I have no words - woman now stranded after wanting to give birth in St Lucia (on the beach...)

[Nanny0gg]

https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/uk-world-news/new-mum-stranded-after-being-8669669

What on earth were they thinking??

So waste public money on them? They are citizens overseas by their choice and those who deliberately make poor decisions need to take some responsibility instead of trying to milk the public purse.

ive just read more on the story and apparently they had selected a beach in Mustique where they flew too (?) - but didn't like the weather on that beach when they got there so 'picked up' a boat and headed towards a different beach on Grenada with better weather. However, she went into labour at sea off teh cost off rodney Bay and that is why they are there .. hmmmm .. I wonder if Clive has a different agenda.

Ah. Good thinking. Quite probably.

The last line of the article does say they've offered consular support to a family, so presumably they are getting whatever support there is.

Free birth isn't that uncommon, not is it usually particularly risky (the stats 8 years ago in my town put the risks lower than a hospital birth), but crucially you do want the option of an ambulance and medical care if necessary!

(Quite a lot of people freebirthed during covid when the home birth service was stopped, for various reasons)

@Skinnermarink Not just 5 weeks waiting to get to 40 weeks, even in the UK you'd need to add at least another 6 weeks after the birth to get baby registered and a passport. If she'd gone to 42 weeks before the birth, then they'd have been expecting to be away from the 8 year old for at least 3 months.

That's not adding in the stupidity of travelling on a germ filled plane with an unimmunised newborn. Dangerous to baby.

The 8 year old is not going to adjust back to those parents easily. Hard enough for an 8 year old to adjust to a new sibling under normal circumstances, but the extra resentment of your parents Fing of months with the baby and leaving you behind is going to be way worse. Plus they've missed her summer holiday. If they've been away this long, surely her passport renewal has happened by now, so they should have flown her out to join them. But that would involve thinking about needs of the kids.

How strange. Even if the birth had gone 'to plan', how did they think they'd get back? Did they think the baby could travel without a passport? They clearly didn't think this through!

I think it's brilliant!

I gave birth in a busy london hospital with 3 midwife changes and ended with legs in straps it was institutional and awful.

This is something I would have done had the idea been viable at the time.

It's very Mother Earthy.

I think she should have chosen a UK beach though or planned conception better so daughter could have come along. Presumably the daughter was still in school and couldn't come along or the mother would have missed her opportunity to fly past 35 weeks?

Can't think why they would have left her otherwise.

People like this give average morons a bad name.

What a pair of utter fuckwits.

I don’t much care that they wanted a beach birth to monetise on Instagram 🙄
Although I’m unimpressed by the risks and the ditching of the older child.

But… presenting it as a story where they are abandoned and stateless?

1. do you research - you only had to turn up to register in the legal time and you’d have been fine
2. be grateful that there is a simple process for this, they only need a DNA test. Then they’re sorted. That it takes time and the flight price has gone up? 🤷🏻‍♀️ your problem

They are not in some Kafka-esque loop here. There’s a clear legal process, they’ll be back in the U.K. soon, they just need to follow it.

What absolute idiots.

How insulting, to Darwin that is, he would probably have been appalled at the behaviour of this species, doubt he would have wanted his name associated with this fiasco.

Good God. Astonishing.

"Abandoned" and can't afford flights home. Abandoned by who? They flew to the Caribbean on purpose. How did they think they (all 3) were getting home?

I'm quite gullible but I have to say I'm suspicious of her swimsuit figure so soo after "giving birth".

Oh well I'm going on holiday to St Lucia next week. If I see the numpties I'll give them a wave and wish the baby good luck (not blessed with the most sensible parents).

Another way to evidence it’s your baby would be to disclose midwife notes from uk but if she’s gone down unmedicated birth route she may not have had usual antenatal care.
It is probably their baby but authorities need to be sure it is.

And I’m really glad about the DNA test.
I don’t give a shit about whether the baby looks like Clive as a PP said (anyway - most newborns look like old men). I do not want a legal system where anyone can enter the U.K. with a newborn without paperwork and proof. Their extra costs now are absolutely worth a system to protect babies from trafficking.

Absolute wankers, the pair of them.

What have they been doing for 4 months? Yes 4 weeks later you expect them to have exhausted all other areas and waiting for DNA results but 4 months? Why isn’t the father back in UK looking after other child (biological or not) and back at work to support the mum living abroad for however long it takes? If they were rich enough to take that long off work presume could also afford a legal team in the UK

Isn’t the 8 year old with her auntie? I think the dramatics about how she’ll never have a bond with the parents again and has been abandoned is overstated. It used to be very common for children to go to stay with relatives for extended periods in the summer and in many countries still is. It’s not like the child is in an orphanage! I’d have no worries leaving my DC with relatives for a few weeks if need be. They’d enjoy it!

This doesn’t sound real to me. Something is off.

Although, a brief google shows paternity test result take between two and ten days. How is it still ongoing? Unless something doesn't add up?

<raises hand>

Yep, my first thought was "OMG, the sand!!! You'll NEVER be able to get it out of, well, everywhere".

My second thought was "What a pair of morons".

As far as the consulate goes, I realize I'm American, but it think it's pretty normal for any nation's consulate to make decisions on a case by case basis as to how far they're going to go to help someone. It was made clear to me when I moved to Germany that if I did something stupid, the consulate wasn't going to do much, if anything to help. Unless the health of the baby is at stake, these idiots need to deal with their fuck up themselves.

Let's wait for the DNA results. My first thought is that these two have bought a baby.

Because they will have had to submit DNA tests from both of them, plus additional paperwork. It's to stop child trafficking. They could just have bought the baby.

4 months ! they knew after few days it was going to be difficult to get a passport why did the Dad not go home mind older daughter at that stage instead of waiting until money all gone.
Must be more to this story.

The couple left the UK in March 2023 when Iuliia was 35 weeks pregnant and headed to Martinique. They then headed to St Lucia after they picked up the boat in Martinique, and gave birth at sea off the coast of Rodney Bay.
Louisa was born at 12.40am, weighing 3kg. A few days later, the parents went to the Owen King European Union (OKEU) Hospital, in St Lucia, to get checked over and register their daughter's birth.

So they've been there quite a while.

But.
Ferry from Martinique to Saint Lucia

The Fort de France to Castries ferry crossing operates Weekly with a scheduled sailing duration from about 1 hour 30 minutes.

Were they rowing from Martinique to St Lucia or did they take the feery?

For literally months? With no date of return? I think you’re well in the minority to be fine with something like that.

Best response!

Well they hung about in St Lucia for a while (2 months) before they fucked off in their boat to go to Grenada instead - for the weather. So my guess is that these 2 weren’t bothering to do anything quickly. Because you’d drag the British press into it within the week in St Lucia, right?