TV presenter Simon Thomas has said he went from “fear” to “suddenly having new life in your hands” after his daughter was delivered eight weeks early.
The former Blue Peter and Sky Sports presenter’s wife Derrina Jebb developed pre-eclampsia and underwent an emergency Caesarean on Tuesday.
Thomas spoke about the experience on the Jeremy Vine Show on Channel 5, praising the staff at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Buckinghamshire.
"She's not going to be coming home for five, six weeks."@SimonThomasTV spoke to @theJeremyVine about wife Derrina's Pre-eclampsia diagnosis, which led to her having an emergency C-section this week.
They've welcomed their first child together – a baby girl – eight weeks early. pic.twitter.com/gavZc9AyGw
— Jeremy Vine On 5 (@JeremyVineOn5) October 6, 2022
He said: “Having thought we have got another eight weeks to get ready and buy all the stuff and just generally get ready for a new baby, she had an emergency C-section on Tuesday afternoon.
“We have got a very tiny, three pounds four, little baby girl, which is amazing.
“It is such a range of emotions from fear on Tuesday – we were obviously highly worried that Derrina is going to be OK and the baby is going to be OK – to suddenly having new life in your hands.”
Thomas said the baby was not expected to come home for about five or six weeks.
Praising the medical staff, he added: “The team at Stoke Mandeville were just unbelievable.
“I know that we often on this programme discuss the NHS and all the things that aren’t so good with it, but the team that we have got around that little life right now are just amazing.
“So even though I am sat at home feeling very separate to everything, I am heading off to the hospital shortly, I know she is in amazing hands.”
Thomas has a 13-year-old son, Ethan, whose mother was his late wife Gemma, who died in November 2017 three days after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.
He said the boy was excited to have a sibling.
“He has always wanted a brother or sister and my first wife Gemma, because of fertility issues, we couldn’t have any more children,” he said.
“So this has always been a sadness for him, and for me as well, that I have never got to see him alongside a sibling, and although he is going to be quite a lot older he is just so full of joy.
“He has got an inset day tomorrow. We were going to go to Legoland so that plan has gone up in the air like everything else has.
“He just said to me this morning, ‘daddy, can we go and see my little sister tomorrow because I have got a day off school?’”
Thomas and Jebb tied the knot at Norwich Cathedral in 2021, sharing photos from the day on social media with the caption: “Love. Wins.”