ITV This Morning's Ben Shephard announces baby joy live on air

Ben Shephard joyfully kicked off Monday's edition of This Morning with a delightful baby announcement. Alongside co-host Cat Deeley, Ben extended warm congratulations to their colleague Sian Welby on the arrival of her newborn daughter, Ruby, last week.

Opening the show, Ben said: "Welcome to your first This Morning of the week, the music is playing because we are feeling baby love this Monday."

Cat playfully interjected: "We are, you can almost smell them," prompting Ben to add: "The good bits, not the bad bits. We are kicking off the show with very wonderfully happy news. We have a new addition to add to This Morning."

Cat excitedly shared: "Yes, lovely Sian Welby has given birth to a beautiful baby girl. Her name is Ruby and she is absolutely gorgeous. Both mum and baby are doing well and Sian is kindly taking her very few precious spare moments to let us know how she is doing."

When Sian joined via video link, Ben and Cat inquired about her wellbeing. Sian responded: "You know what? Yes, I'm tired, I'm delirious, but it is the best thing I have ever done. And I'm just absolutely over the moon, I'm in love, I'm loving every second despite you know it being absolute carnage at times," reports the Express.

Ben then asked Sian about her feelings upon holding her baby for the first time: "There is a big buildup and obviously, you're pregnant for a very long time and understanding what it's going to be like to hold your baby. What was that moment like?"

The ex-Capital radio presenter responded: "Oh, you can't believe that you're meeting them. Jake was filming me at the time when I held her and I said, 'I can't believe I'm meeting you, it feels like a dream'. And it did. It was just... I think the first thing I said to her was like, 'Ruby, it's me'.

"You feel like you've been chatting to them and getting to know them for so long like you say you've had nine months of getting to know this bump, and then when you finally see their little face and the character and the person, you know it's really real."

Cat proceeded to highlight it wasn't exactly "plain-sailing" for the television star, as she "had to go with the flow for a bit."

Elaborating, Sian expressed: "Well of course, and that is where you know we have the most incredible NHS and they just look after you and I just said, 'I will do whatever is the safest delivery for this baby, I just want what's best for them'.

"I initially planned to have a water birth because obviously, you can try and plan what you're going to have but ultimately it comes down to what's the safest way.

"And in the end, I did actually have an emergency C-section. But I felt so safe, I was in amazing hands, and the midwives are just incredible."