'Emmerdale' star Anna Nightingale welcomes second daughter

Emmerdale star Anna Nightingale has announced the birth of her second child.

The actor, who already shares daughter Autumn with partner Daren Dixon, revealed in an Instagram post on Monday that the family welcomed their second daughter at the beginning of the month.

"The wait is finally over, hello bubba," she shared. "Just in time for Christmas out little pudding has arrived safe and well.

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"The four of us are home and in our cosy bubble of sleepless nights and endless cuddles.

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Revealing her daughter's name, Nightingale added: "Ava Noelle born Wednesday 1st December."

She accompanied the news with a snap of the infant's tiny hand clasping a finger.

The mother-of-two announced her pregnancy in Ok! Magazine earlier this year, explaining how it felt like the right time for her family to grow.

"After everything we've been through over the past year with the pandemic, it just sort of feels like divine timing to be pregnant," she told the publication.

"I'm honestly just super grateful and it feels like the best time for us as a family."

Nightingale starred as Andrea Tate on Emmerdale for two years before the character was killed off in October as a victim of serial killer Meena Jutla (Paige Sandhu).

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She's also starred in BBC dramas Doctors and Casualty and had roles in series such as Misfits and My Mad Fat Diary.