Joe Swash thinks baby will bring families together

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Joe Swash believes his new baby will "tie up" his and Stacey Solomon's families.

The former 'EastEnders' actor is expecting his first child with the 'Loose Women' star and he thinks the new addition will seal the bond the couple have with his son Harry, 11, and the presenter's two kids Zachary, 10, and Leighton, six.

He said: "We've both got children, two different lives going on sometimes so this child is going to tie up the family, my kid and yours are going to feel like part of a big family, it's such a lovely family,we look after them now and they can look after us later."

The couple announced their happy news on Instagram on Friday (22.02.19) and admitted they're relieved the secret is finally out.

Appearing together on 'Loose Women', Stacey said: "We felt it was important to keep it to ourselves until we felt really safe.

"We didn't find out until a certain point then we had to let our family and children know and then even though, you know, it's the right time but you think 'I do want it to be just us for a while longer'."

Joe added: "It's brilliant, I'm really chuffed, it's nice to have the secret out. We're so excited. We've had to keep undercover so its nice we can breathe a little bit and let people know."

However, the 37-year-old star admitted his 29-year-old girlfriend hadn't stuck to their pact not to tell people about her pregnancy at first.

He said: "She put down the ground rules really early about what I could say but I bumped into Alison Hammond and she fave me a hug and said 'Congratulations', so she's been telling everybody.

"I've told a few people that I know but I kept a secret a lot better."

Joe announced the news in a very lengthy post on his social media accounts, with Stacey simply retweeting his messages because "words weren't working" for her.

However, she admitted on the show: "I don't know what to do, it was a long time ago.

"I'm so elated and excited, we cant believe we've been privileged...I don't know what to say, Its such a massive thing, I still can't believe it's happening to us, I don't know what to say."