The Saturdays star Una Foden and her rugby player husband Ben have introduced their new baby son, Tadhg, in an exclusive interview and photoshoot with HELLO! magazine. And they say the birth of Tadhg helped Ben get over the trauma of experiencing a serious knee injury. Facing the prospect of an operation on his ruptured cruciate ligament the same week that Una was due – which would take him out of the game for months – he found solace in being able to spend quality time with the new baby.
Una and Ben's adorable little boy makes his debut in the new edition of HELLO! alongside big sister Aoife
"The lead up to the birth was so hard because at one point it looked like Ben was going in for surgery the week that I was due," Una told the magazine. Ben added: "We had visions of me lying on the operating table in one theatre and Una being next door." "I was heartbroken for Ben," Una adds. "And a lot of tears were shed but we work as a team and the upside is that he's been able to spend so much time with Tadhg."
The couple explain their name choice in the interview accompanying the gorgeous pictures
Ben also reveals in the interview that he cut his new son's umbilical cord immediately after he was born. "The second he was out, I abandoned poor Una and all my focus switched to Tadhg," he explained. "I did my own check on him and cut the cord, as I had done with Aoife. Again, that was an incredible experience. I held him for a while, then lifted him onto Una for that amazing skin-to-skin contact." And the couple also explain their reasoning behind choosing a traditional Irish name like Tadhg – pronounced Tai-g. "We were going over names for ages and I'd suggested Ty, which I really liked, when Una said, 'There's an Irish name that's very similar," Ben said. "As soon as she said it, I thought, 'That’s cool.' With Una being Irish and Aoife having a traditional Irish name, it seemed fitting." Una added: "Tadhg is quite common in Ireland so when people go on about how hard it is to match the pronunciation with the spelling, I say 'Just think, every time you say it, you're learning a new language and culture because you’re speaking a bit of Gaelic." To read more of the interview with Una and Ben, pick up the latest issue of HELLO!
