Smiling in the sunshine with her husband and their beloved cockapoo, Buddy, Laura Adlington excitedly holds up her scan pictures, announcing her pregnancy to her 473k Instagram followers. The wonderful news is extra-special for Laura and husband Matt, who have struggled with infertility for almost a decade and have now conceived via IVF.
‘Honestly, we feel like the luckiest people in the world,’ she smiles. ‘Finding out was the best day of my life. It still feels surreal now just talking about it, it’s a miracle. We are beyond grateful.’
Laura, 35, found fame as a contestant on The Great British Bake Off in 2020 and has since made a name for herself as a body confidence champion, sharing plus-size fashion and inclusive content online, including her popular series ‘Same Dress, Different Bodies’ with friend Lottie Drynan. The couple’s happy news comes nine years after first trying for a baby, and Laura admits their fertility struggles took her to a ‘very dark place’.
She explains, ‘After a couple of years of trying, we asked for some tests which came back with unexplained infertility. The NHS wouldn’t help us because my BMI was too high, and they said I’d need to lose 10 stone to qualify for IVF on the NHS, which just felt impossible. I got to a point where I thought, “If I can’t be a mum, I don’t want to be here.” I wasn’t suicidal, but I was in a very dark place.’
But she recalls that taking part in Bake Off changed everything, and says, ‘I was due to have bariatric surgery for weight loss, but then Bake Off happened and my life really changed. I found a real purpose and felt happy, so we parked the idea and came to a point of accepting we may never have children and could still live a great life. But then last year we’d just moved house and I said to Matt, “Maybe we should look into IVF? I feel like we should give it one last go.”’
Finding a private clinic who would treat Laura ended up being difficult due to her higher BMI, but eventually she found a fertility clinic in London and the couple began the process last spring.
‘I think, for me, the huge toll of IVF was the waiting,’ she explains. ‘Weirdly, I didn’t mind the scans and the injections, but the waiting was torture. I had counselling during it through the clinic which was helpful, and I remember my counsellor saying, “IVF will either make or break your relationship”, because it’s a financial burden and hugely emotional. I am lucky that it has strengthened us as a couple, Matt has been my rock and an amazing support.’
After one failed and one cancelled round, Laura finally had a successful embryo transfer at the beginning of this year.
She says, ‘I was so impatient so I took the test at four in the morning and there was a faint line. I came back into our bedroom smiling and Matt could see the line too. We just hugged and cried, it was really amazing.’
Laura and Matt hadn’t told their families that they were going through IVF, so revealing their news was extra special.
‘Matt calls it my Oscar speech,’ she laughs. ‘My whole family just erupted, my dad, my stepmum and my mum, she just wailed – I’ve never heard a noise like it, I thought she was going to have an asthma attack! It was really lovely.’
After a nerve-wracking six-week scan, Laura says she cried ‘happy tears of relief’. But the pregnancy has been difficult so far and Laura has struggled with severe sickness. She says, ‘I feel bad moaning about it because this baby is so wanted and so loved already and I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but it has been rough.’
They will find out the gender soon, too. ‘I’m a planner. Plus I’ve waited long enough so I want to find out as soon as I can,’ she laughs. ‘Part of me would love a little girl, but we just want the baby to be happy and healthy, so we really don’t mind.’
Having talked about trying to improve her relationship with her body over the years and finally getting to a place of body neutrality, Laura does admit that the changes pregnancy has brought have rocked her a little bit.
‘My boobs are sore and saggy,’ she smiles. ‘I feel like I’ve got a bit bigger and I have had wobbles, but my body is doing something miraculous and I’m going to stop picking myself apart and focus on being as healthy as I can and growing a baby.’
Having experienced the pain of infertility, sensitively Laura pre-warned her followers of her announcement, adding that she understood if people wanted to unfollow or mute her if they found the news painful.
‘I understand what it’s like,’ she says. ‘I’d see a pregnancy announcement and it would be like a punch in the stomach, especially as it seems to come so easily to some people. I’ve always been maternal and I felt like I was meant to be a mum. Jealousy is a real beast. Infertility changes you as a person, it made me very isolated and introverted.’
Due in the autumn, Laura says this Christmas will feel extra special.
‘She says, Anyone dealing with infertility will tell you that Christmas is hard because it’s so child-focused. And of course, our Christmases have been nice, we have an amazing family, but they have also been tinged with sadness that we don’t have a little one. So this year I’m really excited for Christmas and beyond that. I can’t wait to be a mum and I’m so ready for it.’