Rochelle Humes felt like a "real mum" when she had her third child during lockdown.
The former Saturdays singer - who has Alaia-Mai, nine, Valentina, five, and Blake, 21 months, with husband Marvin Humes - was grateful for the COVID-19 restrictions that were in place during her pregnancy and after her son was born because she didn't have to work and could "soak up" every moment with her baby.
She said: “The third time I was in lockdown.
“But for me, I actually, the sort of wheels fell off the world and it was the first time that I could go well, I can't go to work anyway, and nor can anyone. So I was actually like, I was enjoying.
“And that's when Blake was born was in October, so I actually had that time to just, oh, and it was so nice. I was like this is what I missed out on with the first two, that I sort of didn't soak up and I literally like drunk up every last drop of that baby bubble.
“Yeah, really this time I really you know, I kind of felt like a real mum.”
When she and Marvin are working, the 33-year-old star relies on help from her mum because she found having a nanny to be "really awkward" as she "couldn't deal" with someone caring for her kids when she was around too.
Speaking to Zoe Hardman and Georgia Dayton on 'Made By Mammas: The Podcast', she said: “So, my support network is my mum. Basically, she retired from work and I'm sure she probably thought she was about to sail off into the sunset and chill out.
"But I had a nanny before and it just didn't work for me. I didn't like it, I just didn't gel with it. I tried and I just found it really... my week doesn't look the same from one week to the next, and I sort of had to have a nanny on a retainer so that I'm like okay, I need you this amount this week and then the next week, I might not.
"But then if she was working and then we were home when I was off, I'd be like, well, what are you doing here, because this is really awkward. We're both trying to do the same thing. And I just found it like, yeah, I just, I just couldn't deal with it at all.
"“And so I kind of just felt like, I had a bit of a bad experience with like, trust issues and stuff in a previous nanny role before.
"So, it just didn't work with me and working like I'm realistic, I know that it takes a village, I'm busy. And you know, I work and so does my husband. So we need help.
"It's physically impossible that it's just us two. But I just feel a lot more comfortable that it's someone that knows and loves my kids in the way that I do.”
Listen to Rochelle speaking on 'Made By Mammas: The Podcast' on Tuesday (12.07.22).
