Coronation Street and Hollyoaks star Nikki Sanderson has shared an update on her pregnancy with fans – the gender of her baby. The actress initially wanted to wait until her first child arrives to find out if she and partner, former Emmerdale star Anthony Quinlan, were having a boy or a girl, but she has since had a change of heart. The couple revealed back in December that they were expecting their first child together.
Nikki said: “The further we got into the pregnancy, the more I warmed to the idea. We really don’t mind what we have. As long as the baby is healthy, we will be very, very happy.”
And on Tuesday, 3 March, she told Closer she was “over the moon” after finding out she was having a boy. She said: “Anthony and I always said that we didn’t mind what we were having as long as our baby is healthy. There was no, “I’d love this or that” – we were just over the moon.
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“But subconsciously, I always felt like I was going to be a boy mum and my family said the same. I just kept envisioning a baby boy in my arms.”
Nikki previously opened up about her pregnancy to Shoutfm.co.uk While the actress, 41, was “on cloud nine” when she found out the news, she began to worry about the pregnancy potentially going wrong. “I felt absolutely elated that we got this confirmation and that the baby was fine – the first time seeing the heartbeat on the scans was the most amazing, incredible feeling,” she said.
“But I also felt a lot of anxiety – just worrying that the baby was OK and if the journey for us was going to be OK. I was really excited and over the moon, but I also had a lot of worries.”
Former Hollyoaks and Emmerdale star Anthony, also 41, added: “We were thrilled but kind of held back from getting too excited because we’re aware of the troubles that can happen. You’re in that protective mode where you want everything to be OK, but there can be difficulties, especially in the first trimester.”
Nikki is due in the spring, but understandably declines to be too specific about dates in order to avoid unwanted stress when the time comes. “I’m worried about the pressure of people being like, ‘Has she had the baby yet?'” explained the star, who quit her role as Hollyoaks’ Maxine Minniver last April. “But we’re happy to say it’s going to be a lovely little spring baby.”
Recalling the moment she learned she was expecting, Nikki, who took the pregnancy test alongside Anthony at their home in North Manchester, said, “As soon as we saw that positive result, it was just amazing.”
Her pregnancy came as an even greater surprise as there were no signs she was expecting and was already four to five weeks along.
“Some people have nausea very early on and can have symptoms that give them a clue, but we didn’t have any of that,” she said. “We were just carrying on with life. We even competed in a fitness competition together. It was literally only that I missed my period that made us do the test.”
As the happy news sank in, Anthony said there was also “a bit of shock”. He explained, “Because we’d had a few times where it wasn’t the result we wanted, it was like, ‘Is this for real?'” The couple had endured a two-year struggle to conceive and had already taken the first steps towards having IVF.
“We’ve had a lot of ups and downs in our journey to becoming parents and it’s been really hard on us,” admitted Nikki. “But now, waiting for our beautiful baby to arrive, it’s just incredible. Every person trying to conceive has their own journey and, sadly, some are easier than others. But being where we are now makes all the ups and downs worth it.”
Anthony added, “We were kind of resigned to the fact that we may need assistance via IVF. We wanted this so much and we were just hoping, hoping, hoping.” While such struggles can strain even the strongest relationships, Nikki and Anthony have remained a tight, loving unit throughout.
“We’ve been blessed that we are a team,” said Nikki, who also played Candice Stowe in Coronation Street. “We knew this process wasn’t going to be easy and I can totally understand why it can take a huge toll on people. It’s not just the physical element, it’s the mental and emotional sides to it as well. But we really had each other’s backs through the highs and lows.”
Nikki added, “I feel incredibly lucky that I’ve had this journey with Anthony. It can’t be easy for him either, and you have to take into consideration how it makes your partner feel.” Anthony agrees. “It’s a team effort. If you’re going to bring a little person into the world , it’s not a flippant thing, it’s life-changing and one of the most amazing things you can ever experience as a human being.”