TV series aims to banish taboos about one of the most intimate moments in a couple's life, writes BRIAN O'CONNELL
HOW DOES a complete stranger convince an expectant mother to not only allow a film crew to record the birth of her child, but to broadcast it on national television?
In recent years, many TV programmes have sought to bring childbirth to the small screen, yet Irish channels have been slow to embrace the broadcasting of births.
Beginning next Tuesday, From Here To Maternity, a new six-part series on RTÉ, seeks to present an observational account of the goings on in Cork University Maternity Hospital, where there were close to 9,000 births last year.
The programme follows staff and patients, securing compelling access to labour wards and to the people who inhabit them. The style is inquisitive and respectful as opposed to voyeuristic, bringing the human interest stories to the fore.
For series director Edel O’Brien, key to achieving the participation of expectant mothers was to build up a level of trust beforehand and utilise her own experience to put participants at ease.
“I’ve filmed births before and you have to be confident approaching it. You can’t be scared of it. I’m a director who likes to tell stories and I’m always looking for a beginning, middle and end.
“When I’m pitching the idea to would-be mothers, I make sure to say that I’m not just there for the gory bits at the end. I can film a scene of a birth without seeing the baby’s head coming out. So it’s all done very sensitively.”
O’Brien points to the fact that the general atmosphere in a maternity hospital is one of happiness, and her aim was to ensure that came through in the series.
“There’s a palpable sense of anticipation and expectation in the hospital, and we tried to capture that. I think really the series is also about the gentle power of the moment when mothers bring life into the world. We did manage to capture lives changing,” she says.
One of those who opted to take part is mother-of-two Fran Corcoran, who bumped into O’Brien by chance in the hospital. What was it that made Corcoran decide to allow such a personal experience be filmed?
“I am not a very public person. But when I met Edel, we had such a laugh and I felt very comfortable with her. I went into labour at midnight and sent Edel a text at 6am and said I was going into hospital.
“She rushed down to Cork and so by the time she arrived I was well gone. She came in all laughing and I enjoyed her company immensely. She then came in to film when things got very full-on just before the delivery.”
Because they had managed to strike up a personal connection, when the cameras were rolling during the delivery Corcoran says she was able to ignore the fact that O’Brien and her crew were present.
“I totally forgot about the camera. I had my eyes closed for much of it, as I was in so much pain. I kept telling myself I could do this. I went inwards and so didn’t see Edel there really.
“She was very discreet and the only time I was conscious of her was as I was delivering I saw the light of the camera. It distracted me for a moment, which was a good thing.”
Having already viewed the results of the filming with her husband Barry and 10-year-old son Ben, Corcoran admits to some apprehension about the programme, but feels that her participation is important in helping to remove any remaining taboos around the issue of childbirth.
“In my mother’s time, birth was almost like they were soiling the sheets. Mothers were wheeled away and no husband was present. Now it is a process which is very caring and people come in and visit, and I think it’s good to show that.”
Another participant in the series is first-time father Duncan Menzies, who also met O’Brien by chance when he and his wife, Tara, attended the hospital for a scan. Tara was subsequently admitted, and the couple allowed access before and after delivery of their daughter Kate.
“I suppose every guy is different. Some guys would never chat about birth on camera, while other fellas could talk about it all day.
“For me, I was more thinking about the fact that if I participated my wife and daughter can go back and look at it years later.”
Because it was their first child, Menzies says they were reluctant to allow filming of the birth but his reactions soon after were recorded.
“After Kate was born I went through it with the crew. At the time I was so tired I can barely remember what I said.
“I can only imagine what it is going to come out like on the camera. I remember I was very much in awe of what my wife had gone through.”
And while Menzies is comfortable discussing childbirth, he says he is preparing himself for something of a gentle ribbing from male friends and colleagues when the series is screened.
“We men are not very open by our nature or talkative about these things too much. I haven’t told my male friends yet exactly when it is on. I am already getting slagged in work and it hasn’t even been shown yet!”
From Here to Maternitybegins on RTÉ 1 on Tuesday, February 22nd, at 8.30pm
