Chantelle Houghton and Alex Reid are expecting a baby

The former `Celebrity Big Brother` winner has announced she is 11 weeks pregnant and she and her fiance - the estranged husband of Katie Price - are thrilled with the news, because Chantelle had been told by doctors she would need IVF (in vitro fertilisation) to conceive.

She revealed: "I`m 11 weeks gone. I don`t know exactly when the baby was conceived. I can`t even believe I`m pregnant. I went to Orlando and went on loads of rollercoasters not knowing. I found out four weeks ago - it`s been so hard keeping it secret ? I definitely want to find out the sex, I can`t wait nine months!"

Just a few months earlier, Chantelle had been informed by medical experts that she was running out of eggs and had to conceive in the next three years if she wanted to become a mother.

The 28-year-old blonde had already started having fertility treatment and was just seven days from beginning IVF when she took a test on a gut feeling and received the happy news.

In an interview with OK! magazine, she explained: "We were a week away from starting IVF. The thought of conceiving naturally had gone out of my mind completely - I didn`t even think it was possible. I had my fertility injections in the fridge. Basically they stimulate your ovaries to produce more eggs ? They`d been pushed to the back of the fridge and they`d frozen, which ruined them. I went back to the clinic to get some replacements and there was a chemist - and I just went in and bought a pregnancy test. To this day, I don`t know why. It`s so, so weird. I went home and did it with my best friend ? I was expecting to see two words saying not pregnant and I just stared and stared at it, I couldn`t move."

Chantelle believes the baby is a "miracle" and she credits 36-year-old Alex`s positive mental attitude with helping them conceive.

She said: "I`ve bee seeing a private doctor and he said, `Well you`ve proved them wrong, haven`t you?` Me and Alex have spent thousands on private fertility treatment. We`ve had nearly £6,000 of tests done. Maybe it is really a miracle. Alex believes if you ask for things they will come."

sections: Celebrities