Having watched almost every episode of the UK show, I was really excited for this. The production value seemed like it would be really high with all the cameras catching naturalistic views of the births, and I loved a peek into the different lives and loves of the new parents in the UK show. It also, while I was pregnant, made me feel so much more confident in giving birth.
Before I go on, I want to make one thing clear: I had an induced labor, I got an epidural, and I ended up with a C-section. I am not some "natural mama" here to shame people for needing interventions or pain relief. That's not the point of this review.
I also have a background in healthcare, for what it's worth.
But...wow, this show really demonstrated the difference between US and UK approaches to birth.
In the UK show, the women very rarely used pain relief. They were rarely there to be induced, and ending with a C-section was super uncommon. In the US show, there was--in the very first episode--a woman who shows up already 4 cm dilated and the first thing out of the nurse's mouth is "let's start pitocin." Absolutely wild. Pitocin is not an inert substance. It comes with many risks and side effects. I have never met an OB or MFM who would just hang a pitocin IV the second a patient in spontaneous labor walks in the door.
The whole point of the show honestly seemed to be about making fun of the moms. Every episode (and yes, I watched ALL of them) was full of little doot-doot music every time a mother was in pain, complete with cuts to the nurses making mocking faces from the nurse's station. The nurses were constantly making fun of the patients to their faces, even. In episode 1, a woman repeats something she was told by her healthcare provider, and the nurse had the chutzpah to make fun of her. The editing also made it seem like the mom, who was innocently saying SOMETHING SHE'D BEEN TOLD BY A DOCTOR, was somehow an idiot for that.
In ep 1, there was also a woman who came in hoping for an epidural-free birth. The episode was literally just mocking her the entire time for trying to have a physiologic birth, edited to make her sounds of pain seem ridiculous, and cutting to scenes of the nurses making fun of her behind her back.
(Speaking of cut scenes, the editing was such that the camera kept jumping around to make the births seem "suspenseful" at all times. Like the director thought he was filming an action movie. It was jarring.)
Watching this show, I would hate to give birth at this hospital. It made me nervous for my own labor, that the nurses would be actively making fun of me at all times. I can't believe the nurses in this show are okay with themselves being portrayed like this to a national audience. And I feel so bad for the moms who will watch this and feel embarrassed for the very natural pain and heightened emotions they felt giving birth to their children.
What a truly horrible show. Ditch this and go watch the UK one, which is sweet and will make you feel a lot better about humanity.
