Ali Bastian believes that reducing her work helped her get pregnant.
The 37-year-old actress is expecting her first child with husband David O’Mahoney and feels that taking a break after leaving ‘Doctors’ helped her conceive.
In an interview with OK! magazine, Ali – who made her final appearance as her character Becky Clarke in the BBC One medical soap at the start of November – said: "I’ve slowed down my schedule a lot lately. ‘Doctors’ has a long delay between filming and air date so I actually filmed my last episode before I fell pregnant.
"David and I knew we wanted to try for a baby and I had been working at such a pace. But once I slowed down, I fell pregnant pretty quickly. It was as if my body was crying out for a break."
Ali – who has also starred in ‘Hollyoaks’ and ‘The Bill’ – suffered a miscarriage on New Year’s Eve (31.12.19) last year and admits it took her some time to process her emotions before she could talk about the loss.
She said: "It did take me a little while to feel ready to talk about the loss. But once I did, I found so many other women and friends of mine had been through it. I’m really glad that people are feeling more and more that they can be honest about this subject.
"There’s a lot of discussion around the unwritten rule about only revealing your pregnancy once you reach a certain stage. But I feel that only protects other people if something goes wrong and not the women who have suffered the loss and need support the most."
Ali also admitted that her miscarriage has made her feel "anxious" during her pregnancy.
She explained: "I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel anxious and I particularly did in the first three months. What happened before definitely played on my mind.
"But David and I have celebrated every milestone we’ve reached. From the 12-week scan to the recent 20-week scan, every step has felt very important and special."
Ali Bastian: Leaving Doctors helped me get pregnant
