In an exclusive photoshoot and interview with HELLO! magazine, Natalie Lowe has opened up about her experience of giving birth to her baby boy Jack, saying it was "lovely and relaxed". The former Strictly Come Dancing star welcomed her first child with husband James a week early in December 2018, although her original due date had coincidentally fallen on the weekend of the Strictly finale.
Natalie, who was advised by doctors to have a C-section, recalled: "I had wanted a natural labour all the way; then after my last appointment we had a call from the hospital saying: 'We need to get you in as soon as possible.' We knew from scans that Jack was going to be a big baby and it was looking like he was going to be 9lb 6oz on delivery."
WATCH: Go behind the scenes with Natalie, her husband James and their baby boy Jack
Natalie, who only the day before had been filming for Strictly spin-off show It Takes Two, went into St Mary's Hospital in Manchester, close to their home, on the Friday. Jack arrived the next morning at 9.45, weighing 8lb 8oz.
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"It was a lovely and relaxed experience. I wasn't expecting it to be what it was. I am very grateful but I couldn't have done it without James," said Natalie. "I wouldn't have missed it for the world," added 36-year-old James, who as a sales director for a medical devices firm is more used to hospital theatres.
"I wasn't expecting it to be what it was," said Natalie of the birth
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The couple, who married in 2018 in the bride's native Australia, settled on the name Jack before he was born. "We both loved it but then we thought we should at least look at some others, so we went through a list of about a thousand... and we came back to Jack. It fits him perfectly," said Natalie. His middle name is James, but it's not a family tradition. "No, we've just started one," smiled James.
Pick up the new issue of HELLO! for the full interview and photo album.
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