Holly Willoughby reminisced about giving birth while speaking to women in labour at St Thomas’ Hospital, London.
The ‘This Morning’ host and mum-of-three was overcome with emotion when she cradled baby Mei moments after she was born via emergency caesarean section on Wednesday 7 December.
“She is not even an hour old,” she exclaimed. “Am I allowed a snuggle?
“She is so special, so magical. [Looking down at the baby] I think I might be the second person to hold you.”
When she returned to the studio she asked co-host Phillip Schofield: “Why can’t it be me?”
Willoughby joked that she is considering a career as a midwife after spending the morning in the maternity ward.
“I’m so happy, I can’t tell you. I might change jobs,” she said, adding to Phillip Schofield:
“You’ve lost me. I’m not coming back.”.
The visit brought back memories of Willoughby’s own experience of giving birth and she explained she had her youngest son Chester in a birthing pool - which she described as “the best thing” she has done.
She was also reunited with the midwife who assisted her following the birth of her eldest son Harry.
Willoughby explained that Sylvie Wachtendorff helped her when she was struggling to breastfeed.
“You spent a good 20 minutes with me, helping me to feed him. And he was my best feeder.”
Head of Midwifery Lynne Pacanowski spoke about the work of her team.
“Being a midwife is a really rewarding job, but to have the opportunity to celebrate all the great work that midwives do makes it even more special,” she said.
“They say no two days are ever the same but I still didn’t expect we’d end up live on ‘This Morning’.”
Pacanowski added that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are to blame for an increase in births.
:“On average we have around 125 births a week, and one particular week we had 159 births so we tracked it back nine months and it was the day that Kate and Wills got married,” she said
Willoughby smiled and said: “So everybody was in a celebratory mood making babies!”