Marriages have ups and downs and mine is no different. Dan will be at the birth, of course... he is an amazing dad
because she asked me why I wore it. I didn’t want to say, ‘To make myself look better because I look disgusting’. I want her to grow up thinking she’s naturally beautiful. “The only trouble is I get papped and if I’m not wearing any make-up, social media is full of comments like, ‘Oh she looks so tired’, or ‘She must be going through so much’. “The truth is I’ve just pulled on my clothes and run out to do the school run. But you have to take social media with a pinch of salt and have a strong backbone. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to leave the house and I’d have had plastic surgery.”
But despite her backbone, Jacqueline admits juggling two pregnancies and a career has been tough. “There were periods where a week would go by and I wouldn’t have seen Ella,” she says. “I’d leave at 6am and not get back until 8pm. Daniel or my mum were looking after her. I’d feel sad, thinking, ‘I don’t know what she’s been doing’.”
Her second pregnancy came as a surprise, just as she was leaving Eastenders. “This baby wasn’t planned, so it Star’s tweet about split with Dan was a shock just as I left the show,” she says. “Instead of following my big plan of leaving and smashing it work-wise, I’m on a break instead. It’s worked out nicely though, I’ve been able to embrace this time with Ella and prepare her for having a new member of the family. I’ll definitely go back to work though.”
Like any other expectant mum, she worries about the health of her unborn child. Jacqueline cannot thank her midwife enough for supporting her.
“My first pregnancy was so straightforward,” she says. “This has As Lauren with the Brannings been more difficult and I don’t think I could have gotten through it without my midwife. I was very sick the first three months, which is difficult when you’ve already got a little one. I recently couldn’t feel the baby move, which was scary. It was wonderful to get reassurance.”
Her mum lost her two older brothers to cot death. Naturally, that stokes her concerns. “Although there’s no apparent hereditary link, it does make you more nervous. But again, the midwives have been reassuring,” she says.
But there is one thing Jacqueline cannot stop worrying about – whether Ella will reveal her new sibling’s sex. She giggles: “We’re keeping it a secret… but I told Ella by accident.”
■■ is an ambassador for Pampers supporting their #Thankyoumidwife campaign, which asks members of the public to thank their midwives. For every thank you shared on social media, Pampers will donate £1 to support midwives in need. www.pampers.co.uk/ thank-you-midwife