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And baby makes three! Actress Martine McCutcheon and husband Jack McManus have officially introduced their new baby to the world. The Love Actually alum revealed her sweet bundle of joy, named Rafferty, in an exclusive new interview with our sister publication in the U.K., HELLO! magazine.
Martine gave birth ten days before her due date Photo: HELLO!
The British beauty, who audiences fell for when she played "Natalie" opposite Hugh Grant's prime minister in Love Actually, explained that she's never been happier. Martine, 38, had struggled to conceive and so the journey to motherhood was one she certainly doesn't take for granted.
“My mom always said to me that it is a love like no other, and it’s absolutely true," she told HELLO!. "This baby boy is the love of our lives and I think the fact this didn’t happen easily for us and faced challenges along the way, has made him even more precious.”
Little Rafferty, who arrived on February 4, has already changed Martine's outlook, and more directly, how she envisioned motherhood.
“I used to think, when I heard people say having a child was their most life-changing moment, that they were just saying that because it was the expected thing to say,” admitted Martine. “Now I so get it. I have never been so in love, so content and so full of happiness in my life.”
Martine documented her pregnancy for HELLO! U.K. online Photo: HELLO!
In the full interview, featured in the HELLO! U.K. magazine, Martine also elaborates on the dramatic arrival of Rafferty, who required special care for two nights post-birth due to a lung condition.
“Basically, his lungs were filled with fluid, but we were told that it wasn’t anything to panic about and that he was being taken to the special care baby unit to be monitored,” she explained. As expected, Martine simply wanted to hold her new baby, who despite struggling to breathe, already showed flickers of strength.
“I was aching for that skin-on-skin contact and to hold my baby and bond with him. [But] when we went to see Rafferty in the incubator, he was already trying to lift his head and I thought, ‘You’re going to be just fine, little man.'”
Rafferty is the first child for both Martine and Jack, who married in September 2012 Photo: Getty Images
Having a little man in the house is certainly something Martine was excited for. The actress and blogger previously admitted she was excited by her baby's gender — for it meant that she would be in the only female in her home.
"With my husband, my brother and my two American Spaniels, Harry and Fred, I am already surrounded by boys… And if I'm honest I kinda like it!!" she wrote.
Congratulations to the new mother!
To read the full interview, pick up a copy of HELLO! UK.
