Emmerdale’s Michelle Hardwick celebrates with wife Kate Brooks at socially distanced baby shower

‘Counting down the weeks’: Emmerdale’s Michelle Hardwick and wife Kate Brooks celebrate at socially distanced baby shower ahead of the birth of their first child

Michelle Hardwick and her wife Kate Brooks celebrated the imminent arrival of their first child with a ‘mini baby shower’ over the weekend.

The Emmerdale actress, 44, who is due to give birth in October, showed off her bump as she cosied up to her wife of one year at the celebrations. 

Writing in the caption the excited mum-to-be gushed that the couple were ‘counting down the weeks’ until the birth.   

Not long now! Michelle Hardwick and her wife Kate Brooks celebrated the imminent arrival of their first child with a ‘mini baby shower’ over the weekend

Michelle, who plays Vanessa Woodfield on the ITV soap, looked gorgeous in a print dress as she captioned the snap: ‘Counting down the weeks #minibabyshower #sociallydistanced #mummiestobe.’

Proud Kate, who is a producer on Emmerdale, lovingly rested a hand on her wife’s bump while the pair both wore ‘mummy-to-be’ sashes. 

One of Michelle’s followers guessed that the blue sashes may signal what gender the couple’s baby is, but the actress soon corrected the fan, telling her: ‘We don’t know what we are having,’ and adding in response to a further query about the blue sashes: ‘They were white, must be the light.’

Celebrating: Writing in the caption the excited mum-to-be gushed that the couple were 'counting down the weeks' until the birth

Celebrating: Writing in the caption the excited mum-to-be gushed that the couple were ‘counting down the weeks’ until the birth

Earlier this month Michelle marked her one year anniversary with Kate by sharing a snap of her growing baby bump.

The Emmerdale star tied the knot with her TV producer other half in a lavish wedding reception at Graceland in Memphis.

The actress took to social media and shared a snap of herself showing off her bump with Kate smiling alongside her.

Couple: Earlier this month Michelle marked her one year anniversary with Kate by sharing a snap of her growing baby bump

Couple: Earlier this month Michelle marked her one year anniversary with Kate by sharing a snap of her growing baby bump

Michelle also shared a throwback snap of the couple on their wedding day as she described Kate as her ‘soulmate’.

She wrote: ‘What a difference a year makes! Happy 1st Wedding Anniversary to my soulmate, best friend and beautiful wife. 

‘Here’s to the next chapter Brooksy. We love you so much ❤️ #countingdowntheweeks’. 

In April, the soap star confirmed her pregnancy in a sweet announcement shared on Instagram, in which she debuted her growing bump. 

Nuptials: The Emmerdale star tied the knot with her TV producer other half in a lavish wedding reception at Graceland in Memphis

Nuptials: The Emmerdale star tied the knot with her TV producer other half in a lavish wedding reception at Graceland in Memphis

Taking to Instagram, Michelle shared a photo of her and Kate posing together with their dog Fred.

The photo was captioned: ‘Fred’s big brother duties commence in October #babybrooks.’

The soap star and Kate first went public with their relationship in October 2018 and announced their engagement just two months later in December that same year.

Post: The actress, who is due to give birth in October, took to social media and shared a snap of herself showing off her bump with Kate smiling alongside her

Post: The actress, who is due to give birth in October, took to social media and shared a snap of herself showing off her bump with Kate smiling alongside her

She wrote: 'What a difference a year makes! Happy 1st Wedding Anniversary to my soulmate, best friend and beautiful wife'

She wrote: ‘What a difference a year makes! Happy 1st Wedding Anniversary to my soulmate, best friend and beautiful wife’

Michelle confirmed the pair had wed on Instagram and told fans: ‘In over 100 degrees heat, on Tuesday 10th September, I became Mrs Brooks,’ adding the hashtags: ‘#graceland #chapelinthewoods #memphis #nextstopnashville.’ 

Michelle’s marriage to Kate is her second. She previously wed ex-wife Rosie Nicholl in 2015, after two years together.

They later announced they were divorcing in 2017.

At the time, Michelle had addressed her split with Rosie in interviews and admitted the former couple had ‘drifted apart.’

Mother-to-be: Michelle confirmed her pregnancy in April and has documented it on social media

Mother-to-be: Michelle confirmed her pregnancy in April and has documented it on social media