The first domestic childbirth live variety show, TV CHOSUN 'Our Baby Is Born' (directed by Lee Seung-hoon and Kim Joon, written by Jang Joo-yeon), featured the 'Soo-Pung Duo' Park Soo-hong and Yang Se-hyung meeting a gastrointestinal specialist who became pregnant with her second child through sperm donation as a 'voluntary single mother' on the broadcast aired on the 20th. 'Voluntary single motherhood' refers to cases where individuals decide to become 'moms' independently without being in a marital relationship and without experiencing unavoidable circumstances such as death or divorce. The 'voluntary single mother' stated, "I thought that 'having a baby is essential in life,' and I entered my early 30s. Given the time required to marry and have a baby, and the uncertainty of the time available to me, I began to consider 'sperm donation.'" Yang Se-hyung recalled Sayuri, who became a 'mom' by receiving sperm donation in Japan. The 'voluntary single mother' also revealed that due to the difficulties surrounding sperm donation in Korea, she received sperm donations from Denmark, which has the world's largest sperm bank. Despite being able to select sperm based on various criteria such as the donor's height, weight, ethnicity, hair color, and personality, the mother mentioned, "Rather than creating a perfect human being according to my wishes, I thought it would be fine as long as it's my baby, and I hoped for them to be a warm child that shares the living room with friends when they come over, so I considered 'empathy' as a criterion." Thus, she gave birth to her first child and then decided to have her second child through sperm donation, thinking, "It would be nice for my child to have many siblings."
Yang Se-hyung, known as 'dad wannabe,' asked, "Isn't it difficult to be pregnant and give birth alone when it's said that raising a child together as a couple is hard?" The mother replied, "I am basically 'alone,' so I just assumed that raising a child might be tough. And the joy of raising a baby far outweighs that," conveying that she is having happy days. The mother also remarked, "The first test-tube baby procedure was in 1978. At that time, it was an immense challenge for parents and doctors alike and was plagued by ethical controversies, but now many children are born through test-tube methods. Similarly, I think if single-mother families become common, our children will find it easier to live in the future. I want to be a source of hope and a good message for various family structures that are lumped together as 'single-parent families.'" Meanwhile, on that day, a mother of 'multiple births' with a natural pregnancy probability of '1 in 100,000,' which is rarer than triplets, also appeared. 'Multiple births' refers to a situation in which a woman who is pregnant with twins gives birth and then becomes pregnant with another set of twins consecutively. The mother of the 'multiple births,' who consecutively became pregnant with twins through natural conception, experienced pre-term labor during her first twin pregnancy. Both newborns had to spend three weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit. The trauma from that experience caused the mother to endure several crises and manage to last until 35 weeks. However, since the babies were lying horizontally, known as 'transverse position,' and due to adhesions caused by the cesarean delivery during her first birth, a difficult delivery was anticipated. The mother expressed her anxious feelings, saying, "It felt like I was going bungee jumping every day a month before the birth." Upon entering the cesarean section, the mother's blood pressure began to drop as the babies inside her pressed on her inferior vena cava. Medical staff hastily expedited the delivery to ensure both the mother's and the babies' lives were protected. In the meantime, the mother was more nervous due to the terrifying memory of her first twin delivery when one of the babies did not breathe. However, in contrast to those fears, both babies entered the world with loud cries. Only then did the mother feel relieved, smiling through her tears. The children's father also enjoyed the emotional moment of meeting his twins outside the operating room. However, the mother inside the operating room did not think of leaving, and Park Soo-hong expressed his concern, saying, "Can it take this long?" The father of the 'multiple births' felt anxious and apologized, saying, "The mother is in danger, but I was too worried about the babies and focused just on them." Soon, the medical staff emerged, explaining that "the surgery was delayed due to tearing of the mother's bladder caused by adhesions during the surgery, necessitating an urgent call to urology specialists for suturing." Fortunately, there were no issues with bleeding or dangerous situations, and everyone sighed in relief. After returning to the hospital room, the mother cried out in pain, saying, "It hurts," but was still curious about her newborns. Despite the pain, she smiled happily while looking at the photos of her babies, touching everyone.
[Photo] "Our Baby Is Born"
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