Stephanie Davis has shared the joyful news that she’s welcomed a baby boy with her partner, Joe McKalory.
The 31-year-old former Hollyoaks star announced the arrival on Instagram on Monday evening, posting a series of heartwarming photos of their newborn son.
Reflecting on the journey, the soap star described the experience as "traumatic" but expressed her love and gratitude as she introduced her baby boy, Samuel, to the world.
Her other half wrote the touching caption on their joint post, saying: “Welcome to the world my beautiful baby boy Samuel McKalroy.
“Named after your uncle the one and only who will always weigh heavy on my heart I wish so much that he could’ve met you and cherished you as much as I do.
“It has been a traumatic experience but you are finally here in our arms. I never thought I could possibly love your mummy anymore than I already do but this is just so special and an unconditional love I cannot explain with words.
“I love you more than you will ever know.”
Davis responded to the heartfelt post: “Sobbing reading this, my heart, I love you more than anything in this world. I couldn’t love you more I’m so blessed to have you as a daddy to our boys xxx, you carried me though that, it was so tough,I love you more than you will ever know xxxxxxxx”.
The CBB alum, who is already mum to seven-year-old Caben, whom she shares with ex Jeremy McConnell, shared her emotional journey to welcoming her second child, opening up about the challenges she faced during her pregnancy.
In October, the actress revealed she had been rushed to hospital after falling "really unwell" and struggling to breathe. Addressing her Instagram followers at the time, she said: "I've not been feeling well. I've been really short of breath and I've had really swollen joints."
Holding her hand up to the camera, she added: "I've gone a funny colour, they said it could be pregnancy arthritis, it's killing me. My ankles are swollen and I started getting really short of breath, so the doctor sent me to A&E on Friday night. And I was like, I can't sit, it's torture."
The Coronation Street star admitted she was "on the verge of tears" during the ordeal but said doctors had helped her breathe more easily with nebulisers. "They ended up giving me some nebulisers to help me breathe, so that helped," she said.
“And just by the end of it, at god knows what time in the morning, we just wanted to get home. I was just ready for bed, on the verge of tears after sitting on those chairs.”
Despite feeling "a bit stressed" and exhausted, she reassured fans she was focusing on her health and her unborn baby. "If I wasn't pregnant, I wouldn't have gone because it's just a nightmare, isn't it, sitting there? But obviously, because of the swollen hands, swollen feet, shortness of breath, pregnant, I just wanted to make sure the baby was okay. So we rode it out."
Davis, who announced her pregnancy last August, previously opened up about her "rollercoaster" fertility journey.
After suffering a heartbreaking miscarriage in 2021, she and her partner spent two years trying to conceive and even considered IVF before falling pregnant naturally.
In 2022, Davis bravely shared the heartbreaking news that she had suffered a miscarriage just three weeks into a previously unannounced pregnancy on social media.
The devastating loss came after another tragic miscarriage the year before, during her relationship with then-partner Oliver Tasker.
If you have been affected by this story, you can seek advice at Miscarriage Association or by calling 01924 200 799
