Former Blue Peter star Simon Thomas has revealed his wife Derrina Jebb has given birth to their daughter - eight weeks early - after she fell 'rapidly ill'.
Simon is already father to son Ethan from his relationship with his first wife Gemma, who died suddenly in 2017 from cancer, and he has been married to wife Derrina Jebb since 2021.
The couple held a secret wedding ceremony attended by close family and friends - including fellow TV presenter Angelica Bell and Simon announced last month that his wife was pregnant with their first child together.
At the time he shared, "Fourteen months ago today, @chrissayburn & @brittanysipling sang this beautiful song of blessing over us. 'There's another little blessing on its way…!" He shared a video featuring clips from their wedding day before their hands slowly revealed the ultrasound scan.
Simon shared a snap of Derinna and their baby, who arrived eight weeks early, in hospital with his followers on Instagram and explained, "Not everything in life goes quite according to plan. One moment we think we’ve got eight weeks until our little one arrives; the next, after Derrina fell rapidly ill, we’re suddenly welcoming into the world a very tiny, but hugely precious baby girl weighing just over three pounds.
"The #neonatal team at #stokemandeville hospital were simply incredible and held our hands physically and in spirit the whole way through a very fear filled and stressful day yesterday."
Simon previously shared that he was 'crushed' after his late wife Gemma died three days after being diagnosed with leukaemia.
He said, "I cannot express how proud and blessed I feel right now - I have a beautiful, brave wife in @derrina , a precious son and now a tiny, wonderful daughter and sister for our boy Ethan. We have a long road ahead of being in hospital for the next few weeks; but we have the best team around us. Thank you Stoke Mandeville and thank you #nhs for being there for us and thank you God for blessing us as a family so much."
Both friends and fans have flooded his profile with messages of congratulations.
Former Blue Peter host Matt Baker wrote, "Sending lots of love to you all."
Meanwhile, Richard Bacon put, "Brilliant Simon, that’s wonderful. Congratulations."
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