A Baby Story: First-Time Parents Edition

TLC's Emmy Award-winning series A Baby Story follows 10 first-time parents from the final weeks of pregnancy through the first few weeks of infanthood, combining documentary footage with interviews and video-diary excerpts. Each episode is devoted to a particular couple, although several of the profiled pairs follow similar courses: the Cecchinis, Havens, Hanley-Everitts, and Blands, for instance, opt for natural childbirth, but Randi Cecchini's thoughts about a pharmaceutical-free event change once the contractions start. The Havens also worry that managing a restaurant will prove more difficult with a baby (as Brian Haven notes in his diary, “Pregnancy causes gray hair...and if you pull out one, three more come back”). Other parents, who range in age from 20s-40s, cope with in-laws, mood swings, false labor, and unusual pets (a hairless cat). Balancing the professional with the personal, the series also features birthing experts—from doulas to doctors—who share their thoughts and advice. A Baby Story keeps cuteness and melodrama at bay for the most part, although given the fact that 10 births are presented, the series features plenty of screaming and crying (although blurring and careful camera placement provide some degree of privacy). Recommended. Aud: P. (K. Fennessy)