It’s a good thing that TLC waited until after the warm glow of Mother’s Day to premiere two specials, both dealing with different facets of problem pregnancies. Obese & Expecting and Birth Moms premiere Thursday, May 17 and take a hard look at mothers facing particularly acute anxiety and hardship about the babies that they’re carrying and are about to deliver.
The first of the two, Obese & Expecting (9pm ET/PT), looks at four mothers-to-be who are facing their pregnancies and eventual deliveries in a state of morbid obesity. Over the course of an hour, this special delves into the struggles that particularly affect women with their condition, even as they fight against the odds to become the mothers they want to be, regardless of complications. On the way, they’ll discuss it all, from major health crises and excessive weight gain to full-blown relationship difficulties.
Things then take a turn into deeper drama with Birth Moms (10pm ET/PT), a one-hour special that delivers a stark, candid look at the dilemma faced by many expecting mothers as they grapple with an unwanted pregnacy — whether or not to give the baby up for adoption. Focusing on three young women living at an adoption center in Utah as they struggle with the decision they’re trying to make, Birth Moms shows their diverse circumstances and how they interact with each other, weathering the tempest of emotions that they’re all experiencing together, yet in their own individual ways. Viewers will watch them meet with prospective adoptive parents who are desperate for a child, and witness the gut-wrenching moment when each birth mom decides whether or not to take that step and deliver her baby up to another family.
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Photo: TLC
