TV CHOSUN's Our Baby Was Born Again, the country's first childbirth broadcast variety show, revealed the birth story of couple Park Bomi and Park Yohan, who, after the great sorrow of a "son's death," welcomed a daughter as their second happiness. It also brought viewers to the edge of their seats with the tense delivery scene of a mother who, after giving birth to a second child following a firstborn diagnosed with a "chromosomal abnormality," was deeply worried about the soon-to-be-born third child.
On the 28th episode of TV CHOSUN's Our Baby Was Born Again (directed by Lee Seunghun and Kim Joon / writer Jang Jooyeon), Park Suhong and Jang Seohi met actor Park Bomi and former soccer player Park Yohan, who were 34 weeks pregnant. The couple, Park Bomi and Park Yohan, were bright and cheerful, but two years earlier they endured the pain of losing their 15-month-old son Simon to heaven. Until the day before his death there had been no abnormalities, but Simon suddenly developed a fever in the early morning. Father Park Yohan was in Namhae because of a youth soccer team match he was coaching, and Park Bomi, who was alone, gave him fever medicine to bring the fever down. But by morning Simon had a fever again, and after wandering between hospitals Park Bomi had to go to the emergency room. Park Yohan, who normally did not call on game days, received his wife's call and, hearing her say, "I think our son is dead," headed straight to Seoul.
After 40 minutes of cardiac arrest, Simon's heartbeat miraculously returned, but he had no brain response and had to rely on life-support equipment. Park Bomi recalled, "It seems Simon wanted to give us time until his father arrived." While Simon was in the intensive care unit and they could not be with him, Park Bomi recorded the voices of family members on a recorder every day and played them so Simon would not feel lonely. Hearing the voice messages they had played for Simon, the couple and even Park Suhong and Jang Seohi burst into tears.
Park Bomi said, "Simon's things are all still here, but Simon is not," adding that she still carefully keeps Simon's clothes, toys and other belongings. She added, "We are very sad, but I think Simon would hate to see us sad. So we try to be more spirited. I think Simon would be happy in heaven to see his mother and father doing well... I always think he is with us."
Second happiness came to the couple who endured such difficult times. After five attempts at in vitro fertilization, Park Bomi successfully became pregnant with her second child. Park Bomi said, "My goal was to have four children, but because of my age four is difficult, and I'm thinking up to this second child's sibling. So I will pass all of Simon's things on to the baby to be born," revealing her plans. Jang Seohi said, "It's such a precious child," as she awaited the birth of the second, and Park Suhong cheered, saying, "From Simon's perspective, if his sibling uses his things together, he will always be remembered, so it will be good." On the day of delivery, Park Bomi gave birth to a healthy daughter weighing 3.6 kg, and congratulations and support poured in for the family of three.
Meanwhile, Park Suhong and Sayuri met a mother who, after giving birth to a second son closely spaced after a first daughter with developmental and intellectual disabilities due to a "microdeletion of a chromosome," was pregnant with a third child. During the first pregnancy there had been no abnormalities in prenatal testing, but the mother learned of the first child's chromosomal abnormality three days after birth. The mother said, "I blamed myself and denied reality, wondering why this happened to me, but thanks to my husband who steadied things and endured, I was able to pull myself together." The first child had slow and weak development of muscles and organs and was receiving various rehabilitation therapies. After giving birth to a closely spaced second child, the mother said, "Thanks to the second, I better understood my first daughter's developmental pace, and the first child is also receiving positive stimulation from being with her sibling." Becoming an even closer family, the mother planned to get pregnant with a third.
However, because of the experience with the first child, the mother was so worried about the baby's health that she would hyperventilate even at comments that the baby was "slightly smaller than average." Moreover, on the day of delivery contractions began but progressed slowly, and because the baby was lying facing upward, comments such as "the baby's position is a bit odd" followed. The husband worried for his wife in great pain, saying, "I want to take the pain for you." After 11 hours of labor and even receiving an epidural, the mother kept repeating "hurry," saying, "The baby is coming down. It keeps coming down." Because the baby descended so quickly after contractions, the situation risked a "precipitous delivery," in which excessive uterine contractions can cause brain hemorrhage or brain damage to the baby. The mother also faced a significantly increased risk of birth canal lacerations or postpartum hemorrhage.
After hardship the mother who delivered her third child could not face the baby's face because of worry. When the baby wrapped in a swaddle arrived with the husband, the mother at last looked at the baby's face as if relieved and, saying "thank you for coming out well," welcomed the newborn with emotion.
[Photo] Provided by TV CHOSUN
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