Now Streaming
Step inside the groundbreaking medical frontier that is fetal surgery.
With exclusive access to an elite unit, where the production crew was embedded for 15 months, step inside the groundbreaking medical frontier that is fetal surgery. This gripping PBS mini-series that takes an intimate, inside look at the Special Delivery Unit at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia where rare surgeries are done on babies still inside their mothers' wombs.
Now Streaming
Step inside the groundbreaking medical frontier that is fetal surgery.
With exclusive access to an elite unit, where the production crew was embedded for 15 months, step inside the groundbreaking medical frontier that is fetal surgery. This gripping PBS mini-series that takes an intimate, inside look at the Special Delivery Unit at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia where rare surgeries are done on babies still inside their mothers' wombs.
Providing Support for PBS.org
Providing Support for PBS.org
Photos from Twice Born
1/10
A member of the transport team blows bubbles to entertain Lilly, as Lesly prepares to take her home from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Erin Harvey
2/10
Dr. Oksana A. Jackson, a surgeon in The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, prepares for surgery on Lilly.
Erin Harvey
3/10
Dr. N. Scob Adzick wakes a patient after fetal surgery for Spina Bifida at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Special Delivery Unit.
Erin Harvey
4/10
Surgeons begin fetal surgery for Spina Bifida on a baby of 23 weeks gestation at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Special Delivery Unit.
Erin Harvey
5/10
Dr. Julie Moldenhauer, left, talks with Shelly and Bobby about the possibility of fetal surgery for their baby with Spina Bifida at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Special Delivery Unit.
Erin Harvey
6/10
Lesly seeing her baby, Lilly, for the first time in the neo-natal intensive care unit at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
John Rotan
7/10
Lesly, mother of a baby delivered via EXIT procedure at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Special Delivery Unit.
John Rotan
8/10
Shelly and Bobby, parents of a baby having fetal surgery for Spina Bifida, at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Special Delivery Unit.
Erin Harvey
9/10
Dr. Holly Hedrick, pediatric and fetal surgeon at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
John Rotan
10/10
Dr. N. Scob Adzick, surgeon-in‐chief of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the founder and director of the Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment.
Erin Harvey
About the Show
Step inside the medical frontier of fetal surgery with "Twice Born," a gripping series that takes an intimate look at the Special Delivery Unit at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where rare surgeries are done on babies still inside their mothers’ wombs. With exclusive access to the elite unit, (where the production crew was embedded for 15 months), you’ll live with expecting parents facing a gutwrenching decision: should they risk pre-natal surgery even if they may lose their child?
Episode 1
Parents journey from all over, hoping to find cures for their unborn babies’ maladies. Episode 1 introduces Lesly, a resourceful 23-year-old, single mother whose unborn baby, Lilly, has developed a massive tumor growing from her mouth. The episode includes never-before-seen operating room footage as Dr. Holly Hedrick performs a rare EXIT procedure and attempts to remove the tumor while the fetus is still attached to her mother. Meanwhile, Shelly and Bobby, a couple whose unborn child suffers from spina bifida, wait anxiously to find out if they are candidates for fetal surgery.
Episode 2
When their unborn twins are diagnosed with Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, Tina and Brion make an urgent visit to The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The realities of life in the Special Delivery Unit become clear when the doctors deliver unexpected news to the couple. Bobby waits anxiously for the results of the pivotal surgery Shelly and the baby undergo to repair the fetus’s spine. The unique access of the series’ camera crew gives viewers a close-up look at this surgery on a baby in the womb — the first time ever in a major television broadcast.
Episode 3
The final episode delivers deeper insight into the personality and motivations of Dr. Scott Adzick, who takes viewers behind the normally closed doors of his life outside the hospital. This hour features a plastic surgeon beginning to reshape baby Lilly’s face, which culminates in a carefully planned reconstructive operation. Episode 3 includes an intimate view of the much-anticipated delivery of Bobby and Shelly’s baby. By the end of the hour, Shelly and Bobby have returned to Boston and begin to learn the longterm impact of the fetal surgery on their daughter and what lies ahead for her. The episode also chronicles the story of Geneva and Reggie, a couple from North Carolina whose world is shaken when doctors reveal that their unborn child has developed an often fatal lower urinary tract obstruction.
Producer
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