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On Monday, February 16, Discovery Health Channel will broadcast live the labor, delivery and birth of babies from three medical centers across the country, including Florida Hospital in Orlando, which will be the "headquarters" for the live event.

BIRTH DAY LIVE!, an extraordinary 10-hour televised marathon, celebrates one of life’s greatest joys -- the birth of a child -- while reflecting Discovery Health Channel’s commitment to bring viewers the real-life drama and immediacy of what it takes to bring a new life into the world.

BIRTH DAY LIVE! premieres Monday, February 16 and will air from 4 PM - 2 AM (ET). Developed in partnership with the March of Dimes, the Discovery Health Channel event will follow patients, doctors, and nurses at Florida Hospital in Orlando, XX in San Diego, and XX in Baton Rouge.  Award-winning journalist and author Mary Alice Williams will anchor the event from Florida Hospital Orlando, interviewing related medical experts while regularly turning over coverage to correspondents stationed at each hospital.

Florida Hospital provides a wide range of health services for the entire family, including many nationally and internationally recognized programs in cardiology, cancer, women’s medicine, neurology, diabetes and rehabilitation. Fit Pregnancy Magazine recently named Florida Hospital Orlando as one of the top 10 hospitals in America to have a baby.

BIRTH DAY LIVE! takes viewers behind the birth statistic of nearly 12,000 babies born daily in the United States and presents parents and parents-to-be with a rare, televised look at the hard work and split second decisions it can take to birth a baby. The event will also examine the emotional and educational resources available to parents who may suddenly face the difficulties of a premature birth.

The live event is designed to focus attention on the issues surrounding a healthy birth and the growing incidence of premature births in the U.S, estimated by the March of Dimes to be 467,000 each year, an increase of 23 percent since the 1980s. According to the March of Dimes, nearly 50 percent of premature births have no known cause but there are steps that women can take that may help lower the risk of pre-term labor. Those include: see a doctor before and during pregnancy, follow a healthy lifestyle and know the signs and symptoms of pre-term labor. 
Deliveries of all kinds, from Caesarian sections and natural childbirth to premature and high risk will be chronicled in BIRTH DAY LIVE! The 10-hour live event will explain the pivotal role doctors, nurses and hospital technicians play in administering the latest in modern maternity to bring healthy babies into the world.

As each pending birth unfolds, Discovery Health cameras and reporters will be live in the maternity wards chronicling the inspiring and intense experience of birth and revealing the live reaction of the newborns’ families.  Wrapping the live segments will be interviews with medical experts who provide information related to prenatal care, full term and premature birth, and newborns in general.

For more information, please contact Florida Hospital Media Relations at (407) 303-1917.