Rebecca Adlington has announced that she is pregnant with her third child after opening up about her devastating miscarriages.
The BBC Sports presenter, 36, said she is ‘cautiously overjoyed’ as she shared the happy news on Instagram on Tuesday.
Rebecca, who shot to fame as an Olympic swimmer, posted a sweet black and white photo of her baby scan as she described it as a ‘small miracle’.
She wrote alongside it: ‘We want to share that we are expecting a child. It has been an emotional and physical roller coaster navigating these past 19 months of trying, but this pregnancy has been a small miracle.
‘We questioned whether we wanted to share this news but we want to continue to be open and honest about our journey and be mindful of the struggles that others have had and continue to have.
‘We are taking each day as it comes and are incredibly grateful for the care we are receiving from the NHS (Rainbow Team) and are feeling overwhelmingly supported by them.
Rebecca Adlington has announced that she is pregnant with her third child after opening up about her devastating miscarriages
The BBC Sports presenter, 36, said she is ‘caustionsly overjoyed’ as she shared the happy news on Instagram on Tuesday
‘While we are cautiously overjoyed, we carry awareness of the quiet struggles many face, and we send love to those hearts too. We know so many people are still waiting for this kind of news.’
The former competitive swimmer already shares son Albie, two, with husband Andy Parsons as well as daughter Summer, eight, from her previous marriage with ex-husband Harry Needs.
Fans and celebrity friends including Sam Quek and Holly Ramsay rushed to comment to congratulate the couple.
They wrote: ‘Beautiful news guys, Congratulations xx ❤️ Big love; A little brother or sister for Summer and Harper, sending you love xxx;
‘Aahhhhhh I’m so made up for you both ❤️. Sending all the love in the world; Awh I just gasped with joy! Big squeezy hugs all round’.
Last month, Rebecca opened up about the heart-wrenching reminder of her second miscarriage that left her ‘hating her body’ when she got home from hospital.
The TV star and husband Andy spoke to This Morning hosts Emma Willis, 49, and Craig Coyle, 54, about their two devastating miscarriages – in a bid to raise awareness and help anyone else who has suffered.
Rebecca had her first miscarriage at 12 weeks back in 2022, and was told that she had a molar pregnancy – so this resulted in her having emergency surgery.
Rebecca said: ‘We want to share that we are expecting a child. It has been an emotional and physical roller coaster navigating these past 19 months of trying, but this pregnancy has been a small miracle’
She wrote: ‘We questioned whether we wanted to share this news but we want to continue to be open and honest about our journey and be mindful of the struggles that others have had and continue to have’
Fans and celebrity friends including Sam Quek and Holly Ramsay rushed to comment to congratulate the couple
A molar pregnancy occurs when a lump of abnormal cells grows in the womb instead of a healthy foetus.
The following year she was told about her second miscarriage at her 20-week scan, and she had to give birth to her child – and she really struggled to look at herself afterwards because it looked like she was still expecting.
Speaking about her heartbreaking ordeal, Rebecca bravely told ITV viewers: ‘I was angry at my body, my body let me down, it didn’t give me that: “This is going wrong! Go get help!”
‘It didn’t tell me anything. I had no symptoms. That was really hard to get over, and afterwards as well, you still look pregnant.
‘That is very hard to deal with, the fact that you give birth, the baby isn’t alive, and then you go home, you have to look in the mirror as a woman and still look 20 weeks pregnant.
‘It’s incredibly hard. I hated my body, I fell out of love with my body, even though my human body delivered two healthy children, four Olympic gold medals and yet I just couldn’t understand why it had let me down now.
‘And the second time as well. It’s hard the second time around.’
During the interview, Andy gave the partner’s perspective, and he said: ‘well straight away my role was the supportive role, I was supporting Becky from the off, when it happened.
‘From there, all energy and thoughts are with Becky, its her body, her trauma, it’s her issue essentially with what’s happened.
The former competitive swimmer already shares son Albie, two, with husband Andy Parsons as well as daughter Summer, eight, from her previous marriage with ex-husband Harry Needs
Last month, Rebecca opened up about the heart-wrenching reminder of her second miscarriage that left her ‘hating her body’ when she got home from hospital
‘So when I realised that my main focus, I took a step back at times, went to work, realised that I couldn’t process it properly myself, I was struggling a lot myself..
‘We had petals, who were really fundamental in being able to talk about it going forward. Petals is a baby loss charity, so we ended up having couple’s counseling, which really helped
‘One hour a week on focusing on talking about the loss of Harper, so that was key.
‘There’s not enough support for the men in this situation, with regards to, they’ve also lost a child as well, but the focus rightly so is on the lady, there needs to be a focus on the man as well.’
Emma asked what the initial signs were that he knew he wasn’t coping.
‘I just started a new job before we had the miscarriage, two days before Becky had to give birth to Harper, I felt compelled to go into the new job, show my face, show I was being professional. I was good at my role, and quickly realised that I was dreading the conversation of someone asking me how I was because I knew I would break down.
‘I think I lasted five minutes on my first day and then went home, got sent straight home by my boss at the time. He was really supportive.’
