you did with the chest tube and all but we don’t need them new vax and we didn’t give our other kids RSV shots so he doesn’t need them, God will protect us . . . .” Uh ok well then why do you need a children’s hospitals services to begin with??

Didn’t even realize there were RSV shots? I bet a NICU baby who needed a chest tube/vent, going home to a house with 3 older siblings so likely to be subject to colds etc they catch, at a time when RSV is spreading prob does qualify. It might cost them something out of pocket but that type of security may be worth it. I wonder if they’d do it though esp if the older siblings, none of the nieces/nephews ever had those shots or will it be a - god will protect - thing.

And just saw an article on People.com of all places -- CDC has put out an alert as RSV is unusually wide spread right now in the southern states including Tenn. Something about how it hasn't circulated for a year so now that people are out and about circulation is spiking. I hope when Jadon is released to go home with these 2 idiots, they give very specific direction that they are to isolate in their home with just the 6 of them for 3 full months or whatever the "safe" period is for an infant. I'm thinking a baby with a lung issue bad enough for a vent and a chest tube should not be subject to G&K showing up with a van full of kids with Kelly squealing in the baby's face and the baby then being passed to all 97 aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews for pictures. W/r/t covid -- in a crowd that big, who knows who could be carrying what asymptomatically. W/r/t RSV -- it can present as just a cold but it tends to hit some infants really hard and they end up hospitalized and even as "just a cold" for a baby under 3-4 months, they land in the hospital for a spinal tap etc. just to rule everything out. I know the world is now largely open (not that it ever shut down for the Bates to begin with) but these aunts and uncles are literally all over the place and would not have the sense to be like um no I won't go over or I won't hold the baby, I was just in an airport, at a wedding, with Travis's 25 family members yesterday. I mean Katie is in NJ vacationing at the beach with Travis's family; Carlin and Evan go to Nashville every weekend and spend all their time there going out with dozens of friends and family to public venues like Top Golf; Nathan and Lawson are constantly flying to their gfs and then going out with them in Pa and Ca; Bobby and Kelton have jobs where they are in people's homes; Josie is up in people's faces doing their hair for weddings. Like the amount of geographic exposure they have is crazy -- which is their choice -- but let's not subject a sick newborn to it.

I'd be shocked if any of these people (save maybe Michael and Brandon who seem like they read/understand things) are vaccinated or are even planning to be vaccinated. As social media whorish as they all are, if even one of the siblings was vaccinated, you know we would have seen a selfie. I'm sure they're in the camp of NBD, it's just the flu, it's an untested vax, God will protect. I know he's not their family but is cut from the same cloth -- Evan's brother was making fun of people getting the vax . . . . For right now it may be ok in daily life (w/o a NICU baby) as they all had it and immunities are pretty strong, but natural immunity does wear off and yeah even though Z&W have had it, it's quite possible they could pick it up again/carry it to Jadon. Plus if they had it last Aug/Sept, the strains circulating now are different from back then. As for the hospital enforcing, I think I've seen some masks on their chins/in their hands. I have a feeling they probably mask up to enter the hospital and walk to the NICU and are probably still masked up when drs/nurses are near them giving them updates. But you know the minute the nurse walks away, masks come off bc come on they need perfect pics with Jadon. As much as hospitals are going to enforce their rules if they see you, they also can't be looking at you 24-7, some of it has to be you being the adult and the parent and being like there's a pandemic and I have a NICU baby, let's just be careful!? I wonder if NICU drs have suggested to Z&W that they must vaccinate -- even still it's only been 4 days; even if they listened to drs. and vaccinated the moment he went to the NICU (and I don't see that - I feel like they're prob still praying about it), the vax haven't kicked in yet in 4 days anyway.