Miracle Babies

The first episode of the series meets baby Ethan, who was born at full term but stopped breathing minutes after birth. Rushed to the neonatal unit, he is being kept alive on a ventilator in intensive care. The reason why he can't breathe for himself remains a mystery and consultant Chris Dewhurst leads the search for a diagnosis. It means an agonising wait for answers for Ethan's parents, Tom and Becky.

One of the miracle babies featured this week is Matthew, who was born 17 weeks premature and in a critical condition. Just one in five babies born at this stage survive and Matthew's underdeveloped lungs mean that he cannot get enough oxygen to his vital organs by himself. He can only breathe with the help of a ventilator and a tube. Matthew also has a heart condition that could prevent oxygen getting into his blood stream. As his condition shows no sign of improving, clinical director Bill Yoxall and Matthew's parents must make a difficult choice – they can see if Matthew improves by himself, send him for open heart surgery or prescribe a course of steroids for his lungs which could have longterm side effects for his development. The neonatal unit's eye clinic regularly treats premature babies suffering from retinopathy of prematurity, or RoP, a common problem in premature babies who are born weighing less than 1.25kg. The condition can lead to blindness if left untreated. Baby Archie has one of the worst cases of RoP the staff at the unit have seen and immediate laser eye surgery is the only option if they are to try to save his sight. This week the unit has two new arrivals – twin boys Rohaan and Rehaan. Both twins have congenital heart defects. They need open heart surgery but are too small to undergo the operation immediately. The neonatal team must keep the twins alive and growing until they are strong enough to have a reasonable chance of surviving surgery. The twins are transferred to Alder Hey Children's Hospital, where surgeons undertake the complicated and invasive procedure.

The neonatal team at Liverpool Women's Hospital monitor Casper, who was born 17 weeks prematurely, but when he stops producing urine, consultant Fauzia Paize fears that his kidneys are failing and has the unpleasant task of preparing his parents for the worst possible outcome. Staff also care for Oliver, who was four months premature and requires an operation to reconnect the two ends of his bowel, as well as needing partially digested milk introduced manually into the lower part of the organ. In the maternity unit, mum-to-be Stacey has a scan that picks up a potential problem with her baby.

First-time parents Laura and Ryan have to learn to cope with having two babies in the neonatal unit of Liverpool Women's Hospital's at once. Twins Max and Charlie were born 14 weeks early and both boys were making good progress until one contracted a life-threatening infection. Elsewhere, Dr Chris Dewhurst and his team begin a race against the clock to ensure that a baby is stable enough to have life-saving surgery, while Kaili has her labour artificially induced after her waters broke over six weeks early.