Rebecca Adlington has revealed she is pregnant with her third child after having a series of devastating miscarriages.
The BBC Sports presenter and former Olympic swimmer, 36, said she is “cautiously overjoyed” as she shared a sweet black and white photo of her baby scan on Instagram on Tuesday.
Adlington - who shares son Albie, two, with husband Andy Parsons and daughter Summer, 10, with ex-husband Harry Needs - called her pregnancy a “small miracle”.
“We want to share that we are expecting a child,” the double gold medallist wrote alongside the post.
“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.”
Adlington went on: “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.
“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.”
Adlington lost a baby at 12 weeks in 2022 and had her second miscarriage at 20 weeks a year later with their daughter Harper.
Last year, Adlington revealed she “couldn’t help blaming herself” when Harper was stillborn.
She said Harper’s death was “hard for me to accept” but added that the post-mortem showed there “was no reason” for her death and she had “come to terms with that somehow”.
Last month, her husband Parsons opened up about his devastation after their two miscarriages.
“I told myself I was OK but inside I was really struggling,” the 35-year-old told the Sunday Times.
He recalled his wife having an induced labour and stillbirth after they found out Harper no longer had a heartbeat.
“Instantly you just sink. I was so gutted but I wasn't bothered about my feelings. As a guy, you've got the easy job: the stress is all on the woman,” he said.
“So I was instantly into protection mode, comfort mode, just being there straight away for Becky.”
Afterwards, Parsons said he would cry on the train every day and struggled to process his emotions.
“I would just sit there on the train every morning, crying the whole way. I think we often don't know how to react and so we go into our shells,” he shared.
Parsons said he felt physically unable to express his grief until they began discussing the miscarriages during counselling.
Earlier this year, Adlington revealed she has been diagnosed with coeliac disease.
Coeliac disease - which affects about one in 100 people - is a common condition where the immune system attacks tissues when gluten found in wheat, barley and rye is eaten.
