TV births are some of the most dramatic events possible.
Intense labor pains, complications during birth, and the new baby’s arrival leading to even more drama are part of almost every TV birth.
I watched Virgin River’s Lizzie give birth the day before Days of Our Lives’ Chanel did it, and both shows took advantage of the tropes around birth scenes, although they went in very different directions.
It Was a Miracle That Chanel Had Her Baby In A Hospital
Most births on Days of Our Lives are in cabins in the middle of nowhere (often while the pregnant woman is being held captive), on the side of the road, or some other obscure location that makes the birth more dangerous.
Chanel actually had her baby in the hospital, but the drama was still off the charts.
Her pregnancy was high risk because she had a previous miscarriage and had recently completed a round of chemo before the baby came, and Days of Our Lives took full advantage.
The comparative normalcy of Lizzie’s labor scenes on Virgin River made it clear exactly how dramatic Chanel’s birth was.
While Days of Our Lives was not at all subtle about the suggestion that Chanel could lose her baby at the last minute — we had to wait all weekend to find out if her bleeding during labor meant something — Virgin River deliberately made everything seem standard.
Since Mel was delivering Lizzie’s baby, the fear and suspense came from Mel’s history, not Lizzie’s experiences.
Given Mel’s tragic history with pregnancy, it was hard not to worry that Lizzie’s baby was going to be stillborn or die from a complication soon after birth.
That didn’t mean Lizzie going into labor was easy for her.
She was in a lot of pain, but the birth proceeded more or less normally, whereas on Days of Our Lives, Chanel was in labor literally for days and could not have a C-section because her body was too weakened by the chemotherapy.
Ironically, Virgin River Season 7 had another character, Muriel, dealing with breast cancer. I was thankful that was a separate storyline after everything that had happened with Chanel’s pregnancy on Days of Our Lives because of her breast cancer.
Virgin River Brought More of The Humor The Situation Needed
Dramatic births are a TV staple, but we need some light-hearted moments too!
My favorite was when somebody (I think it was Connie, but I won’t swear to it) asked if the baby would drown when it emerged since Lizzie was doing a water birth.
I also liked Denny accidentally turning on loud, aggressive music when Lizzie needed to relax. He was the perfect nervous dad-to-be.
What was your favorite moment from either of these births?
Let us know in the comments. Don’t forget to share this article with your friends.
Days of Our Lives didn’t have any of this type of humor. It did have Paulina making Chanel more nervous by freaking out about everything, but that wasn’t meant to be funny.
What DAYS didn’t have in comedy, it made up for in drama.
Virgin River had other stories going on at the same time, of course, but Days of Our Lives did something as moving as it was predictable: Lexie passed away at the same time Chanel gave birth.
This led to an aftermath where Chanel and Johnny are choosing to use Lexie’s name as the baby’s middle name, which will likely lead to drama with Paulina.
Virgin River definitely has the better post-birth story, though.
Lizzie’s post-partum anxiety is realistic, sheds light on an important issue, and avoids falling into the stereotype of post-partum depression causing the mother to abuse or kill her baby.
I’m going to turn it over to you now, Days of Our Lives and Virgin River fanatics.
Have you seen one or both of these births? Let’s hear your opinions about what worked and didn’t.
Drop them in the comments, and don’t forget to share this article with your friends so they can join the conversation.
If you liked this article, check out our thoughts about Jack and Mel’s litany of woes on Virgin River and our recent discussion of Rolf’s promise on Days of Our Lives.
Days of Our Lives airs on Peacock. New episodes drop on weekday mornings at 6/5c.
All 7 seasons of Virgin River are available on Netflix.
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