Virgin Media’s Ciara Doherty admitted she felt relieved when she gave birth to a healthy baby girl, after contracting covid during her pregnancy last year.
The Tonight Show host is due to make her return to television screens this evening[Mon] for the first time in eight months, after welcoming her second daughter, Edie, with her husband Richard Stern, last May.
Opening up about her new arrival for the first time as her maternity leave has come to an end, the Donegal native, who is also mum to three-year-old Renee, told Irish Daily Mirror: “It’s been incredibly special, I have to say.”
“I really enjoyed every single minute of it, I have to say.
“I just spent months and months or certainly the first couple of months just sitting on the couch, holding her, feeding her, allowing her to sleep by me, absorbing every single minute that I could.
“Taking in all the newborn cuddles that were available to me because I know I suppose second time round, you really know how short this period is. How quickly time goes.
“I really just shut the front door and lived in a little bubble and switched off from the outside world.
“And absorbed the sort of the joy of life with a new baby all over again.”
Ciara previously told how she cried after testing positive for Covid at five months pregnant - admitting she felt guilty and was worried for her baby.
She also told of the guilt she felt when her husband and her then two-year-old daughter Renee also tested positive.
But having come out the other side of it, the barrister turned broadcaster described the relief she felt when her baby arrived healthy and well.
“I was so relieved that she was here and that she was safe.
“I was just so grateful that she was well, and that she had been unaffected by it [covid].”
Whilst covid restrictions meant only her husband could visit her for a few hours after the birth, she added: “You know, last time round, I had all of Richard’s family, my own parents, siblings, in to see me within the first 48 hours, whereas this time I was in for five days and saw nobody but Richard.
“But I didn’t mind because I sort of saw it as my own special time to just cocoon with Edie.
“I think I would find it a lot more difficult if it had been in my first experience of being in a hospital, being on a maternity ward, giving birth being, you know, in this room by yourself with a newborn.”
Ciara, 39, returns to ‘The Tonight Show’ tonight[Monday] from 10pm on Virgin Media One to present on alternate weeks alongside Claire Brock.
Each week one presenter will be hosting in the studio, joined by a panel of guests as the other presenter co-hosts live on location for everything from breaking news stories, special reports, and insightful interviews.
The new partnership marks a change from the original all male presenting team in Matt Cooper and Ivan Yates, to a now all female team in Ciara and Claire.
But as some have already commented on the significance of the change, Ciara says she’s looking forward to a time when two women anchoring a current affairs show won’t be news.
“I think it’s great to see two women anchoring a program like The Tonight Show and i’m looking forward to the point and time I suppose when two women anchoring a current affairs show isn’t newsworthy,” she said.
“I’ve always said that.
“I think it’s great to see, but I don’t think that the fact that it is two women should be noteworthy anymore.
“Hopefully we’ve moved beyond that. I think women in TV in current affairs in Ireland are dominating now.
“And I think it’s great to see, but it shouldn’t really matter.
“It’s about who’s good. And who’s able to do the job.”
The host, who previously made the move from Ireland AM to the late night current affairs show last year, went on: “I think a lot of the women that I would know in the media are looking forward to getting to the point where it’s no longer something that was commented on.”
Claire will be joining Ciara next week live from Brussels to co-host a series of special reports including the European Union’s response to the war.
And despite over a decade at the station, the new co-presenting gig will mark their first time working together. But Ciara said they have already sparked a friendship behind the scenes - and have even been sharing each other’s clothes.
She said: “I’ve never had an opportunity to work with Claire but I got to know her a bit last year before I went off on maternity leave, because she was obviously anchoring the eight o’clock news. I was in the evening.
“So our paths crossed quite frequently.
“We actually struck up a friendship. She very kindly lent her maternity clothes.
“Yeah, very practical things that happen when you work with other females.
“So working with her is something that I’m really looking forward to, because I see her as a real ally.
She went on: “Women in Virgin Media are very supportive of each other. I will honestly say that. There’s really camaraderie and support and friendship.”
Ciara left the show last year in a time of Covid crisis, and admits she could have never anticipated she would return to a whole new world of even more chaos, including war and inflation.
But after months of watching the news from the sidelines, the presenter says she’s itching to get stuck back in.
“Little did I think I would be walking back into work at a time of utter geopolitical crisis,” she said.
“I am looking forward to the opportunity to get behind the desk to get into the thick of it again, because it’s just such an important time.
‘The Tonight Show’ presented by Ciara Doherty and Claire Brock will air Monday to Thursday from 10pm on Virgin Media One and Virgin Media Player.
