In what is probably the saddest cruise related story I have ever heard, the FBI has been investigating the death of a newborn on board a Carnival cruise ship. The body of the infant was discovered Wednesday on the Carnival Dream by a member of the ship’s crew. The Carnival Dream is home-ported in Port Canaveral and sails and itinerary that alternate between the Eastern and Western Caribbean. This tragedy took place during the Eastern Caribbean itinerary.
According to the investigation and an autopsy done by the St. Maarten authorities it was determined that the child died at sea somewhere between Miami and St. Thomas. Dutch authorities interviewed the 20 year old mother on Wednesday and took custody of the infant’s body. Since it was determined the infant died between those two areas and not in St. Maarten’s jurisdiction the case was handed over to U.S. authorities. The mother is from the United States and currently still in St. Maarten but should be returning home shortly, where she will face more questions from investigators.
While I would not be comfortable speculating on the actual circumstances surrounding this situation, according to St. Maarten Island time newspaper the mother did not know she was pregnant. I will say that cruise line policy clearly and strictly prohibits women more than 25 weeks pregnant from cruising without their doctor’s consent, so I tend to believe that part of the story.
Now before anyone jumps to any conclusions, or asks the question “how could she not have known she was pregnant” the Discovery Channel has a whole series called “I didn’t know I was pregnant”. On the show, mothers tell their stories about not knowing they were pregnant until the time they went into labor.
Now, I could imagine a scenario where the woman didn’t know she was pregnant until she went into labor. The sense of panic and confusion would be one so strong that even a rational person could snap. . Imagine not even knowing you are pregnant when a baby starts to crown. Now logically speaking I don’t understand why she wouldn’t contact the ship’s doctor, but under those circumstances how logical could one be. So before we start to vilify this woman please take into consideration what an extreme circumstance this whole thing happens to be. While it’s easy to throw out statements about how wrong and disgusting this sort of things is, obviously she is troubled (if only even momentarily) on some level that “normal” people can’t rationalize so try to leave those judgments to those who are more qualified to do so.
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