TEARS OF JOY! SHORTY STAR KERRY-LEE'S BABY SURPRISE

The actress and her fiancé Jono introduce the gorgeous little girl who's brought them closer

Boy or girl? It's the question on so many new mums' lips when they welcome a child, but former Shortland Street star Kerry-Lee Dewing and her fiancé Jono Bayer were so spellbound by bringing new life into the world that the baby's sex didn't cross their minds!

When gorgeous Andie Lee Bayer, weighing three kilos, was handed to the Australian-based actress, she was simply besotted by the little cutie.

"We forgot to ask the gender," laughs Kerry-Lee, speaking to Woman's Day from Sydney after putting Andie, now seven months, down for a nap. "It's such a surreal moment that we were just speechless, overcome with emotion and so captivated by finally seeing, in the flesh, this perfect tiny human we'd been fantasising about. Then they said, 'Do you want to know what you had?' and we were like, 'Oh, yeah, yes please!'

"We were gobsmacked when they said she was a girl because we were convinced it was a boy, but I always thought Jono would make a great girl dad."

Kerry-Lee, who turns 35 this week, adds that the couple would have been thrilled either way and she was simply grateful to have a healthy bubba. She's also thankful to have had a smooth pregnancy and speedy three-hour labour.

Erring on the side of caution, the South African-born star - who portrayed Shorty nurseturned-serial killer Kylie Brown for eight years before moving to Australia in 2020 - was induced after a 40-week scan showed Andie's stomach growth had suddenly slowed, indicating a potential placenta issue.

"She probably would have been fine, but you never know for sure and there's no benefit in risking it at that stage, so hearing the placenta, her nutrient source, may not have been functioning as well as it previously was, we decided to get the ball rolling," recalls the actress, who also works as a commercial leasing agent. "I'd reached full-term, so we wanted to be safe and get the baby out."