News presenter Sarah-Jane Mee has introduced her and fiancé Ben Richardson's baby girl in an exclusive interview and photoshoot with HELLO! magazine. In the interview, Sarah-Jane reveals for the first time that her baby daughter is called Rae Brenda Richardson.
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Explaining how her name was inspired by recent events, she said: "During lockdown, we kept hearing about rainbows and rays of hope and we came up with her name from that," says the Sky News presenter.
© Photo: HELLO!Baby Rae was born in June
"The morning after she was born, Ben said to me: 'I think she's a Rae,' and I remember looking at her, thinking: 'You're right. She's Rae and she's our little ray of sunshine.'"
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Rae was born weighing 6lb 8oz at St Thomas' Hospital in London on 24 June. And despite Sarah-Jane's wish to have a home birth, she was instead delivered via caesarean section following a five-day labour after Sarah-Jane developed pre-eclampsia.
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"I went in on a Saturday and went through every stage of labour, but we got to Tuesday night and I was only 2cm dilated," she told the magazine. "It was really disappointing as my body wasn't ready, but we had to get her out safely so they recommended I have a C-section. As soon as someone says: 'This is pre-eclampsia, you don't want to put your baby at risk,' all thoughts about wanting a natural birth just turn to how to get your baby out safely."
In the interview, Sarah-Jane also says one of the advantages of lockdown has been having Ben around the house to help.
Sarah-Jane introduces her baby daughter in HELLO!
"One of the positives of lockdown has been Ben being at home so he has been in this 50/50 with me," Sarah-Jane says. "We're a tag team: at night, I will feed her and then he'll take her from me so I can go back to sleep. He takes it in his stride and has made me feel more confident too."
"As driven as Ben is in his business life, he loves being a dad more than anything," she adds. "It's made me love him even more, if that's possible."
Read the full interview in HELLO! magazine out on Monday.
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