Kate and Rio Ferdinand have welcomed a baby boy into the world just a week before Christmas.
According to The Sun, friends of the couple say, “The birth of their baby is the best Christmas present Kate, Rio and their family could have asked for.
“It’s going to be more magical than ever.
“Mother and baby are doing great and everyone is excited about the latest addition to the family.”
Kate, 29, and Rio, 42, announced they were expecting their first child together in a tear-jerking video, showing the couple telling Rio's three children.
The former Manchester United player shares children 13-year-old Lorenz, 11-year-old Tate and nine-year-old Tia with his late wife Rebecca Ellison - who tragically died of breast cancer back in 2015 at the age of 34.
But new wife Kate has grown close to the children over the last couple of years, with the couple even opening up in a new documentary about how she took on a maternal role in their lives.
Rio has been open about how challenging it was to introduce someone into his children's lives following the death of their mother. He confessed, "I wasn’t open to bringing anyone in to be step-mum to my kids...
“Meeting Kate changed everything and sometimes it’s just fate.”
But for Kate, caring for Rio's children felt like the most natural thing in the world, despite the struggles that would ensue.
“I fell in love with Rio, then I met the kids and fell in love with them. I realised, ‘Wow, my life is going to change’. I couldn’t be part of his life and not part of theirs.
“I knew it would be a challenge, but if you love someone you go with it and deal with the difficult stuff.”
While Rio and the kids have no doubt been counting down the days until the baby arrived, pregnancy hasn't been an easy journey for Kate, who said she felt she was "losing her mind" during the early months.
Opening up to her Instagram followers, she admitted, "I’ve been pretty quiet on here recently. Honestly, I’ve just been so exhausted I don’t know whether I’m coming or going. how I’ve been feeling has been changing daily so I’ve found it hard to share anything because I don’t really know how I feel myself …. any other pregnant women feeling the same? Or am I losing my mind??"
Congratulations!
