Charlotte Hawkins: first pic of newborn Ella Rose
Good Morning Britain presenter says her baby's birth is helping heal her grief over her father's death
Good Morning Britain's Charlotte Hawkins has posed with newborn daughter Ella Rose and husband Mark for their first official family photo – and revealed how her baby's birth has helped her overcome the recent death of her father.
Charlotte's father Frank died of motor neurone disease – but not before she'd had a chance to tell him she was expecting a baby.
"It would have been lovely if he'd been able to see Ella Rose," Charlotte, 39, told Hello magazine, "but the main thing was being able to tell him that we were having a baby because we'd been trying for such a long time.
"He was so thrilled. He had a tear in his eye. And he is still here as far as I'm concerned.
"He'll be a part of her life and she will hear all about him. He's not forgotten. He is here every day and always will be."
Ella Rose was born on February 8th, weighing 7lb 14oz. Charlotte's ITV work colleagues broke the news on Twitter, with Susannah Reid tweeting, "Congratulations to our beautiful @charlottehawkns who's given birth to a mini-Charlotte" and Lorraine Kelly tweeting, "Big congrats lovely @charlottehawkns - you will be an amazing mum!"
Charlotte said the birth was "still a bit of a blur" but "we both had tears in our eyes when they placed Ella Rose on my chest after the birth. Nothing prepares you for that feeling.
"All of a sudden," she said, "this tiny being that you've been carrying around for 9 months is there with you. It's a very moving experience.
"From our point of view, she was a miracle baby, one that we had wanted for such a long time."
The former Sky presenter announced her pregnancy on Good Morning Britain last August, revealing that she and husband Mark Herbert had been trying for a baby for a long while, and had been considering IVF treatment. "It took a long while for it to sink in that I was pregnant because we’d been trying for quite some time," she said.
Right now, she's hoping that years of having to get up ridiculously early for work will help her deal with the lack of sleep parenthood brings. "I've been getting up in the middle of the night for the past 8 years, so I'm at an advantage!
"I'm used to having to function on just 4 hours' sleep a night and grabbing catnaps where I can. It's quite good preparation for having a baby. Well, that's the theory, anyway…"
Photo credits: Hello; Featureflash/Shutterstock
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Helen is author of the classic advice book Parenting for Dummies and a mum of 3. Before joining MadeForMums, she was Head of Community at Mumsnet and also the Consumer Editor of Mother & Baby.
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