Jorgie Porter and fiancé Ollie Piotrowski have opened up about why they chose to name their firstborn child Forest.
The Hollyoaks star, who plays Theresa McQueen in the Channel 4 soap, welcomed her son on 29 November via an elective C-section.
She described her baby boy as “the most wonderful gift” after going through two miscarriages. The first occurred at 14 weeks in August 2021, and the second at six weeks in January this year.
Porter told Hello! magazine: “I keep looking at him thinking, ‘I can’t believe you’re here’.”
Property developer Piotrowski, 34, who is also a father to eight-year-old son Alfie, said Porter “took the lead” on the baby’s name.
He said: “We got down to two or three options, but we didn’t want him to have a similar name to anyone else in his class at school so we decided Forest was the one. I love the name.”
The couple announced they were expecting the baby in June in a video on Instagram which showed Porter, Piotrowski and their dog each moving their hands to unveil the sonogram photo.
Last year, the couple discovered during their 14-week scan that Porter had lost the quadruplets they had conceived naturally.
A second blow came earlier this year, when they learnt of their second miscarriage six weeks into the pregnancy – on the day of their engagement party.
Porter, who has also competed on Dancing On Ice and I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!, said Forest’s arrival was even more special given their history.
“After what happened, both of us held part of our emotions back during the pregnancy, just in case,” she said.
“People would say ‘Ooh! Next week, he’ll be here’ and we wanted to join in those conversations, but we were careful to not think too much about the future.”
The couple became engaged a year ago while holidaying at the Gleneagles Hotel in Perth and Kinross.
Porter said that Piotrowski sent her on a treasure hunt to find 12 photo clues documenting their love story. Each one had a handwritten memory on it and the final clue led her to a lakeside chalet, where he proposed.
The couple have not yet finalised any marriage plans, but said they are certain they’d like to have more children.
But they added: “When you’ve been through as much as we have, you don’t want to think, ‘We’ve got something perfect, let’s get more’.
“If something naturally happens, amazing. If not, we’ll remain so grateful for what we have.”
