Nineteen minutes into 2025, the first baby for more than 1,000 square miles was born at the Countess of Chester hospital.

Zara Parker-Lomax delivered her third baby on New Year's Day, with her "soulmate", Sam, and the "heart of the maternity unit" by her side.

However, the magical birth of her daughter followed a painful history of loss and grief. Zara's first baby, Eli, was stillborn at 25 weeks and two days.

Following the loss of her son, Zara turned to Chester Miscarriage Support Group, in a time when she desperately needed a judgement-free environment. The group provided further guidance when she became pregnant with her second child, and she struggled with the stigma of 'not enjoying' the pregnancy.

Theo turns six next month and is already stepping up to the role of big brother (Image via: Zara Parker-Lomax)

She explained the difficulty of pregnancy following infant loss, as she said: "You can't enjoy a pregnancy after losing a baby really, it's sort of tainted in a way.

"You know, you love those moments where you're in a scan because you can see that everything is fine. But then as soon as the scan is over, you're back to being petrified that something is going to happen."

In February 2019, Zara gave birth to her son, Theo.

Describing her fears surrounding the pregnancy, she said: "You kind of feel guilty in a sense when you're pregnant and not enjoying it. It had not been an easy road for me and Sam with our pregnancies.

"With Theo, I was petrified; you can't help but have that continuous worry until you hear that baby cry. We had loads of scans and the Countess was just amazing. "

The mother of three had Eli's teddy bear with her during her daughter's birth (Image via: Zara Parker-Lomax)

When Zara later discovered she was pregnant with her daughter, Amelia, she was offered extra scans whenever she wanted.

It was soon revealed, however, that she had pre-eclampsia, resurfacing old fears surrounding Eli's birth. Due to complications with her condition, she was brought in a week earlier for an induction.

In just over an hour, Zara had delivered her third baby into the world, in the first minutes of 2025.

Praising the staff, she said: "Because I was the only one down there at the time I basically got all of them. They were all in there; everyone was dead excited asking how they could help. I basically had all of their attention."

Zara added: "Seeing them come together as a team was just a beautiful thing to see. They all joined in, even when they didn't have to.

Zara delivered her third baby in just over an hour (Image via: Zara Parker-Lomax)

"There was a lot of love in that room. Angels don't just have wings, they wear nurse's uniforms. I had Eli's teddy with me, so I had his support too."

The new-mum described Eli as a "guardian angel" watching over the family, as she said: "I don't want Eli looking down and thinking that he has broken me.

"I think if you look at it too negatively, you just break as a person. You want to try and enjoy every moment as hard as it is.

"He was the one that made me a mum and I want him to be proud of me."