Episode 6

Mother-of-two Danisha has come to Birmingham Women’s Hospital to have her labour induced. She is with her best friend and birth partner, Yolanda. The pair were childhood friends in Jamaica and both came to the UK in search of a better life.

Christina and husband Steve are also having their third baby - a boy who will be born by planned caesarean section. Christina experienced severe postnatal depression following the birth of her first son, so this time she is being supported through her pregnancy by Heartlands Hospital’s specialist mental health midwives.

Jin and husband Joe have been struggling to conceive for 11 years. After three rounds of IVF, Jin is finally pregnant, but the weight of years of disappointed expectations have taken their toll, and she is terrified that something will go wrong. In a state of high anxiety, Jin is admitted to hospital with an erratic heart rate. The doctors must rule out any complications and reassure her that she is on course to finally have a baby.

Elsie was born eight weeks premature, weighing just 860 grams. Doctors also discovered a hole in her heart, but surgeons couldn’t operate on Elsie’s heart until she reached two kilos. Her parents, Katherine and William, have been living in hospital accommodation for the last two months in order to be close as possible to their daughter. They now face an anxious wait as Elsie is taken into theatre for the three-hour operation.