Bonnie Wakeman was a midwife who ran a weekly antenatal classes. In April 2013, these were attended by Tina McIntyre, Izzy Armstrong and Gary Windass. Tina was acting as surrogate mother for Gary and Izzy and they were the only ones there who were as a couple. Bonnie made no allowances for the three, nor for Izzy being in a wheelchair as the floorspace was liberally strewn with mats and exercise balls. Izzy felt in the way and, with difficulty, made her way to the back of the room through the other couples as Bonnie announced the agenda for the class. The last straw for Izzy came when Bonnie asked everyone to get into position with the partner supporting the mother-to-be and happily told everyone that Tina and her partner Gary were the ones who had followed the instructions correctly and that everyone should follow them. Izzy left the room in tears and no one noticed.
Five years later, Eva Price was the expectant mother whilst Aidan Connor was oblivious that he was the expectant father as the couple had split the previous year following his affair with Maria Connor. Eva's half-sister Toyah Battersby was desperate to have a child of her own but had failed to conceive after numerous rounds of IVF. The two women came to an arrangement that Toyah would be given the baby under a surrogacy arrangement, and Toyah attended the antenatal classes with Eva. At one of them, Bonnie gave a talk about the importance of bonding with the baby immediately after its birth, stressing that her words applied to the fathers as well. Toyah could see from Eva’s face that the words resonated with her and afterwards drew an admission from her that she still loved Aidan. She freed Eva of the obligation of keeping to their arrangement so that she could come clean to the father.