Chantelle Connelly reveals she ‘nearly died’ giving birth to son Ricardo as she shows off first pics of newborn
CHANTELLE Connelly revealed that she "nearly died" when she gave birth to son Ricardo as she shared the first photos of her newborn.
The 29-year-old Geordie Shore star welcomed her first child by emergency C-section earlier this week.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun Online, Chantelle has now shared details of the "absolute nightmare" birth - with both the star and her baby's lives in danger.
Explaining what happened, Chantelle told us: "I had been having contractions for a couple of days and throughout the night they were getting worse and worse, I couldn't handle the pain but when I went to the hospital I was only 2cm dilated and they said they couldn't give me an epidural until I was 4cm.
"I went back two hours later, crippled in agony with the pain and they decided to give me an epidural and break my waters.
"The next thing, it just went pear-shaped. My mum and partner, Lee, were like: 'Chantelle, are you okay?' - all I could remember is that I felt like I was going to sleep.
"My mum is a nurse and knows exactly what the monitor was saying, my blood pressure had dropped to around 60, my mum said I could have gone into cardiac arrest, that is what I was slipping into."
The reality star continued: "The doctors all came running in and flushed my system to get the epidural out, I perked up a bit but then the baby's heartbeat was dead low and they needed to get him out straight away."
Chantelle went on to share that she was rushed to theatre, where she had to be put to sleep as doctors raced against the clock to save her son.
She added: "It was an emergency to get the baby out because he was deteriorating, it was just an absolute nightmare."
The comments come as Chantelle shared the first photos of herself with her son in hospital.
In one photo, the brunette beauty is grinning proudly next to her boyfriend as they sit behind their tiny son, who is wearing a white and blue romper.
Chantelle's mum, Allison, was the one to announce Ricardo's arrival into the world on Tuesday - posting on her Instagram account that her daughter still didn't know that she'd welcomed a baby boy as she'd been put to sleep.
Allison came under fire for the move, with some critics insisting that she should have left it to Chantelle to announce the birth.
However, the Geordie star told us that she had told her mum to make the post before she went under.
She insisted: "My mum got a bit of stick on Instagram for putting up that I had the baby but I did tell my before this happened that as soon as I had the baby to put it on Instagram and let everyone know he is fine.
"I'm more than happy that my mum did that."
Speaking about her son, Chantelle went on to gush: "He's the most beautiful little thing ever, he literally hurts my heart he is that perfect.
"I honestly can't imagine life without him, I am so, so happy.
"I'm still in hospital, they're not letting me leave because a million other things have happened since then but so far, so good - hopefully I will be out soon."
Chantelle announced her pregnancy with new boyfriend Lee Blackburn back in September, just months after breaking up with her ex Clark Crawford.
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The star shot to fame in 2016 when she joined MTV reality show Geordie Shore.
However, she left after just one season after having a meltdown in Greece.
Chantelle told her fans that there are "more important things than reality TV" as she announced her departure, adding: "Fame and money isn't everything, health and happiness is!!"
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