Gemma Atkinson has shared the reality of the last three weeks of her maternity leave as she patiently awaits the arrival of her second child. The Hits Radio host and her Strictly Come Dancing star fiance Gorka Marquez announced in January that they were expanding their brood.
The couple, who met on BBC One hit Strictly when Gemma was a contestant in 2017 before love blossomed on the tour at the start of 2018, confirmed at the time they were expecting a baby boy this summer after welcoming their first child, daughter Mia, back in July 2019.
Taking to Instagram on Tuesday (July 11), Bury-born Gemma confirmed that she is now 40 weeks into her pregnancy. The mum-of-two-to-be could be seen popping out for some fuel as she was pictured outside a 'to go' cafe hatch. Her blossomed baby bump could be seen as she smiled for the camera while sporting some dark joggers and a black tee under a pink fleece jacket.
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"Still standing, still eating cake. Little man still lovely and comfy #40weeks," Gemma captioned the post to her 1.8 million followers while also adding the Elton John track 'I'm Still Standing'.
The comments section was soon flooded with comments as fans assessed the size, shape, and height of Gemma's bump which led to her speaking in a video posted to her Instagram Story about why she hasn't been keen on sharing 'bump pics'. Talking to the camera, she said: "I've not posted a lot of bump pictures because when I do I get inundated with messages from people being dead concerned.
"I know it comes from a lovely place but I've had, 'Oh my God,m you're too high. He's not coming for ages. There's no way the head can be down. Is he definitely not breach? Is he OK?' He's fine," Gemma laughed.
The former Hollyoaks and Emmerdale star continued: "The last four weeks I've had checkups weekly and he's been in the same place. He can't get any lower without coming out. He's on the lift, he's perfect where he needs to be. I've had tow sessions with the chiropractor... She's physically felt his head so yeah, everything's good.
"My placenta is also up high at the front. It was the same position with Mia. It's just where my placenta is. Again, it's common... That makes a difference. But yeah, he's good. He's cooking away and whenever he's ready, he'll make this entrance into this world."
Gemma then followed up her video to give an insight into how the last few weeks of her maternity leave haven't quite been the relaxing, nesting experience those who are pregnant would hope for. "You know how they say stress doesn't help, I don't get stressed I don't think. I try not to but three weeks ago, Ollie [one of the family's dogs] jumped out of my mum's [car] boot.
"We thought he'd fractured his foot and he was put to sleep to have an x-ray. Last time he was put to sleep he reacted really badly to the anaesthetic and they had to breathe for him. That happened again. He's not broken his foot but he did react bad to the anaesthetic so that was a worry.
"The week after, she's totally fine now, but we had to have an ambulance out at one in the morning for Mia because she had a weird breathing thing. She's fine now so won't bore you with it and today, Norman was in the vets and he's trialling gabapentin for a month because he's reacting badly to his librela."
Gemma then typed alongside the video to her more than 1.8 million followers: "TO give you a small insight of my peaceful maternity leave this last 3 weeks." In another post of Mia smiling with a thoughtful gift from their cleaner, the mum-of-two-to-be added: "But hey, we crack on! And the face @classycleaner1 left Mia food and a game on her bed has made her night. I'ts the little things ain't it."
