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Latest 'This Is Us' episode sheds light on pregnancy emergency

Kate heads to the hospital and into a world thousands of parents find themselves in every year.
/ Source: TODAY

Warning: Spoilers ahead! If you haven't seen this week's episode, read no further!

As if Kate hasn’t gone through enough pregnancy woes.

The latest episode of “This Is Us” has Kate’s water breaking after a serious conversation with Kevin on their way to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

But given that Kate is only 28 weeks along into her pregnancy, her doctors fight to stave off her labor as much as possible to give the baby more time to develop.

"This Is Us" sheds light on pre-term labor
Kate's pregnancy is put in jeopardy in the latest "This Is Us" episode.NBC

While the show may be fictional, the scenario of going into premature labor is an unexpected reality for tens of thousands of parents each year who spend countless days and even months in the neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU.

Chrissy Metz, the actress who plays Kate, recently hinted that she won't be losing her baby. In an interview with USA TODAY last month, she revealed the show’s creator Dan Fogelman acknowledged that “people will kill us” if her character suffers another loss after her previous miscarriage.

Still, the premature labor has introduced another emotionally tense storyline, since a delivery is usually in the near future once a woman’s water breaks.

But “This Is Us” executive producer Isaac Aptaker said that, at 28 weeks, Kate has “carried the baby long enough that it has a total chance of survival, but it’s really scary and it’s really fraught.”

He told “Entertainment Weekly” that viewers know that Kate’s pregnancy has been considered high-risk from the start.

“Given all the factors for Kate, and the fact that it would all go seamlessly and she would carry to term and have this perfect, easy delivery did not feel real to us, or any of the doctors that we spoke with. So this felt like what would actually happen, which is always what we strive for,” he said.

Aptaker provided assurances that the baby’s likelihood of survival won’t be an extended storyline.

“We know it’s a very sensitive area and something that a lot of people have been through, and we’re going to — with a commitment to reality and honoring people who have lived this experience — get through it and give some answers next week," he said.