Rosie Marcel reveals what happens when Holby City's pregnant surgeon goes into early labour this Tuesday (BBC1)...
Jac’s endured a rather difficult pregnancy hasn’t she?
"It’s been bad for her in every way really. After discovering the baby has a Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH), she nearly had a termination then decided not to. On top of that, she’s split from the baby’s father Jonny, who’s now shacked up with fellow nurse Bonnie."
Despite knowing her unborn baby only has a 50 per cent chance of surviving beyond birth, Jac’s carried on working as hard as usual. Why is this?
"Jac's basically chosen to ignore the fact she’s pregnant. She's adamant she's going to carry on running around like a lunatic performing surgery because that's who she is – and she's not going to change."
There's still a week to go before Jac's due to have her baby induced, when she starts experiencing contractions this week…
"Jac wants to give her unborn daughter every chance to properly develop, so she tries to postpone going into labour by self-prescribing medication. Jac likes to be in control, so she feels inadequate when she knows the baby's coming and there's nothing she can do about it."
Jac’s tried to keep the baby’s father, on-off lover Jonny, at arm's length during her pregnancy. Does this change when she goes into labour?
"Yes, Jac surprisingly allows him to become her birthing partner. But, as always with those two, things start off well and end badly and by the end of the episode she absolutely hates him!"
Do we see a different side of Jac as she's giving birth?
"Jac's absolutely terrified, but she'll be damned if she'll let anybody see she's afraid, so she hides any vulnerability until she can't hide it any more. When things start to go really wrong for Jac, however, we see a side of her we're unlikely ever to see again!"
We understand that Jac needs to have an urgent Caesarean or risk losing the baby. How is she feeling at this point?
"She just feels like a massive failure. When the birth she wanted doesn't work out and the baby is rushed off to intensive care, she just cuts herself off emotionally. It's who she is and how she protects herself."
