EastEnders star Kellie Bright has warned fans that IVF isn't "magic" as she discussed her journey to getting pregnant.
Kellie, 44, is expecting her third child with husband Paul Stocker after a "roller coaster" IVF journey.
The soap star and her actor husband Paul decided to try for another baby after Kellie froze three embryos during her IVF journey to conceive their second child Gene, four.
Actress Kellie, who also said she thought she wasn't pregnant after discovering she had bled, and Paul also share son Freddy, nine, together.
© OK! MAGAZINE/DAVID CUMMINGSPregnant EastEnders star Kellie Bright has warned that IVF isn't
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Now, as she announced her pregnancy news in an exclusive interview with OK! magazine, Kellie has warned her fans that her IVF journey was no easy feat.
When asked if she would have stopped trying for more children if Gene was conceived naturally, Kellie explained: "I think so, yes. But I knew when we had those frozen embryos, we had to give it a go. My friend said I'm a trailblazer! But I'm not.
"Plus, I'm using a far younger egg. It was frozen when I was 39, so I'm a 44-year-old vessel for that egg.
"My risks would've been much higher if I'd had IVF from scratch now.
© Karwai Tang/WireImageKellie Bright is expecting her third child after using the leftover frozen eggs from her IVF journey with her second child Gene
© 2019 Getty ImagesKellie Bright plays Linda Carter on the BBC soap, who is married to Danny Dyer's character Mick Carter
"I don't want women seeing people like me having babies in my forties and thinking, 'Oh, if they can do it, I have loads of time!' It might be OK... but it might not.
"I hate the term 'geriatric mother' for pregnancies over 35 but there's a reason for the label. I don't want to be seen as a woman with a magic womb."
The actress, who plays Linda Carter on the BBC soap, had two embryos implanted before she fell pregnant with the third.
She revealed: "The first two embryos didn't work. So this baby inside me now was the last one we had - the last chance of a pregnancy, because at 44 we were not going through IVF again.
© GettyKellie Bright revealed her first two embryos
"I believe it was meant to be. But those three months, between September and November, were a real roller-coaster."
Kelly also admitted that she began to panic when the second embryo didn't attach.
Reliving the moment, she said: "After the first one, I was philosophical. After the second one, I started to panic.
"And with the third one, I didn't think that had worked either because I had a bleed two days before I was due to take the pregnancy test. It was significant enough for me to be in floods of tears with my husband cradling me."