'Elated but anxious': Lancashire's Nikki Sanderson on finding out she's pregnant after years of trying

On Christmas Eve, Fleetwood born Nikki, best known for playing Candice Stow on Coronation Street (1995-2005) and Maxine Minniver on Hollyoaks (2012-2025), announced she was expecting her and partner Anthony Quinlan‘s first child.

The 41-year-old shared a video to Instagram of herself and Anthony, also 41, decorating their Christmas tree with a bauble embossed with a baby scan and the words “Baby Quinlan Arriving 2026!”

In the caption former Tottington High pupil Nikki also told her 481,000 followers: “Merry Christmas from the 3 of us 🎄Baby Quinlan due Spring 2026 ♥️#pregnancyannouncement#pregnancy#christmas#love#baby

In the comments, numerous famous faces offered their congratulations, including Ryan Thomas, Gemma Atkinson, Chelsee Healey and Helen Skelton.

Fellow Blackpool born actress Hayley Tamaddon also wrote: “ Awww congratulations 🥰❤️” whilst former Hollyoaks stars Steph Waring and Sophie Austin commented “Still crying!!!! So much love for you all ❤️❤️” and “This is amazing, so so happy for you ❤️❤️” respectively.

In a new interview with OK Magazine, Nikki has opened up about the mix of emotions she felt once she found out she was expecting, revealing it had come after a two-year struggle to conceive.

Nikki said: “I felt absolutely elated that we got this confirmation and that the baby was fine – the first time seeing the heartbeat on the scans was the most amazing, incredible feeling, but I also felt a lot of anxiety – just worrying that the baby was OK and if the journey for us was going to be OK. I was really excited and over the moon, but I also had a lot of worries.

“We’ve had a lot of ups and downs in our journey to becoming parents and it’s been really hard on us, but now, waiting for our beautiful baby to arrive, it’s just incredible. Every person trying to conceive has their own journey and, sadly, some are easier than others. But being where we are now makes all the ups and downs worth it.”

Partner Anthony, who is a fitness entrepreneur as well as a former Emmerdale and Hollyoaks star, added that there was also “a bit of shock”, explaining “because we’d had a few times where it wasn’t the result we wanted, it was like, ‘Is this for real?’

“We were kind of resigned to the fact that we may need assistance via IVF. We wanted this so much and we were just hoping, hoping, hoping.”

The shock factor was further heightened by the fact Nikki had no symptons, admitting: “Some people have nausea very early on and can have symptoms that give them a clue, but we didn’t have any of that. We were just carrying on with life. We even competed in a fitness competition together. It was literally only that I missed my period that made us do the test.”

During the interview, the soon to be parents confirmed that the baby would arrive in Spring and they do want to know the gender in advance.

A big gender reveal is however not on the cards with Nikki and Anthony, who have been togther for four years, preferring to keep the news private.

They also won’t settle on a name until the baby arrives - although that might be because the couple are finding it hard to choose!

Discussing how the pregnancy has gone so far, Nikki, who also revealed she had frozen her eggs early on in their relationship in case they could not conceive naturally, said it had been “pretty difficult” for the first 16 weeks due to nausea, exhaustion and even some bleeding.

She said: “I did have a lot of different things going on... [but] we’re getting to experience all the lovely sides of pregnancy now, which is just incredible.”

You can read more about Nikki’s pregnancy - including her birthing and breast feeding plans - here.