For some, giving birth is a pretty straightforward trip to the delivery suite, but for others, becoming parents is a journey far more complicated and filled with highs, lows and heartache.
The latter is very much the case in tonight's episode of RTE2's The Rotunda, where we meet young couple Carrie and Fintan, who are due to welcome their second baby into the world at The Rotunda.
However, viewers then learn that it is only a year since Carrie was pregnant with her first baby, a little girl, who the couple were told had a fatal foetal abnormality and would not live long after being born.
Little Ellie was born at 36 weeks and died shortly afterwards, and the young couple tells viewers of their heartache at losing their baby girl.
"I would literally be pregnant for the rest of my life if it meant that she would just still be alive," says Carrie. "Just to be able to give her a little life was nice and comforting."
In tonight's episode, Fintan and Carrie are due to welcome their second daughter and choose to bring big sister Ellie's remains into the delivery room – to remember her too at the birth of her baby sister, Sue.
https://youtu.be/0HkxbkUm4M4
The Rotunda is the busiest maternity hospital in Europe, and fans of the first round of the show expressed their delight at the series returning to RTE2 this autumn with eight more episodes about the dedicated team of doctors and midwives working at the hospital.
In happier moments of tonight's episode, we meet teenagers Savannah and Brandon who are getting ready to welcome their first baby, and another set of first-time-parents-to-be, Keshini and Tym, who had a virtual romance on social media before settling in Ireland, and are also now about to become parents for the first time.
Another expectant mum on tonight's episode, Sin Man, is hoping that a radical operation on her baby before it was born will reduce its risk of developing spina bifida.
The Rotunda goes behind the scenes at the world's longest running maternity hospital where over one million Dubliners have been born and some 24 new babies are added to that number every day.
Tonight's episode airs on RTÉ2 at 9.35pm
