- Joined
- Mar 27, 2018
- Messages
- 36
- Reaction score
- 9
Howdy folks,
I've scoured Google and the AW forums, but I can't seem to find much in the way of this specific situation and I just want to make sure that I cover the appropriate grounds before calling it good. My research has yielded a whole bunch of 'buy a better stroller and pack a weather radio', which is not the least bit helpful here.
My story is set on a space ship, so think steel walls, plastic, glass -- hard surfaces. The ship is currently nose-diving under a barrage of explosions, so now we're sliding all over the place and bouncing off of those hard surfaces.
The father is a military officer, so he's quite muscular and physically hard too. There is no mother/partner, he's a single parent. When the attacks begin (unexpectedly) he's on the far side of the ship carrying out his officer duties. So he's got to cross the entire ship, putting him behind on the timeline as is while he grabs his infant daughter out of her cradle. He can't really gently waltz off, the ship is rolling and he has to get to the docking bay. The baby is roughly 3 months old. Her cradle is, out of necessity, bolted to the floor with a hand-wavey advanced hydraulic system to keep her stable while in flight, so he can't pick it up. There are 3 point harnesses available, but they're not designed to support a child that small. (Think seat belts, rock-climbing harnesses, etc; not really designed to protect itty-bitty people from impact.)
I do have a bag nearby that he keeps stocked with some emergency supplies: extra blankets, bottles, and formula. Their diapers are spiffy nylon things that are reusable with proper sanitation, so I omitted those. He does manage to snatch that bag before he leaves her nursery.
I thought the biggest danger would come with the jarring of being in a person's arms who's running. However, the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome website says that "Shaken injuries are not caused by...jogging or bicycling with your baby. Although the activities listed above can be dangerous and are not recommended, they will likely not cause SBS injuries." And then there's this, from another website, " It occurs when an adult violently shakes a baby, causing the baby's head to move quickly from a chin on chest position all the way back. Think of it as baby-whiplash occurring several times."
So, he won't kill her by running if he's got her locked in his arms and her head is held steady between his hands and his chest.
Outside of that, what other dangers would a parent think of (or have prepared for ahead of time) in a snap-occurrence disaster and how might those be offset to some extent? I'm not a parent, so I'll take any information or stories you can share about how he might negate some of the stress on his daughter. Is the best solution to just have him run like a loon and leave everything? Would that horrify a parent with his actions, or at the situation? I don't want him to come across as an incompetent dummy, but as a father pinned between death and doing everything in his power to save his child from said death. That being said, it's a disaster, so he's probably not toting a bulky 60lbs of baby gear+toys around while the ship breaks apart above his head.
Thank you for any shared thoughts!
I've scoured Google and the AW forums, but I can't seem to find much in the way of this specific situation and I just want to make sure that I cover the appropriate grounds before calling it good. My research has yielded a whole bunch of 'buy a better stroller and pack a weather radio', which is not the least bit helpful here.
My story is set on a space ship, so think steel walls, plastic, glass -- hard surfaces. The ship is currently nose-diving under a barrage of explosions, so now we're sliding all over the place and bouncing off of those hard surfaces.
The father is a military officer, so he's quite muscular and physically hard too. There is no mother/partner, he's a single parent. When the attacks begin (unexpectedly) he's on the far side of the ship carrying out his officer duties. So he's got to cross the entire ship, putting him behind on the timeline as is while he grabs his infant daughter out of her cradle. He can't really gently waltz off, the ship is rolling and he has to get to the docking bay. The baby is roughly 3 months old. Her cradle is, out of necessity, bolted to the floor with a hand-wavey advanced hydraulic system to keep her stable while in flight, so he can't pick it up. There are 3 point harnesses available, but they're not designed to support a child that small. (Think seat belts, rock-climbing harnesses, etc; not really designed to protect itty-bitty people from impact.)
I do have a bag nearby that he keeps stocked with some emergency supplies: extra blankets, bottles, and formula. Their diapers are spiffy nylon things that are reusable with proper sanitation, so I omitted those. He does manage to snatch that bag before he leaves her nursery.
I thought the biggest danger would come with the jarring of being in a person's arms who's running. However, the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome website says that "Shaken injuries are not caused by...jogging or bicycling with your baby. Although the activities listed above can be dangerous and are not recommended, they will likely not cause SBS injuries." And then there's this, from another website, " It occurs when an adult violently shakes a baby, causing the baby's head to move quickly from a chin on chest position all the way back. Think of it as baby-whiplash occurring several times."
So, he won't kill her by running if he's got her locked in his arms and her head is held steady between his hands and his chest.
Outside of that, what other dangers would a parent think of (or have prepared for ahead of time) in a snap-occurrence disaster and how might those be offset to some extent? I'm not a parent, so I'll take any information or stories you can share about how he might negate some of the stress on his daughter. Is the best solution to just have him run like a loon and leave everything? Would that horrify a parent with his actions, or at the situation? I don't want him to come across as an incompetent dummy, but as a father pinned between death and doing everything in his power to save his child from said death. That being said, it's a disaster, so he's probably not toting a bulky 60lbs of baby gear+toys around while the ship breaks apart above his head.
Thank you for any shared thoughts!
Last edited: