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Until 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales (analogue) was known simply as BBC Two Wales. BBC Two Wales (digital) was BBC 2W. From 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales schedules on both analogue and digital became identical

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Life and Birth

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Factual: Health & Wellbeing

Following parents and staff at three of Birmingham’s busiest maternity units.

The miracle of birth meets cutting-edge medicine at three of Birmingham’s busiest maternity hospitals as parents and staff welcome the arrival of Britain’s next generation.

Series 1

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Suranne Jones

Daniel Dewsbury

Tom Dixon-Spain

Vicky Mitchell

Becky Casey-Ahmed

Meghan Just-Truelove

Simon Kerfoot

Tom Currie

Simon Ford

Richard Bond

Dragonfly Film and Television

Life and Birth: Series 1: Episode 1

Episode 1

BBC One - Life and Birth, Series 1, Episode 1

Two unborn babies are found to have heart defects.

Channelle wants an intervention-free birth, Jodie’s baby arrives eight weeks early, and there’s joy for Ashleigh after a dramatic delivery.

The six-part series reveals what it really takes to deliver Britain’s next generation, through the eyes of parents and staff at three of Birmingham’s busiest maternity hospitals. 

Thirty-three-year-old Channelle is expecting her first child. No longer in a relationship with her baby’s father, she’s left behind a jet-setting career as a DJ and moved back in with her mum, Barbara. Channelle is determined to have an intervention-free birth, but with a larger than average baby now overdue, doctors have decided to induce her. 

Childhood sweethearts Ashleigh and Luke are expecting their second child together. Their first born, Roman Rae, struggled to breathe when he was born and spent time in neonatal intensive care after he went on to develop sepsis. Four hours after being induced, Ashleigh’s labour begins and the couple hope that everything will go smoothly this time around, but they experience a scare during the birth where it begins to look like history might repeat itself.

Mother of two Jodie first discovered complications with her pregnancy at her 20-week scan. Doctors suspect her unborn baby has a heart condition, but scans so far have been inconclusive. An appointment with consultant cardiologist Anna Seale eventually confirms that the baby has a narrowing of the aortic arch, a condition that will require surgery. Jodie is told that it’s imperative she carry her baby girl for as long as possible so that she’s big enough to cope with surgery. However, at just 32 weeks, Jodie is rushed to hospital by husband Dave and gives birth prematurely. Jodie and Dave begin a bedside vigil as they anxiously wait to see if Phoebe will pull through.

Jenna has been on the antenatal ward for almost two weeks because her unborn daughter has a rare heart condition called atrial flutter that is causing her heart to beat unusually fast – four hundred and forty-three beats a minute. Attempts to bring the heart rate under control have so far been unsuccessful, but the doctors hope a new combination of drugs might be the answer.

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