{"id":10200,"date":"2026-04-24T02:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T02:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/culturalleft.org\/cl\/2026\/04\/24\/an-emotional-story-reflecting-on-pregnancy-loss-and-parenthood-reviews-culture-socialist-worker\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T02:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T02:40:11","slug":"an-emotional-story-reflecting-on-pregnancy-loss-and-parenthood-reviews-culture-socialist-worker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culturalleft.org\/cl\/2026\/04\/24\/an-emotional-story-reflecting-on-pregnancy-loss-and-parenthood-reviews-culture-socialist-worker\/","title":{"rendered":"An emotional story reflecting on pregnancy, loss and parenthood Reviews & Culture – Socialist Worker"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dramas\n

Dramas like this help people to feel less alone (photo: WikipediaCommons)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Pregnancy stories are assumed to end in a live birth after nine months, more or less. Any other outcome is viewed as a failure. The shame attached to \u201cfailure\u201d is one of the reasons why miscarriage and abortion are so difficult to talk about in our society.<\/p>\n

And for those who are trying for a baby, the grief of early miscarriage is under-recognised\u2014because there is no baby to mourn.<\/p>\n

Babies is a six-part drama about a couple who \u00adexperience recurrent miscarriages. The first two episodes are very slow, as we follow the couple through their hospital appointments and scans.<\/p>\n

They seem loving enough, joking and chatting. But I kept thinking, why are they talking like they\u2019re on their first date?<\/p>\n

Gradually, it becomes clear that they have retreated to this \u00adsurface\u2011level connection because they don\u2019t know how to \u00adcommunicate their emotions.<\/p>\n

Stephen\u2014played by Paapa Essiedu\u2014was raised with a \u201ckeep calm and carry on\u201d attitude and thinks it\u2019s his job to be positive and optimistic, regardless of how he feels inside.<\/p>\n

Lisa\u2014played by Siobhan Cullen\u2014shifts from hopeful to heartbroken to angry as her own losses add up while her friends have children and join the special club she feels excluded from.<\/p>\n

We see the couple go through anger, depression, fear, bickering, drinking too much\u2014all while trying to maintain a regular sex life in the hope of getting pregnant again.<\/p>\n

They are counterposed by a second couple, Stephen\u2019s \u00adinsufferably \u00adimmature friend Dave and his new girlfriend Amanda. They are an odd couple whose relationship only begins to make sense later in the series.<\/p>\n

Dave is already a father, but his strained relationship with his young son, who he sees once a fortnight, reminds us that a \u201csuccessful \u00adpregnancy\u201d is no guarantee of happiness. Being a parent requires work and emotional maturity.<\/p>\n

If you have the time and patience, Babies does an excellent job of reflecting the emotional journey of pregnancy loss.<\/p>\n

At times I felt so frustrated with the characters that I wanted to shake them through my TV screen. Then I remembered how common it is for people to avoid \u00ademotions by making small talk or cracking jokes\u2014I\u2019ve done it myself.<\/p>\n

Dramas like this help people to feel less alone or to be better able to talk to their friends and family.<\/p>\n

It is also a reminder that \u00adpregnancy is not a fairy tale with a \u00adpre-determined happy ending, but a complex bodily experience with \u00admultiple possible outcomes.<\/p>\n