Coronation Street’s Victoria Ekanoye feared her baby would die during horrific birth calling her son a ‘miracle’
CORONATION Street’s Victoria Ekanoye feared her baby would die during her traumatic labour.
The actress described her son, who was born on January 15, as a “miracle” and said she was spurred on through the birth by the terrifying thought of losing him.
Speaking to OK! Victoria told how her sickle cell disease complicated her labour.
She said: “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. Jonny said I was out of it and he was really worried. 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.”
However, Victoria and boyfriend Jonny Lomas were over-the-moon when their son arrived fighting fit.
“We were overjoyed,” said Victoria. “The biggest thing was relief I’d been able to get him out. Hearing him scream was the most joyous sound as he’d been stuck there a while and we were scared he wouldn’t make it. He’s our little miracle. It’s definitely the most challenging thing I’ve done.”
The 38-year-old star announced the birth on her Instagram page, where she shared a cute first video of her little boy.
In the clip, the baby’s face is hidden but his hands can be seen clasping onto Victora’s fingers as he lays in bed.
He is dressed in an adorable white babygro and wrapped up underneath a white laced blanket, with a snippet of Betty Noyes’ Baby Mine from the movie Dumbo added to the video.
Victoria captioned the post: “Our prince, our love, our world, our miracle 
”
The star has not yet revealed her bundle of joy’s name or when he was born, but she was due to give birth in January.
The new mum, who played Angie Appleton in Corrie, was inundated with well-wishes from her famous pals – including Samia Longchambon who wrote: “Oh wow! Beautiful news.. Huge congratulations to you all darling girl! 
Xxx”.
Lucy Fallon added: “Congratulations guys! So pleased for you both xxxx”
Kimberly Wyatt wrote: “You did it mama!!!!!! So happy for you and your gorgeous lil family!!! 
congratulations!!!!!”
Last year, Victoria joked to The Sun that there was “nothing else to do in lockdown but get pregnant”.
She said: “A lockdown baby, what else were we to do? We’re due in January so it’s going to be an amazing start to 2021.”
The TV favourite was last seen in Corrie at the beginning of 2019, where her character went to live in South Africa with her young son after splitting from Mary Taylor’s son Jude.
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She announced her pregnancy in November, waiting until she was seven months along before sharing the news because she suffers from sickle cell anaemia.
Victoria said: “We know friends that have miscarried and so we waited until we were 12 weeks before we even told our parents.
“Then, with my health condition, we wanted a little bit more security and stability in knowing that everything is okay with baby and with me.”
The actress was diagnosed with the condition when she was 22 but recently revealed she spent years hiding her pain from her mother.