Jamelia introduces the latest addition to her family (Picture: Hello!/PA)
Singer and TV presenter Jamelia has called motherhood her ‘greatest blessing’ but revealed that she suffered an ‘incredibly traumatic’ labour with her fourth child.
The former Loose Women presenter, 41, gave birth to her yet-to-be-named daughter at 36 weeks through an emergency caesarean on October 4 after announcing her pregnancy two months earlier.
Speaking about her waters breaking at 32 weeks, the former Strictly Come Dancing contestant said that it had been ‘so scary’.
‘I felt like I was in labour for a month, but the main objective was to keep the baby in for as long as possible. I just had to hold on.’
A month after her waters broke, midwives at Birmingham Women’s Hospital decided to induce labour after the baby’s heart rate had dropped dramatically.
Jamelia, who cut off all her hair to celebrate her birthday at the beginning of the year, explained: ‘I’d only ever seen a C-section on the telly, and thought: “Oh well, at least it’s going to be straightforward, and I’ll be out in five minutes.”
The singer, pictured with oldest daughter Teja, saw her waters broke at 32 weeks (Picture: Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images)
Jamelia is also mum to Tiani, 17, and four-year-old True (Picture: Instagram/officialjamelia)
‘There’s this idea of ‘too posh to push’ – that it’s the easier option. But I found it incredibly traumatic. And then you’re recovering from major surgery while looking after a new-born,’ she told Hello! magazine.
The mother-of-four was accompanied by her 17-year-old daughter Tiani – who had tossed a coin with her big sister Teja, 21, to see who would act as their mother’s birthing partner.
Jamelia’s husband of five years, whose identity she has kept out of the public eye, was at home looking after their daughter, four-year-old True, while she was at the hospital.
The singer said that she wanted to ‘share this experience with my girls’, of the slightly unusual delegation of tasks.
The full article is in this week’s edition of Hello! (Picture: Hello!/PA)
She added that the newest addition to the family is the ‘easiest and most straightforward baby’ to date.
Praising the little one as a ‘good communicator’ and ‘very chilled’, the Superstar hitmaker, who’s produced seven UK top 10 singles, said that she had ‘seamlessly imprinted herself onto the family’ and that it had been ‘a dream’ to have her.
Jamelia also described being a mum to four daughters as ‘the most incredible gift’.
The star is settled with her husband of five years, whose identity she keeps private (Picture: Karwai Tang/WireImage)
Looking back on the two-decade spread in age of her girls, she added: ‘I feel so fortunate to have had pregnancies in my teens, 20s, 30s and now my 40s. It’s been my greatest blessing to experience motherhood at all these different times and being able to learn at different stages of my life.’
Jamelia shares Teja with music manager Terry Wallen and Tiani with ex-husband Darren Byfield, to whom she was married from 2008 to 2009.
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Announcing her newborn’s arrival on Instagram on Sunday, she joked: ‘I’ve officially got my own Girl Group now!!’
‘Congratulations!!! She’s adorable 💕💕💕💕,’ commented Girls Aloud star Kimberley Walsh, while actor Richard Blackwood added: ‘Congratulations hun ❤️❤️’
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She is already mum to Teja, 21, Tiani, 17 and four-year-old True.
