Coronation Street stars celebrate pregnant Nikki Sanderson at star-studded baby shower
It was a full scale reunion at soap legends, Nikki Sanderson and Anthony Quinlan’s baby shower, as the former Hollyoaks, Coronation Street and Emmerdale icons celebrated the impending birth of their baby boy.
The glowing couple announced that they were expecting their first child together back in December in a gorgeous, festive-themed Instagram clip.
Earlier this month, they shared with their followers that they were expecting a boy, in another expertly produced social media video.
‘Anthony and I always said that we didn’t mind what we were having as long as our baby is healthy’, Nikki told Closer at the time.
‘There was no, “I’d love this or that” – we were just over the moon, but subconsciously, I always felt like I was going to be a boy mum and my family said the same.
‘Whenever I thought about motherhood, I just kept envisioning a baby boy in my arms. Anthony’s thrilled because he’s going to have a mini Manchester United sidekick!’
Former Coronation Street co-stars Jane Danson and Samia Longchambon, who play Leanne Battersby and Maria Connor respectively, were in attendance for the celebration, making full use of photobooth and props.
Nikki, in a theme-appropriate blue dress, glowed alongside Anthony as they also took some brilliant snaps at the event.
With the event taking place the day before Mother’s Day, Nikki was sure to grab a snap with her own mum, Jude, too, sharing it the day after, with the caption: ‘Happy Mother’s Day to the bestest Mummy in the whole wide world!
‘If I can be even half the Mother you have been to James and I then I will know I’ve done something right’.
Both Nikki and Anthony have been very open about the difficulties they faced in their bid to conceive.
‘We’ve had a lot of ups and downs in our journey to becoming parents, and it’s been really hard on us,’ Nikki shared. ‘You try to stay positive, but there are moments where it feels overwhelming.’
‘I froze my eggs in my late thirties with Anthony’s full support, just in case we faced any complications later down the line,’ Nikki previously told OK!.
‘When it wasn’t going the way we’d hoped, we spoke to the doctors about IVF. We had tests to see if there was a problem, but both of us were fit, healthy and had everything in working order.
‘Because we’d had a few times where it wasn’t the result we wanted, it was like, “Is this for real?”
‘We were on the list to have IVF and were patiently waiting for our turn, but by some wonderful miracle and blessing, we fell pregnant naturally! Even when we found out, it took a while for it to sink in. Anthony and I were just at a loss for words because we weren’t expecting it.’
Nikki has been keeping fans on the ‘gram updated on her pregnancy journey, with up-to-date with her pregnancy, with some sleuthy fans using them to work out her due date.
As she showed different shots of her growing bump, the final clip revealed that she was ‘a little over 28 weeks’, revealing that, from the time of posting, her bundle of joy will be due in May.