The Beyonce and Jay-Z Circus

I tried my best to ignore the news about Beyonce and Jay-Z giving birth. I really did. I caught wind of the news online and of course gave a little knowing smile (as all mother’s do when a knew member joins the club) and went about my business. Later I heard some hubbub about the big production that was the birth of their baby girl, and again I shrugged it off. Celebrity gossip rarely interests me these days.

But then I started reading about the parents who were in the maternity ward of Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan while Beyonce was giving birth. Specifically the parents with newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Allegedly while Beyonce was in labor the area outside the neonatal ICU was transformed. Partitions were put up, the maternity ward windows were completely covered, and the hospitals’ security cameras were taped over with paper while guards with Secret Service-style earpieces roamed the floor.

Parents with children in the neonatal intensive care unit were separated from each other and their children for hours. The idea of parents being separated from their healthy newborn infants is sad enough, but to think of parents separated from their newborn babies that are struggling for life is horrific.

Especially when the person standing between these parents and their babies are security guards with badges that say “special event” on them. So while Beyonce and family were lounging in a luxury suite (that is rumored to have been specifically built for the birth after Beyonce and Jay-Z allegedly donated $100,000 to the hospital) these parents spent hours separated from their babies and in some cases each other.

And don’t get me started on the security risk that was taken by blacking out all the security cameras on the floor. Cameras that are there to protect all the babies, not just the celebrity babies.

Though I would like to think that Beyonce and Jay-Z would have been more considerate, maybe they hadn’t realized what was happening with the other parents after she was giving birth herself, right?

So my annoyance, frustration and empathetic anger for these parents are placed on the hospital itself.

Any hospital that puts their patients through what these NICU parents went through while the Beyonce circus was in town should somehow get fined. Or ticketed. Or at least get a stern talking to… from whoever does that sort of thing.

And let’s all hope if Beyonce and Jay-Z ever have another baby they decide on a home birth…

About the author:
Meghan H. Harvey

Meghan is a mom of two living in the beautiful San Francisco bay area. In between running around with her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter, she writes, blogs, eats lots of chocolate, and drinks lots of coffee. You can find more of her highly caffeinated and chocolate tinged musings at Meg's Idle Chatter or the Silicon Valley Moms blog. You can also find her hiding from any domestic duties on Twitter as @meghan1018.

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