Chanelle Hayes has appeared on This Morning to talk candidly about how she feels about her body during pregnancy.
Fighting against the stereotype that insists all expectant mother should feel 'glowing' and 'embrace' their changing figures during pregnancy, Chanelle said she was feeling 'absolutely miserable' during her second pregnancy.
Already mum to son Blakely, Chanelle admits that she was already overweight and unhappy with her appearance when she learned she was expecting.
Speaking to hosts Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, she confided that she's been suffering from Hyperemesis Gravidarum, an extreme form of morning sickness which was resulting in her being sick up to 40 times per day. She even appeared a little worse for wear on the couch, admitting she felt 'terrible', with a sick bucket to hand.
'It is horrible, you just feel massive and huge,' she explained. 'Especially when I felt big anyway beforehand.'
'I've had really bad Hyperemesis, I've been on a drip in hospital, it's just been vile. I've felt really sorry for my son and partner [Ryan Oates, a PE teacher with whom she is expecting] because I haven't been able to be there physically.'
Standing up to bullies and trolls who have taunted her body online, Chanelle said that she wanted to talk about how she felt to show that the pressure for women to love being pregnant is unfair.
'I'm so, so grateful I could even have a baby, when I've got polycystic ovaries and was so overweight to begin with, but it is just a miserable, miserable time,' she said.
'I can't wait to meet the baby, but I don't want to be ashamed to say I've been miserable as well. And I know there's a lot of talk about postnatal depression, but it can make you feel terrible when you are pregnant as well. I've had to have so many more tests this time because I weigh so much more – [for] pre-eclampsia, blood monitoring, meeting with a consultant, rather than just midwives...'.
Today's episode flashed back to an appearance from earlier in the year, where Chanelle had spoken about wanting more kids, 'but not yet', because her extra weight was affecting her menstrual cycle.
As it turned out, she was actually pregnant at the time of the interview!
Acknowledging that she hadn't been able to lose the weight because of her surprise pregnancy, she said, 'The day after [that previous interview], I went on a fitness binge and I was throwing up at the same time, thinking, 'I don’t understand, my body obviously doesn’t want to be fit!'
'Obviously now I know it was morning sickness! I've got 62 days left [of the pregnancy] and I can't wait to go on power walks and get back down to a size 10.'
