Hollyoaks actress Alex Fletcher has said the birth of her baby son was "the best birthday present" as she prepares to turn 40.
Baby Hanson was born by caesarean section weighing 8lbs 9oz on June 3, just weeks before Fletcher's milestone birthday on July 8.
The Liverpudlian star told Hello! magazine: "Hanson is the best birthday present I could wish for."
She added: "I have my two kids, a lovely husband and we are all healthy."
In 2015, Fletcher suffered an ectopic pregnancy which is why Hanson's safe arrival is all the more special.
"Having the ectopic pregnancy last year was sad and scary," she said.
"It made me really negative and doubt that it would ever happen. I wondered whether things were not working properly because I was older.
"You think, 'It's my fault. Have I been selfish?'
Fletcher continued: "It made me realise how much I wanted another baby. Having gone through all that has made his arrival all the more precious."
The actress, who first found fame as Jacqui Dixon in ground-breaking 1980s soap Brookside, has played Hollyoaks' Diane O'Connor since 2010.
She has an 11-year-old daughter with her 39-year-old physiotherapist husband Neil Davies.
The couple met when Davies appeared in Brookside as Jacqui's errant boyfriend Robbie Moffat.
Fletcher told the magazine that it took four months to become pregnant again after she and her husband started trying for a baby.
:: Read the full article in Hello! out now.