Katie Piper: first pics of baby Belle

Pictured cradling her tiny newborn baby daughter in her arms on the cover of the latest issue of Hello! magazine, Katie's also revealed she gave birth to Belle Elizabeth in the same hospital where she had more than 100 operations to rebuild her face after a acid attack in 2008.

"To have had my own life saved in hospital and then to be there giving life to this precious little person," says Katie, "I thought, 'This is why, this is what it's all about'.

"People used to say to me, 'It's a love like no other,' and I understand that now. She's our world."

The former model gave birth on March 14th by Caesarean section, and joyfully announced the news on Twitter soon after. "I am so overwhelmed with happiness," she said. "I literally can't stop looking at her, she's just beautiful. After all the operations I've had, this one has given me my daughter. It's just the most special feeling in the world."

After the acid attack by a former boyfriend, Katie, who's now found love with carpenter boyfriend James, had not been sure whether she would ever be able to conceive a baby.

"I already felt grateful, that, after the attack, I'd managed to restore a life, have a job, friends, a social life, and I thought, 'You can't expect to have everything, this is enough,' " she said. "Then, to meet and fall in love with James, a man I knew I wanted to have a baby with and who makes me so happy, and now to have Belle - it's just amazing."

And as for her hopes for Belle? "Most of all I want her to be happy," Katie says. "I thought I knew, after all that happened to me, what happiness meant, but having Belle has shown me what true fulfillment is."

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