PA
Emmerdale actress Natalie Anderson, 30, has told a magazine how the birth of her little boy Freddie was the 'scariest time' of her life.
Freddie's heart-rate dropped during labour because his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, leaving Natalie in fear of being whisked from the delivery room to theatre for an emergency Caesarean section.
Speaking to Hello! magazine, the new mum said: "Every time I was having a really intense contraction, his heart was just stopping as the cord was tightening.
"It was the scariest time of our lives. They knew they had to get him out and said if nothing happened in the next five minutes, I'd need to go to theatre for an emergency C-section."
Eventually little Freddie popped out naturally, and is now thriving at home with his proud mum and dad, James Shepherd.
Natalie said it was 'amazing' when he was first put on her chest, and that she was awash with
'overwhelming love for him'.
"I would relive that moment over and over again," the besotted mum said, "Freddie is surrounded by so much love. We are so lucky."
Natalie - who plays Alicia Gallagher in the ITV soap - also added that her 'compact bump', healthy eating through pregnancy and now breast-feeding has meant her baby weight has almost entirely dropped off just four weeks after Freddie's arrival.
"I had a very compact bump and carried Freddie neatly across the front, which people say is more common with boys," she said, " I just ate very healthily throughout and the weight that's gone is Freddie. I'm breastfeeding as well, but I didn't think it would come off so quickly."