Recap: Birthcare Center, Episode One

It’s time to take a look at the new drama Birthcare Center. This drama is streaming on Viki and follows a new mom as she stays in a fancy postpartum care center after the birth of her first child. The trailers and posters gave off very different feelings so I’m not really sure what I’m in for. Let’s find out together.

Birthcare Center: Episode 1 Recap

We open on a dark scene. A woman is being rowed across water in a boat steered by a man in black. The fog rises around them. The man is dressed in historic costume and his pale skin suggests he might be a Grim Reaper. The woman in the boat says that she has no regrets for the life she has led.

Magazine Photo Shoot

The scene changes to a photo shoot of our main character. Oh Hyun Jin (Uhm Ji Won) is the youngest woman to ever become a manager at her company.

In the middle of her interview, Oh Hyun Jin becomes intensely nauseous and needs to run out. The next scene shows Oh Hyun Jin being told that she is 6 weeks pregnant. She is young for a Managing Director, but old for becoming a new mother. She had been longing for both a pregnancy and a promotion, but both at once was not going to be easy. We see that this flashback is all part of the story that Oh Hyun Jin is telling to the Grim Reaper in the boat. She takes her story even further back in the past.

2005

She remembers working hard to get where she is in the company

2002

While others celebrated their country’s sports wins, she studied alone

1998

When her family went broke and lost everything, Oh Hyun Jin determined to be her family’s salvation

1989

Even as a child, Oh Hyun Jin was determined to survive anything

Oh Hyun Jin recounts her sad tale to the Grim Reaper who seems very moved by her story. Suddenly though, Hyun Jin determines that dying in childbirth is not what she deserves. She flips the Grim Reaper off the boat and heads back to shore.

36 Hours Before Birth

We are introduced to Oh Hyun Jin’s husband, Kim Do Yoon (Yoon Park). He’s attending a prenatal yoga class because his wife, once again, is too busy at work.

Meanwhile Oh Hyun Jin is busy working overtime trying to make sure that their product stays number 1 in its field. By the time she gets home, her feet and back are aching and she is exhausted. We see that the apartment is full of baby things. The couple cuddles on the couch. While Hyun Jin finishes up some work, Do Yoon speaks to the baby in her belly.

I kept expecting Hyun Jin to get mad at her husband and push Do Yoon away, but she laughs at his silly voices while talking to the baby. They make a cute couple and I hope that they stay healthy and happy in their relationship 🤞🏻

Later that night, Hyun Jin lays awake unable to get comfortable in bed. She gets up and spends some time talking to the baby in her belly. She promises that she will work hard to be a good mom.

24 Hours Before Birth

Oh Hyun Jin speeds across town with her team in an attempt to secure an important meeting. She makes it just in time and the foreign CEO agrees to sign the contract as a gift for her impending delivery…. And then her water breaks. Calmly she thanks the CEO and leaves her team to finalize the contract. Oh Hyun Jin calls the hospital to let them know that she is on her way in. Then she calls her husband.

Do Yoon kicks his colleagues out of the car, leaving them on the side of a bridge. He rushes to the hospital in a tizzy. Oh Hyun Jin calms him down telling him that she’s okay.

16 Hours Before Birth

Oh Hyun Jin is embarrassed by all of the different exams and other things that need to be done as she waits for the baby’s arrival. The drama covers A LOT of details that I won’t bother going into here. Suffice it to say that she finds the process very uncomfortable.

6 Hours Before Birth

Contractions are getting worse and Oh Hyun Jin is decidedly less worried about her embarrassment now. The doctor brings in a group of trainees and has them all give her an examination. He ignores her requests for an epidural while lecturing his student doctors. The doctor attempts to intentionally trigger a contraction in order to get a more accurate examination. That’s the last straw for Oh Hyun Jin who is tired of being ignored.

4 Hours Before Birth

An epidural has sent Oh Hyun Jin into a more peaceful state. In this “epidural heaven” as she names it, Hyun Jin is able to read and text people back. She even has the presence of mind to send her husband to get some food knowing that he probably hasn’t eaten since breakfast. This painless time is fairly short-lived, unfortunately.

30 Minutes Before Birth

With the epidural gone and the baby’s birth imminent, Oh Hyun Jin is exhausted from the pain and the pushing. She screams that she is too old for this and begs to have a c-section. In the delivery room, the doctor micromanages Hyun Jin’s every move and sound. He tells her not to clench her teeth, not to scrunch up her face, not to shout… his list of what not to do is extensive and stupid. Giving another push, Oh Hyun Jin sees the Grim Reaper standing at the foot of her bed. She passes out.

Oh Hyun Jin awakens from her fight with the Grim Reaper. The fight gives her the strength for one final push. The baby is delivered. It’s a boy.

The Next Day

Oh Hyun Jin lays tired and parched in her hospital bed while her in-laws coo over their new grandson. She feels lonely and ignored and not at all the way that she thinks a new mom should feel. At the same time, Oh Hyun Jin feels like she is in the middle of a circus that she alone is not enjoying.

Oh Hyun Jin feels as though her own mother is the only one who sees her now that the baby is born. Her mother gets her water and cares for her while the in-laws fawn over the baby. Soon however, the new parents are left alone with their baby. This new world is strange to them, but Hyun Jin and Do Yoon are excited to now be “mom” and “dad”. That is, until the baby starts crying.

COFFEE!

Life changes pretty fast with a newborn baby to look after. Previous treats like coffee now take a backseat to those foods that will be best for the baby since Oh Hyun Jin is trying to breastfeed.

Do Yoon tries to sneak some coffee to his wife, only to have her mother confiscate it. In a short flashback we see that it’s been a long time since Oh Hyun Jin felt she was able to enjoy a cup of coffee without worrying about what other people thought. The barista at Starbucks insisted on giving her decaf once the baby belly started to show. The old women at the coffee shop shamed her for even the small amount of caffeine that remains in decaf. Eventually everyone has shamed her into drinking kiwi juice instead of coffee regardless of the medical truth she knows about caffeine.

*For Pete’s sake, don’t do this to pregnant women please. As Oh Hyun Jin says in this scene, the person most concerned about the baby is the baby’s mother. Trust her.*

When Do Yoon is distracted for a moment, Hyun Jin races to the coffee shop in the hospital determined to get herself an Iced Americano. Seeing her mother in the lobby, Hyun Jin grabs her coffee and races to the elevator. In the elevator she stands next to another new mother in a hospital gown. The younger woman sneezes and loses control of her bladder. She leaves the elevator with Oh Hyun Jin standing alone in a puddle of urine. She drops her precious coffee trying to avoid the puddle, and the elevator doors open on her team from work coming to visit her.

Discharge Day

It’s time to leave the hospital. But the world as they know it has changed. For the new parents, every germ, every person they see is a danger to be avoided. They dodge coughs and coffees and race to the car like they’re in a zombie action film.

Hyun Jin wails as they leave her coughing mother behind in the parking lot. They race away and hit a speed bump in the parking lot. It’s the reminder they need that brings them back down to earth. Do Yoon drives more slowly and cautiously all the way to the birthcare center where Oh Hyun Jin, Do Yoon and baby Ddak Pul will be staying.

Serenity Birthcare Center

Upon arrival at the center, Ddak Pul is whisked away by a care nurse. Their bags are carried away by staff. The director in charge of the center takes the new parents into her office. The room is decorated with awards and artworks depicting mothers with children. When offered a variety of the finest herbal teas it all becomes too much for Oh Hyun Jin who burst into tears. The director comforts Hyun Jin. She promises that Hyun Jin will be able to return to being the woman she was before.

*Okay, this feels a little creepy. A little Stepford Wives vibe-y*

Do Yoon will be staying at the center as well, but there are many areas that are for the women only. Hyun Jin is given a tour of the beautiful facilities. Gardens, workout rooms, a spa, and a restaurant are all tailored to meet the needs of new mothers and to help them get their bodies and brains back on track. The women are allowed to eat in their rooms but are encouraged to come down and eat together in order to form bonds and support with the other mothers.

The babies are all kept together in a nursery with 24 hour care and closed circuit cameras so that their parents can keep an eye on them. Everything about the center seems perfect. A wonderful way to help Hyun Jin on her journey to becoming a great mother. But there is a darkness hidden in the center. Crying comes from the room across the hall. From somewhere in the center, Hyun Jin hears a woman scream. Employees whisper about a mysterious guest who has not left her room in two weeks. And in the middle of the night, Hyun Jin is woken from her sleep by someone at the door.

Final Thoughts:

This show is pretty hilarious. Being a mother, I have seen and experienced a lot of what goes on in this drama. The way that it is centred as a mystery/horror but with comedy is really interesting. I’m not entirely certain if there will be an actual horror going on or if it’s one of those comedies that sets everything up as scary only to deliver a punchline. So far every “scare” has come with a comedic relief.

A lot of what is depicted in the drama is very real. I am laughing and crying with the way it has brought up memories of my first child’s birth in particular. Everything is new and scary and somehow different from how you expect it to be. The way that people treat you is different and there is a sense of dying to oneself and becoming “only a mother”. Not gonna lie, if I’d had a place like Serenity available to me at the time I would have jumped at the chance.

I am really interested to see how they continue to cover the different issues of early motherhood. I look forward to meeting the other mothers and fathers. This drama is definitely a winner for me and I will be sticking with it. How about you? Will you be checking it out too? Let me know what you think in the comments.