One Born Every Minute
Channel 4 · TV Week · 24 Jan 2012 · by: Channel4
With new lives beginning and others changing forever, the most emotionally-charged documentary series on British television, One Born Every Minute, returns. This time the BAFTA-Award winning series has moved to Leeds and is packed with drama from the North. There's a new team of characterful midwives, lots of new mums and dads and, of course, babies.
Episode 4
This week's episode features two mothers at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to conception and labour. After endless rounds of IVF, wheel-chair-bound Tricia is looking forward to a much-longed for baby. Halinka is expecting her fifth baby and gets pregnant at the drop of a hat and also has a condition called ‘spontaneous fast labour' where birth can happen very quickly.
Steven (44) and Tricia (40) have been married for 25 years after meeting in the Church choir. Tricia was hit by a car when she was 13, leaving her with a life-changing brain injury. She suffers from limited movement on her left-hand-side and uses a wheel-chair as she can't walk very far. Very much in love and always keen to be parents, they have tried to get pregnant for a number of years, undergoing IVF, artificial insemination and suffering two miscarriages. Steven is Tricia's carer as well as having a full-time job in IT.
Leeds' ‘longest-serving' midwife is on hand to guide and reassure Tricia throughout her labour. But Tricia faces a difficult labour due to her physical disability and emotions are running high as she worries that her baby could be taken into care because of the challenges presented by her handicap.
The two other expectant parents have had no problem conceiving; Halinka (27) is having her fifth baby with Richard "we've popped out children left right and centre" she says while Richard jokes that he can father a child just by looking at someone. Halinka's latest pregnancy was "unplanned" and Richard has already had a vasectomy to make sure there are no more unexpected surprises. They are a funny and warm couple, bickering during labour - and as with all Halinka's previous labours, the baby comes when least expected.
Wdnesday 25th January, 9 pm, Channel 4
