‘My changing body is a struggle – trolls say I’m editing my pics,’ says Shaughna Phillips

2023-02-16

Love Island fan-favourite Shaughna Phillips announced her pregnancy with her first child with partner Billy in October 2022, sharing her excitement at embarking on the adventure of parenthood.

The 28 year old had come off the pill over the summer and fell pregnant just two months later, describing the moment she saw the positive test as an "out-of-body experience".

Since then, she's been dishing out all the brutal realities of being a soon-to-be-mother, talking about everything from her baby being in breech to her predictions on her unborn child's gender.

This week, Shaughna opens up dealing with sleepless nights and dizzy spells as well as the cruel comments trolls have left on her baby bump pictures, accusing her of Photoshop.

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

Toughest part of pregnancy

I genuinely can't imagine being any more pregnant than I am now, I don't understand how that would be possible. But I've still got weeks to go. I've been quite lucky during my pregnancy to be honest. My hormones are unruly during my period, so I thought it would be even worse during my pregnancy. But until today, it hasn't been too bad. Now, I feel more irritable. I've reached the toughest part of my pregnancy. I've been so up and down and can hardly catch my breath with my hormones.

I've completely lost my appetite. It could be because there's not much space left, the baby might be pressing on my stomach. And when I eat, I get full really easily. This, paired with my average wake-up time being 4am, might be the reason behind my dizzy spells these days too.

On top of this, every time I brush my teeth, I feel sick. Three days this week I've been sick while brushing my teeth – it takes me 30 minutes just to get through it all. It's a nightmare.

Changing body struggles and cruel trolls

The biggest struggle I've experienced throughout my pregnancy is dealing with my changing body. Physically, there are things I'm unable to do as easily as before, like going up and down a set of stairs.

And when you're a woman, it's frowned upon for you to get bigger unless it's confirmed you're pregnant. And as soon as you're not pregnant, you're expected to go back to being how you were before. You have to unlearn those things that were just taught from a very young age. That's very hard.

Even now, I still get comments on my pictures, accusing me of editing my body. Please point out where I've edited? I've got this huge belly, why would I edit it? It's very, very strange. I've never looked at my bump and thought, 'Oh, I need to edit this, edit that'. I've seen these comments on Molly-Mae Hague's posts from when she was pregnant, too.

That's definitely been the biggest thing I've had to overcome. I think just just getting used to all of the body changes and being okay with it has been a challenge.

Mother instincts kicking in

I was out with a friend this week and then saw pap photos of myself online. It's the second time I've been caught off guard, where I had no idea I was being pictured. Usually I'm photographed at events. It scared me a little because it happened in a 20 minute window and I had only decided where I was going minutes before parking. I started thinking maybe I was followed. People might say, 'Oh you signed up to this,' but that's ridiculous. Realistically, since Love Island three years ago, I've only been papped without my knowledge twice, so this isn't normal for me. It really knocked me.

Maybe it's my maternal instincts kicking in and with everything else going on, but that was scary. I got quite anxious about it all. Especially with the lack of sleep – it exacerbates everything.

Valentine's Day anxiety

I think Valentine's Day was also a bit anxiety-inducing. The whole of Instagram has all been about it. Billy and I were never really like that anyway, we probably wouldn't have done anything that day. But just the situation… Seeing the posts probably didn't help things.

I've always been more of a Pancake Day girl instead of Valentine's Day girl anyway.

Baby gender speculation

People think I'm having a baby girl based on the height of my bump. One person commented, 'I've never seen a bump so high,' and I literally wanted to call 999 and say 'Oh my god, someone just said this, what does that mean?'

I can't even explain to you how tough it is to not find out the gender now. I don't know whether it's because of the circumstances surrounding me at the moment, but I feel like I need something – that's why the temptation is so much higher. I still haven't found out though. The only reason I'm not is because I've got this far, I can't cave now.

Baby names

I've always been set on two names. I've had them in mind since the day I found out I was pregnant. Even though I don't know the gender, the names are set and ready. It would take a lot for me to change my mind now.

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