Former General Hospital star Jaime Ray Newman has announced the birth of her daughter in a moving Instagram post, five years after suffering a stillborn birth.
Jaime, 40, took to Instagram on Sunday to say that Alma Ness Newman Nattiv, whom she welcomed with her husband Guy Nattiv, 45, was born on Tuesday last week via surrogate.
The actress, who played Kristina Cassadine in General Hospital from 2002 to 2003, looked back on August 2013, when Guy moved from Tel Aviv, Israel to Los Angeles while his wife was nine months pregnant.
Family: Former General Hospital star Jaime Ray Newman, 40, announced the birth of her daughter on Instagram on Sunday, five years after suffering a stillborn birth
Proud: Jaime shared this photo of her husband Guy Nattiv, 45, cuddling with their newborn Alma Ness Newman Nattiv, who was born on Tuesday
‘In August of 2013, after three years in a long distance relationship with my love Guy, he finally moved from Israel to LA,’ Jaime recounted.
‘I was nine months pregnant and within a few days, the contractions came.
‘We arrived beyond excited to the maternity ward at Cedars Sinai — where the worst happened to us. There was no heartbeat, and we lost our baby girl in a stillbirth.’
Guy and Jaime spent a year in shock, before deciding to try and conceive again over several years using IVF treatments. Devastatingly during that time, the couple suffered four miscarriages.
Eventually, Jaime said, they ‘lost hope’.
‘But in life there are also gifts that come to show you the concept of ups and downs…’ she continued, before revealing that she and Guy welcomed a newborn daughter, Alma Ness Newman Nattiv, on September 18 at the start of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur.
‘This Tuesday, September 18, 2018, Alma Ness Newman Nattiv arrived (with the help of our extraordinary surrogate who has now become family), as the Kol Nidrei prayer was heard in synagogues around the world,’ Jaime wrote.
Couple: The pair (pictured earlier this month) welcomed Alma via a surrogate after suffering four miscarriages and going through IVF treatments
Role: Jaime played Kristina Cassadine in General Hospital from 2002 to 2003 (pictured)
‘An inexplicable happiness overwhelms us, so we have decided to share our incredible miracle that could have only happened through science and love,’ she added.
‘Shana Tovah, have a beautiful year, and never lose hope.’
The new mother also specified that ‘Ness’, Alma’s middle name, means ‘love’ in Hebrew.
Her husband, a write and director, shared the same message on his own Instagram account, first in Hebrew, then in English.
The timing of Alma’s arrival actually couldn’t have been better for the new father, who was promoting his latest project – a thrilled called Skin – at the Toronto International Film Festival up until two days before the little girl’s birth.
Guy was in a long-distance relationship with Jaime for several years before moving to the US.
He passed his citizenship test to become a US citizen in August 2016.
In addition to starring as Kristina in General Hospital, Jaime appeared as Mindy O’Dell in Veronica Mars between 2006 and 2007, in Eastwick as Kat Gardener from 2009 to 2010, and in Drop Dead Diva as Vanessa Hemmings between 2010 and 2013.
She has recently starred in Syfy’s The Magicians as Irene McAllister.