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MICHAEL MOSLEY: These two divers
appear to move as one.
That's because the two were once one.
This woman is expecting three babies.
For them to survive, her womb must stretch
to almost 1,000 times its normal size.
And these brothers are remarkable -
conjoined identical twins,
their fate decided before their mother
even knew she was pregnant.
Their stories are part of your story,
the story of what makes you human.
You are the most fascinating creature ever
to have drawn breath on this planet
and the reason lies under your skin.
Hidden deep inside you
is a wonderful, dynamic world
where vast forests of cells
capture light
where tiny movements
trigger fierce electrical storms
and raging torrents of blood
feed your brain.
This is a fantastic voyage through
the most complex organism on Earth.
You.
It all begins with your creation
and the unlikely sequence of events
that led to your birth.
This really takes me back.
I can remember walking down
these corridors as a medical student
on my way to help deliver my first baby.
I was incredibly nervous.
I can remember lots of swearing
and shouting and screaming.
- (WOMAN GROANS)
- And then, suddenly,
there was a new person in the room -
a squalling, bawling little miracle.
(CRIES)
This is Floyd.
He's just a few hours old.
He's very gorgeous.
It took him just 38 weeks
to go from a single fertilised egg
to over 100 trillion cells.
It's a journey that we've all made,
and in this film
I want to show you just how we did it.
We've used sophisticated
imaging technology
to illustrate
the latest medical research
revealing some surprising things
about what it takes to produce a new life.
We'll journey with millions of ***
on their long
and dangerous race towards the egg
see how trillions of cells
self-assemble into a human face
and show why being here at all
is against the odds.
We start with Diane
and the story of her improbable pregnancy.
- WOMAN: Right
- MAN: Ooh.
MAN: That's it.
Good.
(CHUCKLES)
- WOMAN: That's quite nice, actually.
- MAN: Is it?
If I do that, it stretches my legs more.
You've got to stay like that
as long as you can.
I know.
Diane got pregnant three times
and all at once.
She's carrying triplets.
If you can hold the back of my calves
and then push my legs forward for me.
Unusually, Diane's body produced
three eggs at the same time.
DIANE: ''This relieves strain
in the lower back,
''opens the shoulders
and strengthens the legs.
''
When it came to the end of the scan,
she said,
''Well, just before I show you the screen,
''just to let you know
there's more than one.
''
So me and Mike said,
''Oh, twins? That's lovely!''
She went, ''No, no, there's three.
''
I even said to her,
- ''Are you sure?''
- Yeah.
''Of course I'm sure,
they're on the screen!''
DIANE: Just read it to me again.
The prospect of three babies
came as a big shock.
- You burst out crying.
- I started crying
for about 30 seconds solidly,
hysterical crying.
And then it turned to laughter,
hysterical laughter.
Mike had his head in his hands.
- Head in his hands!
- He was like this.
It's incredibly rare for
a multiple pregnancy like this one
to happen naturally.
All three babies are growing inside Diane
completely independently of each other.
Apparently, I released three eggs
and Mike, he had three separate ***
that fertilised all three eggs.
They've all got their own placentas
and they're all in separate sacs,
so they've all got
their own little bedroom.
(CHUCKLES)
Producing three eggs in one go
naturally is rare,
but it's even more surprising
that all three were fertilised.
When a man ejaculates he produces
on average over 250 million ***.
Enough, at least in theory,
to populate the UK, France,
Germany and most of Spain.
There needs to be so many because getting
*** to egg is fiendishly difficult.
The first hurdle
comes immediately after sex.
Unless the time is right,
the *** will be trapped and die.
That's because,
for most of every month, the entrance
to her womb is blocked by mucus.
For the *** to progress,
they have to arrive
when the woman is ready to get pregnant.
Most animals make it obvious
when they are on heat.
They do a little dance,
give off an enticing smell
(BELLOWS)
or send out blatant signals.
A cat on heat will
stick her bottom in the air and yowl.
Now, most women obviously don't do this.
But it is possible
they send out subtle signals,
which men pick up on.
To test this idea, a group of scientists
recently decided to conduct
a most unusual experiment
in a most unusual place.
What they did is they recruited
to keep detailed records over two months
of how much
they earned every night in tips.
Then they compared those earnings
with where the girls were
in their monthly cycle.
What they discovered was remarkable -
that during just five days
when the girls were at their most fertile,
they were earning an average
of around $70 an hour.
In the rest of the month
they earned about $45 an hour.
What this suggests is that the men
found the girls far more attractive
when they were at their most fertile.
The men may have been
responding to chemical signals
that the women were
unconsciously producing.
But no matter what's happening outside,
when a woman is ready to get pregnant,
the changes that go on inside
are far from subtle.
Hormones soften the mucus
blocking the ***'s progress
ingeniously transforming it from
a barrier into a chemical rope ladder.
Even so, it's tough going.
To make the climb,
the *** need to be fit and strong.
The deformed, the lazy and the dead
are left behind.
Men produce an awful lot of ***,
but they also produce
an awful lot of duds.
The average healthy male
can produce 200 million *** a day,
which is an impressive number.
Very few of us, however, have wanted
to take a closer look at those ***.
If we ever did, then we might be
in for a considerable surprise.
Take this group of rugby players.
They're all fit,
healthy,
virile,
the perfect age for breeding.
They've each supplied us
with a *** sample.
Now they've a chance
to see its quality up on the big screen.
- Sample 1 .
- Let's see it, let's see it!
- That one's going crazy!
- (LAUGHS) That's a massive ***!
- That is massive.
- That's huge!
- Oh, it's got two tails!
- Oh, it has got two tails.
(THEY CHEER)
- Nice! Two tails!
- Massive nose, they've all got big noses!
They're right.
Many of James's ***
are very strange-looking.
He has lots with two tails
that can't swim at all.
As well as being deformed,
the majority of James's ***
seem reluctant to move.
Ooh, sample 1 .
2!
- Oh, ooh, hello!
- Not many there.
That one in the middle, what's he doing?!
(LAUGHTER)
- Whose do you reckon that is?
- I reckon that's
Ohhh.
(THEY CHEER)
Despite first appearances,
Adam's *** aren't much better.
Many of his are lifeless,
lazy or directionless.
Adam! Who'd have thought?
- That's surprising.
- (THEY LAUGH)
Hello! Here we go!
- This is a good one.
- Good speed, good speed.
- I think this is yours.
- They're very good.
- They're really going for it.
- They're going for it.
Ooh.
Ooh.
(THEY CHEER)
Look at those lads go! Come on, boys!
- Good swimmers.
- Pleased with that.
They are good swimmers,
but, sadly, many of them
don't seem to know where they're going.
In fact, none of these guys
has anything to worry about.
They are all perfectly normal.
Around 85% of the ***
that men produce are useless,
one reason we produce so many.
Though some men
produce far more than others.
Oh, what? Monumental?!
- What does that mean?
- Oh, my God!
- (THEY CHEER AND LAUGH)
- Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
(THEY CHEER AND LAUGH)
- (THEY LAUGH)
- Oli, that is ridiculous!
- (LAUGHTER)
- Wey-hey!
- It's pretty crowded.
- I'm pretty all right with that.
Oli's sample, it has to be said,
is impressive.
But however many you produce,
only 1% will make it from the ***
to the next stage - the ***.
And there's no guarantee
that any of them will survive for long.
*** are foreign to a woman's body
and are treated as unwanted invaders.
Her immune system
is triggered to kill them.
Once they enter the ***,
they are in a labyrinth of dead ends.
Perfect for an ambush.
White blood cells attack the ***
from all directions.
By the time any survivors reach
the safety of a Fallopian tube,
of the original 250 million,
there could be as few as 20 left.
It might seem odd, but it's actually
an incredibly effective selection process.
And it clearly works
because humans
can be extremely successful breeders.
I'm Christi Cason and I'm 39,
and I'm about to have a baby
Christi's body had barely recovered from
childbirth when she got pregnant again.
Are you nervous, excited about this one?
DAVE: Yeah, I'm confident.
But, yeah, nervous too.
Christi has been getting pregnant
almost yearly for the past 20 years.
CHRISTI: We also have Laura - two,
Morgan - three,
Walker - five, Trevor - six,
Rebekah - seven, Emma - eight,
Harper - ten,
Kaylee -11, Gage -13, Bailey -14.
Oh, my gosh!
Austin who's 16, Dalton - 18, Chad -19,
and Jessica who is 21.
MICHAEL: This will be Christi's 16th baby.
She's spent the majority
of her adult life pregnant.
If you tot it all up,
Christi has been continuously pregnant
for over 12 years.
It would seem that the only time
Christi can't get pregnant
is when she is pregnant.
I mean, the furthest spacing
is 22 months,
and our closest spacing is 13.
So you guys can go back and do the math.
Christi and Dave
clearly love having children,
and for them, the more the merrier.
You try and
when you're actually trying, you practise.
Right.
He's all about practise.
Although Christi is currently pregnant
with their 16th child,
she is already planning another.
I guess our family's
just not complete yet.
In a little while, will I go,
''I want to have another,'' you know?
Do the whole experience again.
And Christi might be surprised
to learn just how much she's in control.
We have recently discovered a neat trick.
Women take charge of those few ***
who have survived the selection process.
One by one they are lured into
the soft walls of the Fallopian tube
and powered down.
They're alive, safe, but fast asleep.
The woman now has up to five days
to supply an egg from her ovaries.
It's a clever system and it has to be
because, unlike ***,
eggs are in limited supply.
A woman is born
with all the eggs she will ever have.
It's a strange thought,
but the egg that led to you
started life inside your grandmother.
It's quite remarkable
when you think about it,
because what it means
is that part of you started life
before your mother was even born.
It's actually quite difficult
to get your head round.
Now, this is a picture of me
as a chubby one-year-old, and the egg
that made me was inside my mother
when she was just a foetus
inside my grandmother
back in 1928,
which means that part of me, at least,
is over 80 years old.
The precious egg that became you
was stored inside
your mother's ovaries for decades.
Then, when its time came,
it rose to the surface and ripened.
As soon as an egg is ripe
it's released from the ovary
and gently wafted
into the opening of the Fallopian tube.
Once the egg is ready and waiting,
it's time to wake up the sleeping ***.
Sending out a powerful chemical beacon,
the egg guides the *** towards it.
The *** are now in a race to the finish.
They have come a long way,
but there can only be one winner.
The competing *** break off
the cloud of cells that surround the egg.
They struggle to burrow in
until, finally, one pushes through
the soft shell underneath.
This is a critical moment for the egg.
If a second *** gets in,
the egg won't survive.
It must quickly protect itself.
Under the shell, tiny granules detonate,
hardening and making the egg impenetrable.
A new life is under way,
but the road ahead
is long and treacherous.
(DOG BARKING)
(MOBILE PHONE RINGS)
Hello.
Diane is now 21 weeks into her pregnancy.
Oh, thank you for ringing.
Things are going very well, thank you.
Today she's come with her partner,
Mike, for a state-of-the-art 4-D scan.
All right, if you'd like to
come through this way.
Afternoon to you.
We're going to do
a scan for your three babies, I believe.
It's a chance for them to see their babies
clearly for the very first time.
There's quite a mixture of arms
and legs to try and work out here.
Diane is having two boys and a girl.
- Oh, look.
- Brilliant.
That's amazing.
SONOGRAPHER: So we can see baby
Each of the triplets
is in their own amniotic sac,
developing completely
independently of each other.
SONOGRAPHER: A little ear
coming round there.
- This is baby number one.
- Yeah.
With bottom up towards your skin and
the head is quite deeply in your pelvis.
So he's ready to go.
- Hope not!
- Not now.
SONOGRAPHER: Number two is lying
the other way.
This is breech.
Not much room.
Can you imagine
being crammed in like this
for months on end?
He's lying across you
on her left side.
There.
They're all very close.
(LAUGHS)
They are very, very close.
It's an emotional moment.
Diane and Mike
have seen their babies for the first time
and all three are developing well.
Ah, look!
Isn't that remarkable? 23 weeks old
and already they look like little babies.
In fact, if they were born now,
there's a good chance
they would actually be able to survive.
To get to this point
from a single fertilised egg,
they have already had to overcome
some significant hurdles,
not least of which
was going from one cell to two.
Within hours of fertilisation,
the cell inside the egg divides in two.
Both of these then divide,
making four cells.
Then eight,
Except it's not that straightforward.
before the woman
even knows she's pregnant.
You made it against the odds.
Your cells managed to stay alive
and went on to create your body.
In some cases, on rare occasions,
one embryo becomes two humans.
Around one in every 250
early embryos will split
growing into
near replicas of each other.
Identical twins.
- Ready?
- Yeah.
Go!
This quirk of nature
has given synchronised divers, Helen
and Carol Galashan, a distinct advantage.
Being an identical twin
definitely helps with synchronised diving.
We don't really have to try
with the synchronised part.
That part comes quite naturally to us.
The twins started out life
as just one fertilised egg.
But some time in the first 12 days,
their single embryo split in two.
Although they are identical twins,
they aren't completely identical.
We actually think
we're mirror-image twins.
Like we fold our arms the opposite ways.
Our hair parts the opposite way.
Even like when we're diving,
the first foot I put on is my right foot,
Carol's is the left foot.
Identical twins
actually come from one egg
- That's split, isn't it?
- and that splits into two
and non-identical twins from two eggs.
So the way we see it is like we were
actually one person and then we split.
- So we're like one person in two bodies!
- (THEY LAUGH)
Being an identical twin
certainly has its perks,
but becoming one also has its risks.
Occasionally the dividing embryo
fails to separate completely.
- (PHONE RINGS)
- Who the heck is that now?
Hello.
Brothers Ronnie and Donnie Galyon
are a stark example of what can go wrong.
That guy's got heat!
The baseball-loving Galyon brothers are
the world's oldest living conjoined twins.
We're the Galyon Siamese twins.
My name is Ronnie.
Donnie.
Ronnie and Donnie grew from an embryo
that started to split
but never separated entirely.
The brothers have been joined ever since.
Theirs is a condition that scientists
are only now beginning to understand.
The dividing embryo must complete
its split within two weeks of conception,
or it never will.
It's not a genetic condition.
What happened to Ronnie and Donnie
could have happened to anyone.
- That's another hit!
- Come on!
This is Jim,
Ronnie and Donnie's younger brother.
The twins come from a large and
otherwise physically unremarkable family.
This hospital here was called
St Elizabeth back in the day.
It was actually St Anne's maternity ward
on this far end here.
That's where Donnie and Ronnie and
the other seven of us siblings were born.
Back in 1951, their mother
didn't even know she was having twins.
JIM: Donnie came out head first
and being pliable as newborn babies,
they were very flexible.
Ronnie was actually twisted
and came out breech, feet first.
It wasn't till they were halfway birthed
that Dr Cord realised that
RONNIE: He delivered twins.
He was delivering not only twins,
of course, but Siamese twins.
The places where Ronnie and Donnie
are joined together
were determined by which cells
of their early embryo remained in contact.
Woo-hoo-hoo!
That's better.
That's better
than going to Coney Island!
Ronnie and Donnie are joined
from the chest to the groin.
They each have a heart, liver,
stomach and their own arms and legs.
But they have to share
a ***, bladder and ***.
Their whole life depends on teamwork.
- Excuse me.
- Go ahead, head in there.
Do your thing.
They've been literally face-to-face
for 59 years.
They're closer than any husband
and wife has ever been in their life,
because every second of their life
has been spent together.
This is my foot,
this is my brother's foot.
It's called a leg, silly.
And this is his hand, this is my hand.
- Arm.
Arm.
- Same the other side.
And our bellybutton's on this side.
There's only one.
At 59 years old,
Ronnie and Donnie are biological marvels.
Right now, they are the oldest known
living set of twins in the world
and they're proud of that fact.
But they're going for the top record
of the longest ever living.
JIM: They're separate, but they're one,
and they know that.
I don't intend to die.
I'll try to live to be 1 01 years of age.
Ronnie and Donnie
are clearly extraordinary.
But when you realise
what goes into building a human body,
it's remarkable
that things go right as often as they do.
When your cells first began to multiply,
they clustered randomly together,
but after the second week
they began an astonishing transformation.
It's called ''gastrulation'',
and in many ways, it was the most
significant moment of your entire life.
Every living creature on Earth
goes through this.
It's easily seen in frog embryos.
The cells begin
to self-assemble into a body.
This is the key moment
when those individual little cells decide,
if you like, to become heart,
brain, guts, or muscle.
From now on, what we'll see
is the rapid growth of the embryo.
It's a wonderfully elegant
way of constructing life.
That was absolutely magical.
After three weeks of constant growth,
you had a tiny beating heart.
Though you still looked very similar
to the embryo of any other mammal,
bird or amphibian.
But by ten weeks,
you looked unmistakably human.
You had developed your face.
(LAUGHS)
It tells the world what you're feeling,
who you are and where you come from.
No two faces are exactly the same,
which is part of their charm,
but we do share
a number of common features.
A couple of eyes, nose, mouth,
but there's also another feature,
which has no obvious function.
We see it every day in the mirror,
we probably never think about it,
but this feature provides a vital clue
as to how our faces first formed.
Down the centuries,
biologists have wondered
why every face
has this particular feature.
It's this bit here,
the groove underneath your nose.
It's called the ''philtrum''.
I've got quite a prominent one,
his is less prominent,
but we've all got one.
What we now know is it is the place
where the puzzle that is the human face
finally all comes together.
We've taken data from scans
of a developing embryo
so we are able to show you for the very
first time how our faces don't just grow,
but fit together like a puzzle.
The three main sections of the puzzle
meet in the middle of your top lip.
Creating the groove
that is your philtrum.
This whole amazing process,
the bits coming together
to produce a recognisable human face,
happens in the womb
between two and three months.
If it doesn't happen then, it never will.
Around the world, one in 700 babies
are born with what are called ''clefts''
Here in India, they are all too common.
Plastic surgeon Per Hall is a volunteer,
part of an international medical team
who have come to north-east India
with the charity Operation Smile.
The team are here to put right
where nature went wrong.
Can we have a look inside your mouth?
Can you open up? Good girl.
Oh, that's really good.
So the palate's normal.
OK, so it is just the cleft lip,
and if you look at that,
the muscles just need bringing together.
You see how they bunch up there,
waiting to come across into here?
The gap in Kamana's lip was left
when the two sections of her face
failed to fuse in the womb.
And the condition can be much more severe.
So, she's got a cleft palate that goes
all the way through right to the back.
Eight-year-old Majoni
has a cleft lip and palate.
This is more than just a cosmetic problem.
This is a functional problem
for speech and swallowing.
She'll be able to say ''m'' and ''n''
and maybe ''g'' sounds,
but none of the sounds that you need
your tongue to come forward
or to stop air coming out of your nose,
will she be able to make.
So when she tries to talk, people
will probably think she's a bit stupid.
But actually, she's not.
She's completely normal intelligence.
Clefts are so common because, for the
sections of the face to fuse correctly,
they must meet
at precisely the right time in the womb.
For the palate, the time window
is only a matter of hours.
See you tomorrow.
- (BABY CRIES)
- It's OK.
It's OK
In the next ten days, Operation Smile
hope to perform 250 cleft operations,
and put right the numerous mistakes
that nature has made.
We're just trying to get
the first patients ready,
make sure the theatre's ready
and everything's safe.
The checks are being done.
All right, let's go over here!
You're doing just fine.
Looks good.
Here's an example
of how the face forms.
It's quite easy to kind of see
the maxillary segments
or the ones that
come in from the side.
And they're supposed to meet tissue
that comes down from the nose -
the frontonasal process -
and this seam has just failed to happen.
Now, this tissue - it's a bit like
the keystone of an arch -
that should be locked into that,
should be locked into this.
The way your face comes together
only really makes sense
when you understand that,
strange though it may sound,
we are actually descended from fish.
The side of your top lip, jaw and palate
started life as gill-like structures
on your neck.
Your nostrils
and the middle part of your lip
came down from the top of your head
as your eyes moved in from the side.
It is absolutely extraordinary
that this all happens in the womb
some time between
when we're the size of a grain of rice
or the size of a small chilli bean.
To repair a cleft,
Per will try to replicate
what should have happened in the womb.
When the face comes together
in an unborn foetus
there is no trace of a scar.
The plates of tissue and muscle
fuse seamlessly.
Of course, it would have been
a lot more sophisticated in the womb.
We're just kind of making a scar
to join them together.
So that's that one done.
Per will return
to check on Kamana's progress.
- She has the palate too?
- She has a cleft palate, yeah.
It's OK, it's OK.
Majoni has lived with her clefts
for eight years.
Today is the first step
towards a new life.
PER: I can see the beauty there,
despite the fact that perhaps
others can't see that,
because I know what she could look like.
They're always a bit bewildered
the day after surgery.
There's all this kind of kerfuffle
going on on the ward.
They've had a sort of
a night of soreness,
and then, you know,
it's all a bit too much.
Hi.
How are you?
Do you want to have a look at
yourself in here? Can you see?
Who's that?
It's been a chance of a lifetime
for Kamana.
Majoni had even worse problems.
Have you seen your face?
Do you want to have a look?
Look! That's you.
Per has given her
the prospect of a far better future.
Your time in the womb
was an extraordinary partnership
between mother and child.
A partnership
that was extremely one-sided.
When you were just
a tiny cluster of cells,
you attached to your mother's womb.
Within weeks you had
tapped into her blood supply.
As you extracted nutrients,
you quickly grew into
a recognisably human foetus.
From then on, it was all about
growing bigger and bigger.
You took, your mother gave.
It's all gone mushy.
Diane is eating for four.
She's not finding it easy.
DIANE: Although I'm supposed to be
eating a lot more,
especially in the third trimester,
I physically can't,
because there isn't enough room.
At the moment
I've got a real, big craving for milk
and I can easily
get through two pints a day.
Spinach as well.
I'm loving anything vegetable at all.
Spinach is my favourite.
MICHAEL: Diane's uterus has stretched to
almost 1,000 times its normal size.
She feels fit to burst.
(WALTZ MUSIC)
The funniest bit for me
is watching them move.
It's mesmerising.
I think, at the moment, triplet two
and triplet three are aware of each other,
because they are head to head.
They're literally there.
Triplet number one -
I think he thinks he's an only child.
I don't think he thinks he's got
brothers or sisters,
but he'll soon find out when
they're all born and sharing a cot bed.
We humans nurture our babies
inside the womb for nine long months.
So why do we allow foetuses
to take over our bodies in this way?
Why not do something much simpler,
like lay an egg?
After all, that's how most creatures
on Earth deliver their young.
You can get a pretty big animal
out of an egg - an ostrich, for example -
but there is a big difference
between an ostrich and us -
an ostrich has a tiny brain.
It's about the size of a walnut,
and there's no chance
of it growing any bigger.
An ostrich will never become
an Einstein of the animal world
because it comes out of an egg,
and the egg constrains the extent
to which the brain can develop.
To grow a big brain requires
huge amounts of nutrients,
something an egg can never deliver.
Even an egg as large as an ostrich's
can onlyholdaround2,000 calories.
A pregnant mother, on the other hand, can
supply well over2,000 calories a week,
and for as long as necessary.
It's one of the reasons why we are
farming them, and they are not farming us.
But the problem with a big brain
is that it requires a big head
and a big head can create problems
when it comes to giving birth.
Humans die more frequently in childbirth
than any other creature on Earth.
Having children is particularly
dangerous here in Rwanda.
One in every260births
results in a woman's death.
(TRANSLATION)
are expecting their first child.
Like all humans, when the time comes,
Nkosi will find it difficult
to give birth on her own,
but her closest maternity clinic
is a two-hour walk away.
Today she's making that journey
to meet a visiting medical team.
They are bringing a form of technology
that's never been seen here before.
It could save many lives.
Excited mothers-to-be
have come from miles around
to be scanned
and find out vital information.
Nkosi thinks she is
four months pregnant.
But there's a surprise for her.
The head The head circumference
is 21 weeks, five days.
The measurements show that Nkosi is
a month-and-a-half closer to giving birth
than she had guessed.
It's critical information.
Now she can make sure
she's near help when her time comes.
By the time you were ready to be born,
your head had grown almost
as big as your mother's pelvis.
A big head to house a big brain.
A brain that needs
all the time it can get to mature.
But Diane's triplets
will never reach full term.
They've now stretched her uterus
as far as it will go.
Diane has gone into labour
nine weeks early.
Over the last 1 2 hours
she started to contract regularly,
and despite analgesics,
we can't control those contractions,
and the *** is now opening,
so she's going into labour.
- D-day C-day!
- Yeah.
Having triplets greatly increases
the dangers of childbirth,
and Diane's doctors have decided to
perform an emergency Caesarean operation.
There'll be quite a crowd in here,
so there's going to be
three teams of neonatologists.
The babies will then go on an incubator
round to the special care baby unit.
Diane and her triplets will have the best
care that modern medicine can provide.
Nkosi's labour started
in the middle of the night.
Medical help is a two-hour walk away,
and Nkosi has no real idea
how close she is to giving birth.
Relax your shoulders, so they're really
floppy.
Really slide your shoulders down.
She's got a spinal anaesthetic in, but
they're also going to put an epidural in,
which will give her
pain relief afterwards.
Are you all right? Comfortable enough?
Not too cold?
- You're not cold?
- No.
I'm just shivering a bit.
Just cos of nerves, that's all.
- Here she is, the lady of the moment!
- Sorry I'm a bit late!
Nkosi's only pain relief comes from
the hormones her body is now producing.
But these hormones also bring on
stronger contractions.
The race is now on to get Nkosi
to the clinic before she gives birth.
There'll just be a bit of pulling
and pushing now, OK?
- Yeah
- That's fine.
Lovely.
Thank you.
The final moments of childbirth are
the conclusion of a nine-month journey.
It started with the coming together
of an egg and a ***.
There were many potential pitfalls
on that long journey
but you beat the odds
when many didn't.
Now, finally, it's time to come out
and face the world.
Hello!
Here he is.
Isn't he beautiful?
He's another breech baby.
Yes?
Isn't he lovely?
This is the skinny minny.
Here she is.
It's like I've won the lottery.
Born two months premature, the triplets
needed round-the-clock intensive care.
Baby Emma Iridikunda arrived home
just two days after his birth.
Little Nathaniel
is now the 16th Cason baby.
He will probably not be the last.
Now out of hospital,
the triplets have made great progress.
(BABY CRIES)
This is James,
Olivia, who's a little bit grizzly
Tummy, tummy, tummy, ooh.
and this is Thomas.
Each of them a little miracle,
but what I find truly miraculous
is the way that each one of us has gone
from being a tiny fertilised egg
into these wonderfully complex creatures
that are the triplets, me, you.
It's astonishing that despite
all the challenges
that go into creating a new human,
a third-of-a-million babies
are born every single day.
- And you think she'll be the boss?
- I think she will, yeah.
- Bossing those two around?
- Yeah.
I think she'll be