DREAM FAMILY
For Rhiannon Dunn, the episode showing youngest child Alice being born is one of her most treasured possessions.
The mum-of-three, 28, has cystic fibrosis, carrying an average life expectancy of 41.
But she wanted to prove CF should not stop anyone’s dream of having a family.
Rhiannon and student husband John, 28, are grateful they have One Born to show Alice, now two, and siblings Oliver, eight, Jacob, five.
Rhiannon says: “When someone with cystic fibrosis has one baby, we’re supposed to count our lucky stars and stop there. But I wanted the children to have siblings for when I’m no longer around.”
A month after Alice’s birth in 2015, Rhiannon, of Liverpool, had to be given her medication intravenously because of the strain of pregnancy. She says: “Managing my condition was like having a fourth child.”
She begins a three-year nursing course next September, but adds: “I know I can’t have my cake and eat it. I am slowing down. But the time we spend as a family is never wasted or taken for granted.” Oliver and Jacob saw the episode and called it “yucky”, but Rhiannon says: “It’s something precious for Alice to look back on and to know she was wanted so dearly.”
One Born Every Minute returns on Tuesday, June 6, at 9pm on Channel 4. Catch up with it and see I Was Born on One Born on All 4.