The Home And Away favourite’s first child had a fittingly dramatic arrival, writes Julie Hayne.
With his generous mop of hair and bright blue eyes, tiny Levi Harper Ford has already stolen the show from his actress mum Holly Brisley.
“After years of trying to have a baby I’m finally a mum, and I am ecstatic,” says Holly as she settles down for a snuggle with her little boy. “This is my best role ever.”
And while she and her marketing executive husband Paul Ford have managed to settle into a comfortable routine with their three-week-old son, Holly says his arrival didn’t exactly go to plan.
“I had made it to 39-and-a- half weeks, and by that stage I was looking quite similar to a puffer fish. My hands and feet had swollen to the size of a giant’s, and I was more than ready to pop,” she says.
“Throughout the pregnancy I went to all the birthing classes and read up on everything with the intention of being the full earth mother when it came to the delivery, with no drugs and a completely natural birth.”
But at her last weekly check-up, it became clear that Holly’s best laid plans were not going to eventuate.
“The obstetrician told us that the head still hadn’t engaged and that a natural birth wasn’t looking promising as my hips are quite narrow and he wasn’t sure Levi would fit, so he recommended a caesarean. Here I was, wanting a completely natural birth, and I ended up having a caesar with all the drugs.”
But the gorgeous blonde, who has recently been back on our screens playing her recurring role of vixen Amanda Vale on Home And Away, says that at the end of the day, her son’s safe arrival into the world was what mattered most.
For the full story see this week’s Woman’s Day, on sale August 24, 2009.
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