I just saw a pregnant woman do something truly disturbing, and now I can't un-see it. When expecting mom Heather Thorpe was eight months pregnant, her then-husband took video of herhitting her pregnant belly with a hammer, TWICE. "My baby's hard as anything," she said. "Watch." And then she did it -- she took a hammer to her belly.
You'll be relieved to know that her baby survived. Jonathan was born a year ago and is, as Thorpe puts it, a "super kid" who is reaching his developmental milestones on schedule. Really, if you watch the video, she's not hitting her belly that hard. But still. My God, that is a stupendously idiotic thing to do. And wait until you hear what else is going on with this family.
The whole reason why this video has surfaced at all is because Thorpe is in a dispute with her former husband, Sean Hanlon. The couple separated shortly after this video was taken. Thorpe accused her husband of domestic abuse. Hanlon showed police the video in order to damage his ex-wife's credibility.
So apparently if you're the kind of person who hits her pregnant belly with a hammer, you're also likely to lie about domestic abuse? That's some lousy logic. Maybe if you're the kind of person who hits herself in the belly with a hammer, you just show extremely poor judgment, which would explain how you ended up with the guy in the first place!
Police declined to press charges against Thorpe because, according to them, she wasn't committing a crime. (This is in the UK, by the way.) But Social Services also declined to get involved, and that really worries me. Thorpe is reportedly living with her parents, who hopefully are helping to make sure no one is doing anything else dangerous. But it seems to me if you saw this video, you'd maybe want to keep tabs on this mom just to make sure she's mentally healthy. Maybe you'd even want to educate her a little on safe behavior with kids.
But just in case we haven't made it abundantly clear: No matter how "hard" your belly feels during pregnancy (and I think those of us who have experienced pregnancy know what Thorpe is talking about), you should never hit it with a hammer! Terrible idea.
Do you think police should have taken this video more seriously?
Image via Daily Mail