While acknowledging that concerns, fears and anxieties can cloud our enjoyment of impending motherhood, former Miss Ireland, Pamela Flood, insists it's important to focus your attention on the positives during this time.
Speaking to the Sunday Independent's Life Magazine, the stunning Tallaght-native says: "You’ll always find a thousand reasons not to have a baby, and ultimately there’s only one reason to have one, and that, to me, is that it’ll be the most amazing thing to ever happen in your life."
The former Off The Rails star, who is currently expecting her third child, opened up about her own experience of pregnancy and insisted that while having children had always been a life priority, circumstances dictated that she didn't have her first child until the age of 39.
Having met her husband at the age of 37, Pamela laid bare her feelings on the matter, recalling: "I made no secret that I definitely wanted it to happen in the next few years, and he wasn’t repulsed by the idea."
The 44-year-old, who is the proud mum of Harrison and Elsie with Ronan Ryan, acknowledges that her initial approach to motherhood had little grounding in reality, revealing: "I always thought, ‘I’ll have one when I’m ready.'"
With the benefit of hindsight, Pamela acknowledges that a woman may never feel properly ready, but they shouldn't let that deter them from starting a family.
"In an ideal world, it would be great to meet your partner in your late 20s and start your family in your early 30s. Peachy, but I didn’t," she remarked while reflecting on her own family situation.
Overjoyed at the prospect of welcoming a third child into their family, Pamela said at the time of her big announcement: "We were just talking about the kids and how they’re so great and we are so happy and Ronan looked at me and he said ‘I’d love another one’ and I said ‘so would I'."
We couldn't be happier for her.
