Tiny Lives

Unique access to the neonatal unit at University Hospital Wishaw. Here a hundred-strong team keep some of Scotland's most fragile babies alive. Babies born prematurely, multiple births, and those with rare medical conditions are among over a thousand cases admitted to the unit every year. These babies and their parents can spend months here and go on an incredible journey.

Charlie was born at just 23 weeks – almost the earliest a baby can be kept alive. His eyes haven't opened yet and his lungs are only half grown. For his parents it's an emotional rollercoaster, but despite the odds, Charlie proves to be a fighter.

A family with premature twins finally gets to bring their son home after six months in the unit, and rhesus baby Parker undergoes a rare procedure to have all of his contaminated blood exchanged.

Unique access to the neonatal unit at University Hospital Wishaw. Here a hundred strong team keep some of Scotland's most fragile babies alive.
A long-standing staff member sees the unit from the other side when her twin grandsons are delivered by Caesarean section two months early, a family from Dumfries wait to be reunited and a first-time mum goes into labour at six months pregnant.

Unique access to the neonatal unit at University Hospital Wishaw. Here a 100-strong team keep some of Scotland's most fragile babies alive.

A family faces difficult odds when their second child, Innes, is born at 23 weeks – just two days after the threshold at which life support is usually offered. He weighs little more than one pound, his eyes won't open for another four weeks and his skin can't protect him from germs. The consultants, nurses and midwives in intensive care watch over him 24 hours a day while his four-year-old brother just wants him to come home.

Meanwhile, a team of nine neonatal staff assemble for the birth of premature triplets, and Sonny struggles to breastfeed.