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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Zoe Delaney

EastEnders' Kellie Shirley, 41, reveals sweet name of new baby after surprise pregnancy

Kellie Shirley has revealed the adorable name of her third child after announcing her surprise pregnancy earlier this year.

Mum-of-three Kellie says she was 'a mess' after welcoming her newborn son into the world at the start of last month with her husband Phil Davies.

The EastEnders star, 41, was already mum to twins Pearl and Louie – now seven - before unexpectedly falling pregnant with her new bundle of joy.

Speaking six weeks on from giving birth, Kellie shares how she and Phil sweetly decided on their son's name simultaneously and recalls how her birthing experience at King’s College Hospital in south London went.

Kellie developed group B streptococcus, known as strep B, during pregnancy so opted to have a C-section to err on the side of caution and deliver her son via a C-section.

The EastEnders actress shared this sweet shot of her newborn son with fans last month (INSTAGRA M)

Thankfully, everything went according to plan for the soap star and baby Ezra's arrival on March 2 was even caught on camera.

"The moment he was born I burst into tears. I felt speechless, watching this little human being that I’ve been growing coming out of my body. It’s this massive whoosh of love and hormones, and everything is so heightened and intense. It’s amazing. I was a right mess!" Kellie tells OK! magazine.

She goes on to share how Ezra was born weighing 6lb 7oz - slightly heavier than Louie and Pearl, who weighed 4lb 2oz and 5lb 2oz when they arrived - and explain how she and her husband picked his adorable moniker.

Kellie 'kept quiet' and didn't tell many people at work about her third pregnancy (Getty Images)
The mum-of-three starred on EastEnders from 2006 to 2008, and briefly returned in 2012 (BBC/Kieron McCarron)

Kellie, who says she knew her son would be born on World Book Day, explains how she and Phil both landed on the name Ezra simultaneously.

She recalls: "When we discussed names, we decided to go, 'One, two, three…' and say our favourite name out loud. We both said 'Ezra' at the same time and we couldn’t believe it. We hadn’t spoken about the name before and were like, 'What are the chances?'

The former Strictly Come Dancing contestant goes on to add how Ezra's middle name Cillian is due to the fact her mum's side of the family is Irish and also partly down to the fact she is a big fan of Peaky Blinders, which sees actor Cillian Murphy play a lead role in the BBC show.

Kellie as Carly on EastEnders in 2007 (BBC)

The actress, who is best known for playing Carly Wicks on the BBC soap EastEnders, announced Ezra's arrival on Instagram last month.

Sharing a photo of the adorable boy looking cosy in a white cardigan, Kelly joked: "So there’s a new fella in my life… and wow! #babyboy.”

The actress was filming CBeebies show Biff & Chip in Manchester when she began to experience pregnancy symptoms while carrying Ezra and was nearly 20 weeks gone when she realised she was expecting.

Describing how she found out the happy news, Kellie said: "Last time was such a breeze in comparison. Being older this time around, I feel absolutely floored. When I found out, I didn’t tell people at work – I kept really quiet about it."

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