Maxwell 27: Increasing the Clan

[deborahlynn1979]

So many delightfully practical Christmas gifts. I'd expect nothing less from these joyless cretins.

 

[JermajestyDuggar]

I’ve seen multiple fundies say that homebirths are fully covered by Samaritan. 

[ShopKeeper]

1 hour ago, IReallyAmHopewell said:

 

Or....drum roll....is she going on a secret mission trip....ALONE [well without other Maxwells]????

I want this to happen again. I wasn't here when John went away on his top secret mission trip, but that speculation thread is hilarious! And we know how it pissed Steve off since he ended up removing and editing several photos. I am positive someone guessed the correct country, and Steve panicked.

[Jigsaw3]

I have to say that I received an Eddie Bauer down vest as a Christmas present a few years ago, and it's great. I lost it recently and I'm pretty annoyed. So I support their choice of vest.  However... I agree with the poster that said down vests aren't indoors wear.

[PennySycamore]

I've got a down vest from Land's End and when I put it on the dogs think I'm taking them out.  They are usually correct, but I also wear it to the mailbox, on my walks and to run errands when it's chilly.  I do not usually wear it in the house and never zipped when I'm inside.  I don't even wear it zipped most of the time when I'm outside.

About forty years ago, the women from my small Catholic home parish went into the hills around Salem, SC to celebrate Christmas Mass with two elderly sister who had never married.  I think we may have taken a Christmas lunch up as well.  What I recall most was how dreadfully cold their home was!  We went outside to get warm and it wasn't exactly warm outside.  The vests might be because Steve is too damn cheap or too damn controlling to have the house heated to a decent temperature.  The vests would also be needed on the womenfolk because of the effect of chill on women's breasts.  Heck, Stevie would;d not even want to see evidence of men's nipples.

[Lisafer]

1 hour ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I’ve seen multiple fundies say that homebirths are fully covered by Samaritan. 

I think that's right. But not all fundies have Scamaritan...I'm pretty sure my mother paid out of pocket for her homebirths with a midwife.

[Flossie]

Couldn't the ladies simply have put the vests on for the picture?

[Jana814]

7 minutes ago, Flossie said:

Couldn't the ladies simply have put the vests on for the picture?

They probably did. 

[catlady]

They probably did put them on for photos, but they also left them on through breakfast. Steve wore his black one while cooking, and A&M are seated at the table while zipped up.  I get wanting to wear a new gift right away, but it’s apparently not too hot in that house to wear them for more than a few minutes. I’m frugal,too, and I employ afghans and sweaters all winter, but if one of us is cold enough to need an outdoor garment, the furnace gets turned up. There’s no need to be that uncomfortable on purpose. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

For the Christmas Eve celebration, Calia is sharing a blanket and Mel, Elyssa and Betsy all have on puffy vests. They also mentioned it was a fairly mild day. So sub zero temps weren’t outside to make it seem colder inside. I really think that Steve keeps that house as cold as his little black heart. 

[nastyhobbitses]

Can the next thread title please be "Take off your jacket -- Babes, Max Not Hot"

[Flossie]

29 minutes ago, catlady said:

They probably did put them on for photos, but they also left them on through breakfast. Steve wore his black one while cooking, and A&M are seated at the table while zipped up.  I get wanting to wear a new gift right away, but it’s apparently not too hot in that house to wear them for more than a few minutes. I’m frugal,too, and I employ afghans and sweaters all winter, but if one of us is cold enough to need an outdoor garment, the furnace gets turned up. There’s no need to be that uncomfortable on purpose. 

I stand corrected.

[Foudeb]

I'm on team vests! And it's not cold in my house. They have lots of pockets which women's clothes don't typically have. They don't have sleeves to get caught in cooking, cleaning, sewing etc. You wear them on just a t-shirt so it's easy to adjust for temperature- open when you're hot, zip up when you're not moving for a while, throw a coat on when going outside. 

When I go somewhere genuinely cold I'll wear a thick woollen jumper under the vest. 

I will reluctantly concede that it's hard to look good when wearing a vest. But then again... if I'm home I want to be comfy more than to look good. 

Frankly on the list of things to criticise Maxhell for, vests don't even register (it's not like we're short of material to snark on). 

[Lisafer]

1 hour ago, catlady said:

They probably did put them on for photos, but they also left them on through breakfast. Steve wore his black one while cooking, and A&M are seated at the table while zipped up.  I get wanting to wear a new gift right away, but it’s apparently not too hot in that house to wear them for more than a few minutes. I’m frugal,too, and I employ afghans and sweaters all winter, but if one of us is cold enough to need an outdoor garment, the furnace gets turned up. There’s no need to be that uncomfortable on purpose. 

It really must be pretty darn cold in there, judging by the pictures. If they're on electric, it's probably fairly expensive to heat their house, though. Our electric bills often double in the winter, and we have about the same climate as they do. I keep our thermostat at 68 degrees during the day and 64 at night. We have a single-story slab house about 1200 square feet with electric heat and it can cost us about $200 during a cold month. I'd double that estimate for Stevehovah, so...$400? It may not seem like a lot to some of you, but it's a big chunk of change for us! 

Steve has probably decided that heating the indoors is about as useful as meat in the burritos.

[OhNoNike]

When is the last time they mentioned coffee?

Im a little concerned. 

[nausicaa]

5 hours ago, meee said:

1. Okay, so get a hospital birth without an epidural.

2. I thought they had Samaritan? And if not, what on earth do they do for Melanie? And no way are the Duggars and Bateses doing homebirths for financial reasons.

3, Fine, so pray that God gives you a safe delivery in a hospital. It's more sterile, your other kids aren't around, and you get a BREAK for a couple of nights. If I were birthing my sixth, or nineteenth, or whatever, I'd have a hospital birth for that alone!

4. Okay, fair enough. And I'm not actually anti-homebirth, I just don't get the juxtaposition of "Homebirths are so godly" vs. "Melanie had 3 C-sections and we're not even sad about it but just mention it in a matter-of-fact way as though it's normal in our world, which it isn't."

Without insurance, a hospital birth without complications could easily run $10,000. Even Jim Bob doesn't have that kind of money to throw around. He would have shelled out $30,000 this past year alone. The Bateses definitely don't have that sort of money. 

I also think some of this is a cultural thing now-- if a lot of women around you are giving birth at home with a midwife, it doesn't seem strange or experimental to choose it when you become pregnant. There is probably also some unspoken pressure to show you are "woman enough" to give birth naturally at home like in the good old days they love to romanticize. 

[Jana814]

5 minutes ago, nausicaa said:

I also think some of this is a cultural thing now-- if a lot of women around you are giving birth at home with a midwife, it doesn't seem strange or experimental to choose it when you become pregnant. There is probably also some unspoken pressure to show you are "woman enough" to give birth naturally at home like in the good old days they love to romanticize. 

I have to agree with the pressure thing. They probably feel guilty if they are not able to have a home birth like the other women in the church. 

[Lisafer]

20 minutes ago, nausicaa said:

Without insurance, a hospital birth without complications could easily run $10,000. Even Jim Bob doesn't have that kind of money to throw around. He would have shelled out $30,000 this past year alone. The Bateses definitely don't have that sort of money. 

I agree, but an uninsured fundie who showed up to give birth at a hospital in some states would be asked to give financial information and the hospital would pretty much automatically file for retroactive Medicaid payments. Also some hospitals give large discounts depending on income levels and for cash pay patients.

I hope it doesn't sound like I'm trying to argue with you. I've had a homebirth and a hospital birth, and I find the whole cost issue fascinating. Basically, fundies have several options to get a hospital birth paid for: medical share, medicaid, hospital discount programs, etc. If they're rich enough to pay cash for a hospital birth, they're rich enough to get insurance: and if they can't afford a hospital birth, there's options to help with that. 

But I think it's partly a matter of pride. Accepting assistance means you're not pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps, or some shit.

[FloraDoraDolly]

Nothing wrong with vests, but who the hell wants the exact same one as their sisters? I mean, at least get a different color! Matchy-match is cute when the kids are really little and it's for a special occasion (i.e. Christmas card photos, or everyone wears the same Mickey Mouse shirt to Disney World). But on grown women, matchy-match looks ridiculous.

Re: Homebirth. I am too old to have kids, but if I were a young woman today I would want a real hospital, real doctors, real drugs, real medical equipment in case something goes wrong.

[Jana814]

16 minutes ago, FloraDoraDolly said:

 

Re: Homebirth. I am too old to have kids, but if I were a young woman today I would want a real hospital, real doctors, real drugs, real medical equipment in case something goes wrong.

I feel the same way! 

[Captain Obvious]

3 hours ago, nastyhobbitses said:

Can the next thread title please be "Take off your jacket -- Babes, Max Not Hot"

“It’s Getting Cold In Here, So Put On All Your Matchy-Matchy Clothes”

”I Want A Girl With A Long Skirt and A Short Puffer Jacket” 

[church_of_dog]

27 minutes ago, Captain Obvious said:

“It’s Getting Cold In Here, So Put On All Your Matchy-Matchy Clothes”

”I Want A Girl With A Long Skirt and A Short Puffer Jacket” 

"You Can Leave Your Hat Vest On"

[mango_fandango]

I don’t have kids yet, but I would definitely want a hospital birth. As we’ve seen with the married Duggar girls (bar Jinger), things can go wrong pretty fast, and I would want to be as close to help as possible (ie in the hospital) rather than have to travel. 

[Coconut Flan]

1 hour ago, church_of_dog said:

"You Can Leave Your Hat Vest On"

Now THAT one I like.  ?

[FaithAndReason]

Someone probably made an idol out of warmth. “No more heat for you!” (Said with my best Soup Nazi Seinfeld voice)