Now, this series was not what I had expected. I had it in my watchlist for a while but I hadn't decided on it until now, mostly because I pictured it as a series where she has artificial insemination, gets pregnant and during the pregnancy she falls in love. Boy, was I wrong!

The title, Oh My Baby, refers to 3 main things: Jang Ha Ri's longing to have a baby, her work at the baby magazine, and later her knew online magazine. This is a very realistic story and what I mean by this is that there is no fairytale ending in this one - however, it doesn't mean that it lacks a happy-ending because it gives us that. . .

I experience many feelings while watching this series. First, I sympathized with Jan Ha Ri's frustration. She wanted to have a baby, but she was single, had endometriosis and in her country single women can't have artificial insemination, because artificial means of pregnancy are only available to married couples. Society pointed fingers at her and attacked her for wanting to be a single parent. People kept telling her that she was being selfish, that children need both parents - but I kept questioning that reasoning. I mean, isn't Jae Young a single parent? He had been married and his wife divorced him and abandoned their child. Marriage doesn't guarantee the presence of both parents in a child's life. Ha Ri had also been abandoned by her father when she was little. People just pushed her into finding a husband as a solution to getting pregnant. Her friends suggested adoption but she also said that the process also had requirements that she didn't fulfill. I was also upset about how parents (fathers and mothers) have to choose between profession and their children. The workplace is not made for parents and one of them ends up sacrificing their professional life for their children and then are penalized when they want to return to the workforce after a couple years of sabbatical. (I've always seen this as upsetting in other dramas with similar situations.)

Then, I became annoyed at her desperation because she starts seeing Eutteum (young coworker), Jae Young (lifelong friend) and Yi Sang (a man she had liked years before) as sperm donors and not as human beings. She starts wondering who would be the best candidate to request a donation. Eutteum is willing to consider it at the beginning. Jae Young considers crossing the friend-line but she doesn't want to because she has fallen for Yi Sang (who had been trying his best to keep away from her because he didn't want a repeat of what had happened with his ex-girlfriend). I was really angry at her because when she finally gets Yi Sang to admit he likes her too, she turns her back on him when she learns he has fertility problems. She had said she loved him, that she saw him as a man, not a sperm donor and she didn't think it twice, she just turned around and walked away. She avoided him for a couple of days - yes, she goes back to him - but that first reaction just made me wonder how genuine had she truly been at the beginning. And it just wasn't fair, the way her family and friends told Yi Sang not to be selfish and let her go just because he couldn't get her pregnant as fast as she wanted. I talked about this issue in Should We Kiss First and I know it's not new at all, but I never feel right about it. Love should not be about perfection, it should be about loving a person with all that comes with it.

In the end, I was happy to see that they resolved their insecurities and were able to accept life together with whatever life throws them.

And here is what makes this story so realistic:

1. The magazine had been in financial difficulty for years and even though the team tried their best to gain advertisements and subscribers, the CEO decided to close the print version and keep the online blog because they were not able to increase revenue. They were all sent to different magazines under the same main company. Ha Ri then decides to make her own online magazine.

2. There is no miracle pregnancy. Ha Ri and Yi Sang are living together (not married yet) and he is going through treatment. It is after the treatment has succeeded that we are hinted that they were able to get pregnant.

3. Eutteum and Hyo Joo don't end up together. - She had misunderstood his actions and thought he liked her. She had then fallen for him after realizing he liked Ha Ri. After she tells him about her feelings, he tells her he doesn't feel that way and after a while they are able to work together comfortably.

This is a series that makes you think about pregnancy, parenthood, relationships and work, which is why I think I liked it.