Jessie Wallace is to become a mother, prompting a plot-line challenge for Eastenders bosses in coming months. And OK! Magazine was there to exclusively capture the magical moment when the 32-year-old actress and her fiancé Dave Morgan, 28, first took a proper look at their scan pictures showing their unborn child, due in November.

Standing outside the upmarket Portland Hospital in central London, where the scan took place, the couple hugged and kissed tenderly as they beamed at the selection of scan pictures in their hands. At one point they reclined on a park bench where Jessie was unable to take her eyes off the images of her unborn baby, her first child. Wearing a pretty floral blue summer dress, denim jacket and black high heels, Jessie looked slim and barely showing any sign of a bump. She is 12 weeks pregnant, so still in the early days, but able to smile at last as the most fragile first few weeks of pregnancy are now behind her.

The delighted mum-to-be, who play feisty Kat Slater in Eastenders, told OK!: “Dave and I are very happy. I’m so excited – it’s something I’ve always wanted. It’s amazing to think by November I’ll have my own little person to look after.”

Although the scan took place at London’s exclusive Portland Hospital, Jessie is still thinking about where the birth will be. Friends say the happy couple are now busy preparing their home in Wanstead, East London, for the new arrival and thinking of names and colour schemes to use in the nursery.

Jessie told cast members of her pregnancy as soon as the scan pictures confirmed that everything was well and good with the baby.

Jessie’s pregnancy will provide her with a well-earned rest from the show, where she has been one of the main driving forces behind its continuing success in the ratings war. Since she joined the BBC1 show four years ago, Jessie has been involved in some of the meatiest storylines that have sent soap fans on a continuing emotional rollercoaster. The role has earned Jessie plenty of accolades for her acting talents. Last year she was voted Most Popular Actress at the National Television Awards and has scooped the Sexiest Soap Star award four times running.

The challenge of playing Kat Slater/Moon have seen Jessie revealed as Zoe’s mum – one of the most emotionally driven scenes ever in Eastenders. Then, last Christmas, 15 million viewers watched Kat wed loveable landlord Alfie Moon, played by Shane Richie, and now the pair are being hailed as the next Den and Angie at the Queen Vic. Their on-screen chemistry works so well because they are such good friends in real life and Jessie credits the popular actor for bringing a welcomed joie de vivre back to the set of Eastenders every day.

But life has not always been a bed of roses for Jessie. The pressures of working in one of Britain’s best soaps seemed to have sent the beauty over the edge for a time with reports of drunken nights out on the town and a tempestuous love life – followed at every turn by the tabloid press. Her bad girl image was reinforced when she was suspended from Eastenders for two months early last summer over her apparent wild behavior. There were also stories going around that she had slapped her co-star Hannah Waterman during a BBC party.

Jessie’s problems came to a head when she was arrested for drink-driving and her highly-paid job was on the line. But what could have been a disaster turned out to be one the best things that could of happened to her. A tall, handsome police officer assigned to protect Jessie during her court appearance last April and friendship with Dave Morgan, who has left the police force to return to the fire service, gradually turned to romance. At the end of last summer, the couple visited Graceland in Memphis where Dave proposed marriage and Jessie was thrilled to accept.

So now the future couldn’t look better for one of Britain’s brightest young talents. No doubt Jessie will spend plenty of time with her co-star Kacey Ainsworth, who plays her on-screen sister, Little Mo. Kacey is due to give birth to her first baby this month. What’s not in doubt is that Jessie will experience a stability in her life with the birth of her first baby that she has never experienced and one of the happiest moments of her life in now upon her.

We Got Filthy In The Shower

Soap star Jessie Wallace wept tears of joy after learning she had fallen pregnant on the most romantic night of the year- Valentine’s.
And she revealed it was getting sexy in the shower with fiancé Dave Morgan that brought the couple their unexpected surprise.
The Eastenders actress giggled: “We’re both thrilled, but the fact that it happened on Valentines Day makes it perfect.
That evening Dave bought me flowers then took me to the West End for a champagne dinner at the Marco Pierre White restaurant, Criterion. But really we couldn’t wait to get home and so we left for a celebration on our own-in the shower!

“Now we are expecting a baby and we couldn’t be happier. In fact, the only time in my life I've felt this good was when I landed my part in Eastenders.”
Jessie, who plays Britain’s best loved barmaid Kat Moon, announced she was three months pregnant earlier this week.
And already the actress has drawn up a list of possible names- including Wanstead where the shower romp happened.
As Jessie joked, if its good enough for the Beckhams and their son Brooklyn…
“We both like unusual names and although the baby’s surname will be Morgan, Dave wont get much of a look in about the first name because that's up to me,” said Jessie.

If it’s a girl she’ll be Iris and if it’s a boy, Elvis after my hero. But as we were at home in East London when I conceived, I'm considering Wanstead.”
Jessie's joy at becoming a mum is a far cry from the despair she felt only a year ago when her world appeared to be crumbling.
Eastenders bosses were growing concerned about her image as a hard-partying singleton, but more worryingly she found herself in court on a drink-drive rap, for which she got a three-year ban.

But then she met Dave, a copper with the Essex police force, and her world turned around. Jessie confessed: “This time last year things were not good for me. I was really on a downward spiral. I wish I could have looked ahead and seen how my life would turn out because ten I would never have got so depressed. But the truth is, when I met Dave it was a terrible time- I was in court for drink-driving which was such a stupid and irresponsible thing to do. But at least something good came out of it… him.”

Dave who joins the fire service in a few weeks, was assigned to protect Jessie during her court appearances, but he quickly found his mind on more than just her legal briefs.
Jessie laughed: “I never imagined Dave would fancy me, let alone end up being the father of my baby! But he took me under his wing and I've stayed there ever since.”

Romantic

Stroking her tiny bump, Jessie added: “Dave was my knight in shining armour then, and he is definitely the one now. I'm so happy I have to keep reminding myself because it seems too good to be true. I'm 33 this year and I thought id end up an old spinster smelling of cats!”

Within four months of their meeting, smitten Dave proposed and presented Jessie with a £14,000 engagement ring during a romantic break in New York. But following their productive Valentines Day encounter the couples wedding plans are on hold until Jessie gets her figure back.
“A few weeks later I had suspicions that I might be expecting, just like any woman would,” explains Jessie. “But I was too embarrassed to go to the chemist to buy a pregnancy test in case anyone recognised me. So Dave went.”

“As soon as we saw it was positive we were jumping around the living rom whooping! Then the news sank in and we cried with joy.

“I believe in fate and that things happen for a reason and I know Dace is the one for me so the timing couldn’t be better. We've been together a year and I'm at a place in my life where everything feels right.”
although Jessie and Dave could not wait to shout their news from the rooftops, in the beginning they told only close family. But as soon as she could, Jessie spilled the beans to on-screen hubby Shane Richie- who was over the Alfie Moon!

Shane has been singing Elvis songs to my bell,” Jessie laughed. “He was the first person on Eastenders that I told, so he's known for a while and he's been great. He's really been looking after me and he was so pleased for Dave as well.

Leslie Grantham, who plays dirty Den, has also been giving me plenty of advice- most importantly, he told me not to cross my legs because it would give me varicose veins.”

Jessie is currently in the thick of one of soaps most explosive storylines as Kat prepares to risk everything with Alfie- by sleeping with the man she jilted at the alter, gangster Andy. Racked with guilt, Kat reluctantly agrees to her ex’s £10,000 indecent proposal in order to get the man she loves out of debt.

So being at the centre of such a high profile plot, Jessie was naturally worried how Beeb bosses would take the news of a baby.

“I did have a little moments panic over what would happen with work,” she admitted. “I was worried about what they would say and the my timing might be off, but they’ve been great. They really have. We havn’t decided yet if a pregnancy storyline will be written into Eastenders, but it wont matter if its not. Kat is always standing behind the bar at the Queen Vic at the moment, so the bump will be easy to hide.”

Although a well-positioned bar counter might hide a bump, there were members of the Eastenders crew who couldn’t help but notice how blooming lovely Jessie was becoming as her ample C-cup breasts mysteriously ballooned to an E.

She further raised eyebrows by losing her appetite for wine and developing a taste for cheese, pickle and Guinness. “A couple of girls in the costume department had already noticed that I was putting on weight,” she said. “Then when I told them I was expecting, they admitted they’d guessed. Now they’re loving it and they’re busy buying loads of maternity clothes for Kat. Dave's also pretty thrilled that my boobs have grown so much!”

This week the couple celebrated further good news- a glowing report on the baby’s health following the all-important 12-week scan. Jessie explained: “Its every mothers worry that there could be something wrong with their baby, but so far everything is all right. We don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl, but we know its not twins. “We also got to see its little arms and legs and it looked like it was waving to us which was amazing. There were more tears then.”

Fantastic

Jessie added: “I haven’t felt the baby kick yet, that doesn’t come for a couple more months, but I am getting bigger out front- there again I've always had a bit of a belly.”

Jessie plans to give birth in November at the exclusive Portland Hospital in London, where stars such as Victoria Beckham and Liz Hurley had their babies. But unlike other celeb mums, the down-to-earth star says she is not too posh to push and wont be opting for a caesarean. “I am slightly scared, after all this is for the rest of my life, but hopefully ill be a good mum,” she said. “But I know Dave will be a fantastic dad because he's so caring and he gets gushy over other peoples babies. He's also been buying baby books and keeps reading bits out to me and telling me what I can and cannot eat. We’ll know by November I'm sure.”

And with so many well-wishes around we bet the Eastenders star cant wait for the baby shower- there again, Dave appears ot have given her one of those already!