Victoria Ekanoye was "vomiting, couldn’t walk and could barely speak" during labour, and feared she might lose her baby.
Victoria Ekanoye
The former 'Coronation Street' actress welcomed her son Theodore into the world on January 16th with her partner Jonny Lomas, and despite suffering a bad reaction to pain medication, she was determined to "push through" because she couldn't bear the thought of losing her little one.
Victoria - who has sickle cell anaemia - said: "The thought of not leaving as a three is heart-breaking and that's what pushed me through.
"I was induced on 13 January when I was 39 weeks. From when I was induced to when he came, it was almost three days.
"With sickle cell it’s not advised to have a birth without painkillers as it can trigger a sickle cell crisis [episodes of pain], so I was induced and put on pain medication. But I had a really bad reaction.
"I was vomiting, I couldn’t walk and I could barely speak... I also had chest pains, so I ended up having an ECG within 30 minutes of giving birth, as with sickle cell you can get chest syndrome, which is basically a stroke.
"It was traumatic but I can't imagine how hard it was for Jonny watching it."
Jonny admitted it was tough to watch his significant other "in so much pain".
Speaking in a joint interview with OK! magazine, he added: "It was a very stressful time.
"It was hard to see Victoria struggling and in so much pain."
Victoria described Theodore as her "miracle" baby following his birth.
Sharing a video of herself and Jonny each holding one of their son’s hands, she wrote on social media: "Our prince, our love, our world, our miracle."