TOWIE’s Danielle Armstrong opens up about ‘horrendous’ birth of daughter Orla Mae

She welcomed her baby girl last month

danielle armstrong

by Eden-Olivia Lord |
Updated on

Danielle Armstrong has opened up about welcoming her daughter into the world and admitted that she was unable to go through with her birthing plan - after going ten days beyond her due date,

Last month, the reality star announced she and her fiancé Tom Edney were trying to induce her labour but days later the reality star revealed their daughter Orla Mae had arrived.

However, she's now that her labour wasn't smooth sailing and after the midwives tried to induce her, she still didn't have any contractions.

"I ended up going on the drip that brings on contractions.

"The pain was horrendous, so I ended up having an epidural and so my whole birthing plan went out of the window – I wanted a nice peaceful water birth and did all my hypnobirthing," she explained.

After being in active labour for over 12 hours, her little one finally arrived but baby Orla was rushed away.

"As soon as she was born they put her on my chest and she didn’t cry and her body went pink and her face stayed purple.

"They took her away from me for an hour and a half to a paediatric unit, but Tom was with her. I’d gone through 72 hours of labour and she was on my chest for 30 seconds," Danielle explained to OK! magazine.

Danielle went on, "It was when I saw Tom’s face, and he got quite emotional, that I knew something was wrong.

"That’s when I panicked and I was sick with worry. An hour and a half felt like seven hours. It was horrible. I was there on my own like, 'This is awful.'

"But she was just a little bit of shock, because she’d been trying to get out for two hours. Then she came back and she was all healthy and I was discharged the next day."

Check out: TOWIE kids - the next generation of Essex stars

Gallery

TOWIE babies

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CREDIT: Instagram / amychilds1990

Amy Childs

The first of the really big names to come from TOWIE, Amy quit the show in 2011 and welcomed her first daughter, Polly, in 2017. She also has a son from a different relationship who she's kept out of the limelight, but accidentally revealed his name was Ritchie in an interview.

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CREDIT: Instagram

Georgina Cleverly

Georgina Cleverley – née Dorset – was only on the show for two series and went on to have a two sons with her footballer hubby Tom, who she keeps off social media.

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CREDIT: Getty

Sam Faiers

Sam is mum to daughter Rosie and a son called Paul, who she named after her husband, also called Paul. "We always wanted him to be named Paul after his dad," she said."It's traditional and we didn't have any other names on the list, so he's Paul, and his middle name is Tony after Paul's brother, his Uncle Tony."She's made a household name for herself and her family with her hit reality show, The Mummy Diaries.

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CREDIT: Instagram

Billy Faiers

Sam's lookalike little sister Billie is also a mum to two kids of her own, sharing daughter Nelly (five) and son Arthur (three) with her husband Greg Shepherd.

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CREDIT: Instagram

Kirk Norcross

Despite being TOWIE's original bad boy, Kirk has overhauled his image in the last few years to be the ultimate family man. He's dad to son Harry, three, and daughter Violett, four - although Violett doesn't feature on his Instagram after her mum made it clear she didn't want her in the public eye.

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CREDIT: Instagram

Maria Fowler

Maria is mum to four-year-old Evie who she shares with husband Kelvin Batey, and earlier this year revealed on Instagram that they were preparing to welcome baby number two.Back in 2018, Maria revealed she had suffered a miscarriage, writing on Instagram, "I feel silly even referring to it as a baby as we were really early in the pregnancy and had not yet had a scan but I did grieve and I did feel like I had lost something very special."I feel it is such a cruel twist of fate to get such happy news and then have it taken away. Just like that. No explanation."

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CREDIT: Instagram

Chloe Sims

Chloe was already a mum when she joined the cast of TOWIE back in 2011. Her daughter Madison is now 15, and largely stays out of the public eye, although last year Chloe finally revealed Madison's dad was still a close pal, posting a picture to Instagram and writing, "So lots of people have always been interested in who is Maddie's dad, well, here he is..."I was 18, he was 24... all you nosy f--ckers who wanted to know, here he is!"

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CREDIT: Getty

Dan Osborne

TOWIE lothario Dan Osborne already had a son, Teddy, with ex Megan Tomlin when he joined TOWIE. After he was booted in 2015, Dan married EastEnders actress Jaqueline Jossa and they have two daughters together, Mia and Ella.

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CREDIT: Instagram

Lucy Mecklenburgh

Lucy Mecklenburgh quit TOWIE all the way back in 2013 and since then has had success as an influencer and fitness guru. In 2020 she welcomed her first child with her fiancé, Corrie actor Ryan Thomas, a son they named Roman.

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CREDIT: Instagram

Lydia Bright

How cute is this? Long-term best pals Lucy and Lydia were both pregnant at the same time and gave birth just weeks apart. Lydia is going it alone as a single mother to baby Loretta, after splitting with Loretta's dad Lee Cronin during her pregnancy.

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CREDIT: Getty

Ferne McCann

One of TOWIE's most high profile mums, Ferne McCann welcomed her daughter Sunday in 2017following a difficult few months. Shortly before announcing her pregnancy Ferne's boyfriend Arthur Collins was arrested and charged with an acid attack in an East London club that left two victims blind. And weeks before Sunday was born he was sentenced to 20 years.

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CREDIT: Instagram

Mario Falcone

TOWIE OG Mario left the show after 15 series, and in 2018 welcomed a son, Parker Jax,with his fiancée Becky Meisner.

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CREDIT: Instagram

Chloe Lewis

Chloe quit the show in 2019 after revealing she'd found herself a new relationship and it wasn't long before she and new man Danny Flasher announced they were expecting. They welcomed a healthy baby boy, Beau Lewis, in October 2019.

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CREDIT: Instagram

Jake Hall

Meanwhile, Chloe's TOWIE boyfriend Jake Hall went on to have a family of his own. Despite an at times messy relationshipwith Real Housewives of Cheshire's Misse Beqiri, the couple welcomed a daughter in 2018, who they named River.

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CREDIT: Instagram

Billi Mucklow

Billi Mucklow, who left TOWIE in 2013, must certainly have her hands full with her huge blended family with footballer fiancé Andy Carroll. The couple are raising Andy's kids from a previous relationship, Lucas and Emilie, and have two of their own together, Arlo and Wolf. In early 2020 they announced they were expecting AGAIN. Phew.

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CREDIT: Instagram

Danielle Armstrong

Danielle Armstrong welcomed her first child with long-term pal Tom Edney in May 2020 after being "pregnant forever" and begging fans for tips on inducing labour. She took to Instagram to update followers on the birth, writing, "My world Is complete ud83dudc76ud83cudffcud83dudc95 Orla Mae Edney Born May 26th at 16:30pm, weighing a healthy 8Ibs11".

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CREDIT: Getty

Lauren Pope

Lauren quit TOWIE in 2019 after a staggering nine years on the show. In July 2020, she and her boyfriend welcome a little girl called Raine Anais Keterman.

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CREDIT: Getty

Shelby Tribble and Sam Mucklow

After a whopping three-day labour, Sam and Shelby welcomed their first child, a boy, in November 2020. "Shelby and our beautiful baby boy are both well and healthy," he wrote on Instagram. "Shelby didn't have a straightforward labour so she has been in hospital for five days. She has been an absolute soldier."

danielle armstrong tom
Danielle and her partner in 2019 ©Getty Images

She went on to reveal that the first night with her daughter was "surreal" before adding that she's "so in love" with her little one.

And if you're wondering whether Danielle looked through our pretty baby girl names guide then you're wrong, she actually got her daughter's name from Strictly's Ola Jordan, thinking her name was Orla.

Obsessed.

And her middle name Mae comes from being born in May.

WATCH: TOWIE's Amber, Chloe and Courtney reveal the weirdest thing a fan has ever done

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Due to coronavirus the UK is still in lockdown, which means it's not been easy for Danielle and Tom's family plus the couple's friends to meet their daughter.

Although Danielle and Tom's parents have met their granddaughter, only Ferne McCann has "popped round" and socially distanced in the garden to meet the new addition.

However, that's not stopped Vicky Pattison and her boyfriend Ercan Ramadan and TOWIE couple Georgia Kousoulou and Tommy Mallet from sending over flowers.

Cute.

And the couple have said they're thinking of having their wedding in August 2022 - so we've got a couple of years to get our wedding outfit ready...

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