Back in 2014, DIY SOS star Nick Knowles presented his precious new baby son Eddie in HELLO! magazine and told of the "subdued feeling of panic" he experienced when complications set in as his wife Jessica Knowles prepared to give birth and he watched "the light go out of her eyes".
The 56-year-old presenter and quiz show host experienced a backlash earlier that year when it was revealed in HELLO! that he and Jessica weren't planning for him to be in the delivery room when their baby boy was born.
But Nick and Jessica, who married in an intimate ceremony in Rome in 2012 and separated in 2016, told how plans changed dramatically when it was decided that Jessica, would need an emergency Caesarean when both her heart rate and that of their unborn child started to drop and it was discovered the umbilical chord was wrapped around their baby's neck.
"We had talked a lot about the birth and we had a plan in place for how, ideally, we wanted it to be," Nick told HELLO!. "But we were never so foolish as to think that was cast in stone because, ultimately, what mattered was the welfare of Jessica and our son.
"When everything changed, it was plainly right for me to be in the room. And yes, there were some nerve wracking moments."
Reliving the moment he seriously feared for the health of Jessica, who went 16 days overdue with her pregnancy and endured an arduous 20-hour labour, he said: "The light completely went out of her eyes and at the same time, I was being told our baby's heart rate had dipped again and there was this subdued feeling of panic inside of me, but I couldn't let it show because I thought that all the time Jessica heard my voice being confident, she would have some sense of feeling in control.
"The next thing I knew, the surgeon was saying, 'Right, let's go for it'. "And then, within literally minutes, there it was, our baby's cry. We could actually hear him as he was being delivered."
Paying tribute to Nick, Jessica, who runs online business Knowles Antiques and Design Consultancy, said: "I honestly could not ask for a more supportive man. He'll say to me, 'Look what you did. You've grown our boy – look how well he's doing, look how happy he is."
Named after Nick's late father, little Eddie, says the presenter, has brought a "blissful new layer" to his relationship with Jessica. "I'm still very much in love with Jessica and we're very much a couple. Our relationship as man and wife is very important to us," he says. "But on top of that we now have this blissful layer of being Mum and Dad and it's wonderful."
