Pregnant Amy Hart hits back at mum-shamers after they blasted her choice of birthing partner
AMY Hart has hit back at mum-shamers after they blasted her choice of birthing partner.
The Love Island star, 30, writes for Fabulous Magazine and opens up on her journey from freezing her eggs to the vicious trolling she’s faced online.
“Life has a funny way of taking you by surprise.
“In the space of less than two years, I’ve gone from freezing my eggs and getting ready to go it alone as a single mum, to meeting my boyfriend, unexpectedly falling pregnant and preparing to give birth any day now [Amy hadn’t given birth at the time of going to press].
“Even as I sit here today, just about ready to drop, I can barely believe it.
“Back in 2019, I went for a fertility MOT and was told that, at 27, I was heading for an early menopause, like my mum and nan who both went through it in their early 40s.
“I was single, but knew I wanted children in the future, so in March 2020 I started the process of freezing my eggs.
“I did four rounds of egg retrieval (two of which were unsuccessful).
“It cost me around £15,000, but I saw it as an insurance policy for my future.
“I had planned to use a sperm donor and have IVF if I didn’t meet anyone in the following few years, but in April 2021, Sam [Rason, 35, an entrepreneur] slid into my DMs on Instagram, and after just three dates, I knew he was The One.
“We were both looking for someone to settle down with, but we definitely weren’t planning a baby straight away.
“I was using an app that tracks your menstrual cycle and thought I was on top of my fertile and non-fertile days.
“However, last June I noticed my period was late, and although I didn’t think I could be pregnant, I told Sam I’d do a test to rule it out.
“The instructions said to wait three minutes, but the result came up as positive within about three seconds!
“We thought the test must be faulty, so we did another one, which gave the same result.
“We tried another brand of test to be absolutely sure and, of course, that confirmed it.
“We were shocked, but that quickly turned to excitement.
“Pregnancy happened sooner than we thought it would, however, we live together, we’re both doing well in our jobs and we feel ready.
“One thing I’ve noticed since publicly announcing my pregnancy is how much negativity there is from the ‘just you wait’ brigade.
“They comment on everything, including what I buy for the baby, our decision not to find out the sex, and even us doing NCT classes.
“We’ve loved the classes, but loads of people told me to not do it, saying stuff like: ‘It’s toxic, my [NCT] group didn’t bond,’ and all that kind of stuff.
“I also get questioned when we tell people my mum Sue is going to be in the room when I give birth.
“But it’s something Sam and I want, and what a gift for Mum to be present at the birth of her first grandchild.
“Sam’s my birthing partner and my mum’s the assistant!
“She’s very chilled about it and won’t be offended if we don’t need her after all, but she’s going to be a huge part of our baby’s life.
“Sam and I had quite similar upbringings, and we will draw on this when it comes to parenting.
“We’ll be firm but fair, and we want to teach our children about social responsibility and to be good humans.
“I’m looking forward to holidays together and doing things I did as a kid, like bowling and going on days out to the farm.
“I’m going to miss my bump, though. I’ve also loved having three hot chocolates with cream and marshmallows every day, without a second thought!
“I’ve never felt more liberated about my body – I’ve always been quite self-conscious of my tummy, so being able to wear tight dresses the whole time has been lovely.
“I’ve still got 12 eggs frozen, and if I don’t need them, I’ll donate them to someone who does.
“I’m open to adoption or fostering, too, and maybe once Sam and I are in our 40s, we’ll start that as a new phase of our family together.
“I’ve always said I don’t care what job I do, as long as I get to be a mum. I feel so lucky everything has fallen into place.”
- Amy is an ambassador for P&O Cruises (Pocruises.com).