Jennifer Metcalfe has opened up about her difficult pregnancy, beautiful birth and life with her new baby, Daye.
The Hollyoaks actress told goodtoknow.co.uk that although it took her a while to adjust to her role as a new parent alongside partner Greg Lake, everything is starting to fall into place now.
'It's taken us a good few months to settle in - we had a few problems at the start. His skin wasn't great and he had quite bad colic,' she said.
'It's just like a job to another job. It never stops - you can never clock off. It's a conveyor belt - but a beautiful one! Even when I'm away from him [Daye], I'm still phoning to check on him.'
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When a work commitment took Jennifer far from home for a night, the soap star found herself pining for her son and 33-year-old boyfriend.
'I was in London the other day and I had a whole evening to myself. I was telling everyone 'I'm so excited!' But I just felt lost,' she admitted.
'I decided to go to the bar and ordered myself a glass of red. I thought to myself, 'The old Jen used to like this, why am I not enjoying myself?' So I told myself that I needed to sort myself out.
'I decided to walk up to Nobu, had another glass of red to try and chill myself out. I had some gorgeous sushi but it still wasn't really doing it for me!'
Instead, Jennifer prefers to be with her man when she's apart from Daye, who was born in June 2017.
She said: 'The first time we left him together, I found so much easier. Greg was like my comfort blanket.'
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Despite being totally smitten with her son, and the fact that expanding her brood is something that's crossed the 35-year-old's mind, Jennifer has confessed that she finds the prospect of going through pregnancy for a second time daunting. The star found pregnancy so difficult, that she is even considering adopting when the couple are ready for a second child.
'I would definitely adopt but I'm not sure I would do pregnancy again' she revealed. 'I do love the idea of more children.'
'I like to think I would go through it all again but I'm not sure. Pregnancy is the worst bit - the delivery is beautiful. I don't say this lightly but I'd pick six deliveries over nine months of pregnancy.'
Although Jennifer has started working out again, her body changing isn't a factor in her uncertainty as to whether she would carry another child - it's more the difficult symptoms that come with pregnancy.
Jennifer is brand ambassador for LighterLife Fast, which is available exclusively from Superdrug.
While expecting Daye, Jennifer suffered from constipation and was advised to take a solution that's safe for mums-to-be by a medical professional. Unfortunately, it disagreed with her body.
'I ended up having to have paramedics coming round because I was screaming in pain for nine hours. It caused these horrific cramps,' she shared.
'I also got a couple of nosebleeds before the end of my pregnancy and another huge one just after he was born.'
Following her difficult pregnancy, Jen is now looking to the future with partner Greg and still 'getting used to being a mum' to little Daye.
'I take each day as it comes' Jen said. 'On a day-to-day basis, there's nothing I really worry about. We're both doing our best job and Daye's finding his way in the world and I'm getting used to being a mum.'
