Love Island’s Shaughna Phillips: ‘I massively regret not finding out baby’s gender’

2023-02-23

Pregnant Love Island star Shaughna Phillips is eagerly anticipating the birth of her first child, after announcing she was expecting a baby in October 2022.

The 28 year old fell pregnant just two months after coming off the pill last summer, and described the moment she saw the positive test as an "out-of-body experience".

Shaughna, who is just weeks away from her due date, hasn't held back when it comes to detailing her experience of pregnancy, as she prepares to become a mum for the very first time, as she's opened up on struggling with her changing body and finding out that her baby is in breech.

This week, Shaughna dishes on everything from the urge to find out her unborn child's gender so late into her pregnancy, to morning cravings for a very non-morning food, living with her mum when she brings her baby home, and "rolling with the punches" following a tumultuous few weeks.

In her exclusive OK! column, Shaughna gives fans and mothers-to-be her first hand, unfiltered experience…

I regret not finding out my baby's gender

That incentive to push when giving birth was one of the deciding factors in not finding out the baby's gender – so many people have said to me it helps not knowing! But I've also had so many people telling me "you're definitely having a girl" or "definitely having a boy". My mind changes every day about what I am having, so now I don't really have any expectations.

I'm not sure I made the right choice by deciding not to find out the gender. It's not that it's stopped me connecting to the baby, but I definitely think if I knew what they are, it would feel a lot more personal. I would prefer to be able to say "my daughter" or "my son". At the moment, I still refer to the baby as 'it' or sometimes 'he', just by default.

I'm going to a scan on my own for the first time soon – and I am tempted to find out the gender and not tell anyone! I'm going to wait until I'm laying down on the bed to decide if I want to ask. I've only got a few weeks left so I could keep it a secret… Everyone in my family – including my own mum! – have threatened to disown me if I find out now, but I feel like, for my own soul, I need to know.

Pregnancy cravings are mad – I wanted a curry at 10am

I've not had a particular pregnancy craving but I get random urges for certain foods. The other day, at 10 o'clock in the morning, I just had this crazy craving for a chicken korma – I couldn't think of anything else. I even went on Deliveroo but nowhere was open, so I had to breathe through it and get over the urge.

Then the day after I wanted tacos, and the day after that, I thought I was going to kill someone if I didn't get guacamole! I needed guacamole and was prepared to just eat it off of a spoon. Tropicana orange juice is another one and I can drink a carton by lunch time.

I'm a planner by nature but learning to just let things go

I'm a planner and like to know how I'm doing things and that I'm going to be good at doing them. So it's hard to get my head around knowing that I'm going to have to just let things go how they're going to go when I go into labour.

You can have a birth plan, and it can literally go out the window within 10 minutes, because something else could happen. Ultimately, I actually don't care how this baby comes out, as long as it comes out healthy and as safely as possible.

I've rolled with the punches in life when things happen. I used to be very dramatic but I think life situations have just taught me to not sweat the small stuff.

I can't wait to see my mum bond with the baby

I'm living with my mum at the moment, as my house is waiting to get renovated. We got planning permission, but then I got pregnant, so now the baby has kind of put that on hold. But I'm very comfortable at my mum's house, so I don't mind.

Even if I wasn't living there and if I was living at my own house, I would want my mum to be there when the baby comes home anyway – she probably would have moved in for a few weeks!

It will be nice living with her and my younger brother when I bring the baby home, so I'm definitely not going to be on my own. I'm excited to watch my mum with the baby. I feel like it's going to be a whole whole new experience for us.

READ MORE

To read the very best of today’s OK! content from breaking news to Royals and TV – CLICK HERE
Jude Law, 50, 'becomes dad for seventh time' as star and wife are seen with newborn baby
Kerry Katona sparks heated debate after revealing how often she changes her bed sheets
Win a personalised Love Island bundle to celebrate the brand new series
For all your daily celebrity news and gossip, sign up to OK!’s newsletter – CLICK HERE

Source: Read Full Article