OUR BABY MIRACLE
The glowing ‘Sunrise’ presenter reveals falling pregnant didn’t go exactly as planned
Sunrise favourite Edwina Bartholomew shares her joy
Munching on a brownie, Edwina Bartholomew sits cross-legged cradling her growing baby bump. The picture of pregnant perfection, the 35-year-old Sunrise star – who will take six months maternity leave – is bubbling with excitement. However, the much-loved presenter doesn’t want to give a false impression. This hasn’t come easy. While Edwina is now four months pregnant, and due in December, she reveals to WHO that she and husband Neil Varcoe didn’t fall pregnant straight away. “For many years, as a woman, you try so hard to not get pregnant,” she tells WHO. “When you finally get to trying to get pregnant, there’s all these logistics you have to work out, like timing and it’s only really two, three days a month [you can fall pregnant]. It completely sapped the romance out of getting pregnant. But you know, I’m 35 – time’s ticking!”
Bartholomew and Varcoe tied the knot in April last year and were forced to announce the pregnancy after she started showing early. “Due to my carb bloating it became quite clear quite early on that I was having a baby,” she says. “So, we had to announce it bang on 12 weeks because we have some savvy, keen-eyed viewers who could tell I was pregnant!”
Did you struggle to fall pregnant? Thankfully, for us, we were able to conceive naturally. We were probably trying for six months before we got pregnant. We went to see my doctor and I made my husband go to get [his fertility] tested on Valentine’s Day, and I did the same thing.
So romantic!
So romantic. I gave him a card, too – I felt like it eased the pain! We had all the fertility tests and I did have a test that showed I had a genetic predisposition to low fertility. That was always in the back of my mind, we might have an issue. I think, because I’ve worked crazy hours and shift work for 15 years, it was also about making sure my body was prepared for a baby. I went to a naturopath and took lots of herbs and vitamins, got lots of acupuncture, started exercising a lot more, and got my body into really great shape. I also did a meditation course. I felt all of that helped.
Was it tricky balancing work in the public eye with trying to start a family in secret? My boss was really good. I said to him at one point, “I’m really struggling and I feel like I’m hitting my head up against the wall. I can’t convince my body it’s OK, that I’m ready.” So, he gave me three weeks off, without knowing I was pregnant when I went on that leave. But I think three weeks off really just let everything stick and cemented that and allowed my body to rest, and to let nature take its course.
A lot of women in TV worry that leaving to have a baby will set them back in their careers. Was that a concern for you?
I’m very lucky – the job I have, our lives are so much a part of it. Neil and I getting married was part of our story and hopefully us having kids is part of our story. You know, from Mel Doyle to Nat Barr, Kochie [David Koch] and Beretts [Mark Beretta], their families have been such a key part of our show. Sam is an amazing aunt to her nieces and nephews and is wonderful with kids. We are a show for families, it makes sense we have our own. Not all women working in the media are as lucky. It’s not an easy ride for everybody.
How does it feel having your body change? Jennifer Hawkins announced she was pregnant around the same time, and I was like, “That’s unfortunate because you’re just going in one direction and I’m going in five directions.” You do come to realise everyone’s pregnancy is different. I’m guessing she didn't have the same addiction to corn chips early on as I did! It’s super weird, like my boobs got bigger and my thighs.
Has that been hard?
I feel I’ve put on weight quite early [in the pregnancy] and being on TV adds an element of insecurity around body image. But at the same time, I couldn’t give a s---! My body’s doing amazing, amazing things and I’m in that stage of the pregnancy where I’m over the sickness. Not that I got that sick, I was very lucky, more like a hungover feeling.
How many kids do you want?
Just two, I think. Neil’s one of four, and I’m one of three, and I always thought I’d want three. It feels like in this day and age two’s enough. Just enough space, enough waste, enough to manage. Yes, two feels good.
“We were trying for six months to fall pregnant”