'It was my 34th birthday and the pain was so extreme that I was crying,' she recalls. 'I was supposed to be on a night shift that evening, but my doctor told me it might be ectopic and I should get to A&E immediately.'Thankfully for Claire, whose baby is due in August, it turned out to be a false alarm.
'I was relieved when we did the 12-week scan and discovered everything was all right,' she told Hello! magazine.
'I am relaxed now that we are well advanced with the pregnancy and I can feel our baby kicking, but I was quite anxious during the first trimester,' she added.
Now the former Casualty actress, who is married to TV producer Craig Woodrow, is enjoying her pregnancy.
'I absolutely love being pregnant,' she revealed. 'I haven’t been sick at all and I love my changing shape – I am going to miss having a bump when the baby is born. It is like a comforter to me.'
Claire is planning on returning to her role as Sergeant Rachel Weston in The Bill.
'Having a child doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your whole self,' she says. 'You shouldn’t feel you have to give up your dreams because you are a parent.
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