Former Emmerdale stars Chelsea Halfpenny and fiancé James Baxter welcome their first child

Former Emmerdale stars Chelsea Halfpenny and fiancé James Baxter welcome their first child as they share first snap of their newborn daughter

Former Emmerdale stars Chelsea Halfpenny and James Baxter have welcomed their first child. 

The actress, 31, who is best known for playing Amy Wyatt in the countryside soap, took to Instagram on Thursday to announce she had given birth to a baby girl.

Chelsea wrote: ‘The best thing that’s ever happened to us arrived a couple of weeks ago, and she’s absolutely class. The little love of our lives!’ 

She shared an adorable snap of her daughter’s feet poking out of a blanket, with James resharing the picture. 

The actor, 32, who played Jake Doland on the soap from 2007 -2009, wrote: ‘Welcome to the world – Cream Knuckleberry Baxter. 

Congratulations! Former Emmerdale stars Chelsea Halfpenny and James Baxter have welcomed their first child

'The little love of our lives': The actress, 31, who is best known for playing Amy Wyatt in the countryside soap, took to Instagram on Thursday to announce she had given birth

‘The little love of our lives’: The actress, 31, who is best known for playing Amy Wyatt in the countryside soap, took to Instagram on Thursday to announce she had given birth

Over the moon: Chelsea wrote: The best thing that’s ever happened to us arrived a couple of weeks ago, and she’s absolutely class. The little love of our lives!

Over the moon: Chelsea wrote: The best thing that’s ever happened to us arrived a couple of weeks ago, and she’s absolutely class. The little love of our lives!

‘May you eat, sleep and s**t with such ferocity your whole life! We love you.’

The actress announced her pregnancy in April with a photo of her blossoming bump. 

She captioned the picture: ‘As if renovating a house wasn’t enough, we’ve decided to grow a baby at the same time! Officially MENTAL @jamesbaxterrealtalk But we are so close to meeting our new little best mate!’

James re-shared the post to his story, accompanied by some red heart emojis.

He later commented underneath saying: ‘Let’s hope they’re like you for both our sakes’ followed by some crying laughing emojis.

The comment section was flooded with messages from a whole host of famous faces including Robson Green, congratulating the pair on their news.

But it seems like the news hasn’t slowed the West End star down.

Just three months ago she finished starring in the UK tour of Waitress which she described as her dream job and before that appeared in the production of 9 to 5.

In more recent weeks she has been keeping her followers up to date with the couples house renovations sharing pictures of piles of broken wood, wallpaper strippings and James tackling to work on the fireplace.

Chelsea and James both worked on the ITV soap at the same time, but never appeared in any scenes together.

Chelsea played the role of Amy, whilst James played Jake Doland.

No onscreen relationship: Despite working at the soap at the same time, they never featured in any scenes together (Chelsea pictured as Amy)

Chelsea and James (pictured as Jake) worked at ITV's Emmerdale at the same time

Co-workers: Chelsea (pictured as Amy on the left and James (pictured as Jake on the right) worked at ITV’s Emmerdale at the same time but never featured in any scenes together

The loved-up pair announced their engagement in 2021.

Chelsea confirmed the news by sharing a selfie with her new fiancé, holding a glass of champagne and informing her followers that he had popped the question.

Taking to Instagram, she wrote: ‘He liked it so he went and put a friggin ring on it!!!!!!!! Obv changed his name to ‘FIANCÈ immediately on my phone.’

Whilst the couple haven’t announced a due date for the baby, with Chelsea admitting they are ‘so close’ to meeting their bundle of joy, suggests they don’t have long to wait.

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