Just like that, Rachel’s life is shattered into a thousand pieces. And, while some people have uncharitably referred to her ordeal as nothing more than a “botched birth plan”, it is so much more than that. Because, as someone who has laboured in frightening and out-of-control circumstances, I can tell you firsthand that hers is the kind of trauma that stays with you for a very long time.

A woman on the edge

For the majority of Fleishman Is In Trouble, we are only shown things through Toby’s eyes. Come the end of the series, though, we learn that Rachel has suffered a nervous breakdown: that it has cost her not just her marriage, but also her relationship with her children – not to mention her career. She can’t sleep, she can’t keep track of time, and she can’t find anyone that will listen to what she’s been through, let alone validate her feelings.

Speaking about her character with The Hollywood Reporter, Danes says: “I really felt so terrible for her, [and] I was so grateful that [we were] able to create room for the expression of that kind of pain. Pain that I think is much more familiar for so many people, and specifically women, than we’re often allowed to believe.”

She continues: “I do think it’s important to have that rendered and mirrored back to us. Because there’s a lot that we’re supposed to ignore and deny, and just cope with. There’s a lot. It’s a burden I think that we are not so sensitive to because we’re so busy just coping. And Rachel was just… it was just one trauma too many for her. And I think it’s scary to realise that we all might be a little closer to our edge than we think.”

We really need to talk about birth trauma

Birth trauma is very real, often overlooked, and has long-term consequences f so many areas of life. And so, while Rachel’s labour (as well as her subsequent breakdown) make for incredibly difficult viewing, the scenes have since prompted many women to begin tentatively sharing their own experiences on social media.

How Fleishman Is In Trouble opened up a vital conversation about birth trauma