Aliena would be able to give birth, and both she and the baby survive while being crushed under a pile of rocks. Childbirth takes hours, babies don't just pop out looking happy and healthy, especially if you have both been stuck under a pile of giant stone. Did anyone actually think this was believable?
shareNo, it wasn't believable - I don't know if the threads are around anymore but this was something a lot of people brought up when the show first aired. But you have to remember that this is a sort of fantasy tale. All sorts of things happened where viewers had to suspend their disbelief and look the other way to accept what went on.
"I've never killed a man, but have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow
She wasn't crushed under a pile of rock, though. She was trapped so that she couldn't get out, but it was more like a little tiny cave (more unlikely her surviving that was delivering the baby herself, but I can chalk that to the character's survival instinct combined with the director's need for the big reveal shot of her holding the baby). As for the birth happening so fast (although we don't know how long the whole thing took, with the collapse and general disarray), I remember reading all too recently that after a major earthquake (I think it was the New Zealand one from last fall, not one they just had) that the first baby was born just 10 minutes after the quake struck and it wasn't the only one. Trauma will apparently do wonders for labor. The happy, healthy baby I simply attribute to it being a tv baby. :-)
So unlikely, but not so much that I can't suspend my disbelief.
Granted I was in labor for 34 hours, however, the actual giving birth part only took me less than five minutes. It can happen. In extreme situations like hers, where she may die, birth can happen very quickly.
I don't remember if it's made clear in the series, but in the book she's having serious contractions by the time she arrives at the cathedral, so like you say the "actual giving birth part" could have taken place in the time it took for the roof to fall in and people to uncover her.
shareThey tend to do this in movies. I've rarely seen a birth portrayed as it really usually happens--as in a long time, lots of nothing happening, etc. It's to the point where I don't think even expect it anymore.
I would say, though, that we had no idea how long they were all searching around the rubble. It could have been an hour before they found her. Also, she might have been in labor for a while before the collapse and just chalked it up to a back ache or something else.
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“My first girlfriend turned into the moon.”
“That’s rough, buddy.”
Generally speaking, "lots of nothing happening" tends not to work too well on screen. Equally, you don't tend to see people spending half an hour washing up, or 10 minutes in the shower - you see them start, and then cut to the finish; that way, you can actually tell a story before everyone switches off.
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British banknotes - Charles Darwin
Not very. But it's also unbelievable that she could be at least seven months pregnant and her husband not notice, even if they're no longer regularly trying to have sex.
shareA girl was just arrested for killing her baby. She was 14, tiny, and hid her pregnancy from her family (not all that well mind you but still did) and gave birth by prying her baby out with a pair of scissors. So while somethings may seem highly unlikely, unlikely things happen everyday.