Reality TV royalty, Olivia and Alex Bowen, are expecting their second child and revealed the gender of their baby today on Loose Women.
In a candid video, the couple shared the exciting news back in February on Instagram, writing: “A moment, a love – baby no. 2 – we’re waiting for you.” Having already had their first child together, Abel Bowen, the Love Island stars are ready to welcome their second addition to the family. However, what the world didn’t know was that the TV power couple had suffered a loss during the pregnancy, with Olivia initially carrying twins. The 31-year-old shared her story of loss in an interview with Fabulous, and when unveiling her magazine cover, took to Instagram to write her own words.
She said: “I couldn’t wrap my head around the happiness & joy I felt for having one safe, healthy baby – I know how fortunate we are for that – but at the exact same time, feeling the excruciating pain & trauma of losing their twin. It’s like the two couldn’t co-exist.”
Today, now further along in her pregnancy, Olivia, along with her husband Alex, 33, made an appearance on ITV’s Loose Women to share more. In an Instagram story Olivia teased: “We will be on @loosewomen with the beautiful ladies today raising awareness for vanishing twin syndrome & remembering our beautiful sunset baby, and we will also be making a very BIG announcement.” On the show they revealed that they are expecting a baby girl.
Loose Women host Christine Lampard explained that the two had decided to go for an early scan at 6 weeks because Olivia shared that she's "quite an anxious person anyway" but couldn't wait to learn more about her pregnancy. It was at the six-week scan that she and Alex discovered for the first time that they were pregnant with twins.
She told the panel that "as soon as I sat down, I could see two babies, not one... we were floored by that." Along with the news came some nerves, but Alex remained the positive one, and the two began planning their life as a soon-to-be family of five.
Two weeks later, at their eight-week scan, the reality TV stars received the worst news – vanishing twin syndrome. Olivia said: One of the babies just didn't have a heartbeat. … I had no pain, no bleeding, and nothing telling me what I was about to walk into," they also added that this was not something they were informed of at the earlier scan."
She lovingly shared that with this syndrome, it's common to call the baby you lost a sunset baby and the other surviving twin your sunrise baby, adding that she doesn't think "I'll ever look at the sunset in the same way again.”
Despite their loss, the two are still celebrating their healthy baby and went on to reveal the gender in a sweet home-made video. The video shows the three of them, Alex, Olivia and Abel, opening a box with a teddy bear. "It's a girl," Alex shouts, and the three of them share an intimate and emotional moment together.
The couple will continue to raise awareness about vanishing twin syndrome, telling the panel that they're lucky to have experienced that initial feeling in the first place. Joining them on the panel were Jane Moore, Frankie Bridge, and Penny Lancaster. It was noted by the hosts that if they had chosen to wait until the 12-week scan, they may have never known about their twin baby at all.
