We just felt our baby kick for the first time... With us as parents, it should have great legs
THEY have 10 Olympic cycling golds between them, so as Laura Trott and Jason Kenny prepare for the arrival of their first child, their expectations are high...
“The baby better have good legs with us as parents,” says Laura, quickly adding the proviso: “I don’t want it to kick me too hard and keep me up at night.”
She is 24 weeks pregnant and those tiny baby legs are already showing potential.
Laura, 24, says: “Jason felt the baby kick for the first time the other day.
“That’s the first time he’s had anything to do with it. It’s weird how it’s down to the mother to carry and protect the baby, and Jason can’t have anything to do with it just now.
“It’s just in the scan that he feels like he gets the best seat in the house.”
Laura, who won two gold medals at London 2012 and two at Rio last summer, wed Bolton-born track cyclist Jason, 29, in September, a month after he had raised his gold medal haul to six, matching Sir Chris Hoy’s record.
The golden couple of sport, who met in a velodrome in 2010, didn’t waste any time trying for a baby, announcing the pregnancy in February with an Instagram snap of a child’s bike next to theirs.
Laura says: “We know the baby’s sex but we’re keeping it a secret. We’re very excited. I’ve had no morning sickness and feel good, so we’ve been lucky.”
She has cut back on her training but plans to start again soon after the birth as she aims for the Tokyo Games in 2020. Jason is taking a sixmonth sabbatical to decide on his cycling future.
Laura, who discovered cycling aged eight when mum Glenda, then a size 24, took it up in a bid to lose weight, says: “Now I do all my cycling-based exercise in the gym, rather than out on the road, as it’s safer.
“I’ve started swimming again. My fear was not knowing what to do with my day as I’m so used to a regime. It has been hard to cap my training as I still feel like I have the same capacity.”
The couple are also throwing themselves into preparations for the baby.
Laura says: “We’re painting the nursery together. Being an athlete takes up so much of your time and you become a really selfish person, only doing things that are absolutely necessary, like eating and sleeping.
“We’d never normally paint a bedroom. Not in a million years
would we think to be on our legs for that long.” Laura has had advice on motherhood from Paralympic gold medallist Dame Sarah Storey, 39, who returned to cycling within a year of having her daughter Louisa in 2013.
Laura says: “Sarah has been incredible. She has been an absolute star to me. No question was too personal.”
Laura and Jason live in a cottage just outside Knutsford, Cheshire, with their two dogs, Pringle and Sprolo, or the “fur-babies” as Laura calls them.
The couple recently returned from a visit to Laura’s parents’ home with the pram and cot she had as a baby.
She says: “My mum is the world’s biggest hoarder. She’s kept everything from when me and my sister were little and it has finally come in useful. We’ve taken the cot, Moses basket and pram – all in unbelievable condition.”
Both sets of grandparents will be helping out with the baby. Laura says: “It’s the only way Jason and I can carry on cycling. It’ll be their first grandchild, too, so everyone is very excited.”
Laura is close to her sister Emma, a personal trainer now based in New Zealand. Emma, 27, made headlines during Rio after claims that she seemed “bitter” about Laura’s achievements. However Laura insists Emma’s comments were misconstrued.
She says: “My sister’s my best friend. She was one of the first people I told about me and Jason having a child. She can’t wait to visit when the little one is here.”
Laura was born prematurely by caesarean and spent her first six weeks in intensive care. So she hopes her baby’s birth will be more straightforward, saying: “I would like as natural a birth as physically possible.”
While Laura has an OBE and Jason a CBE, she is dismissive about the possibility of being made a dame. She says: “Being athletes, I don’t think we deserve knighthoods or the titles of dames. When we went to collect our OBEs after the 2012 Games we were there with service people who have fought and risked their lives for our country. As athletes, it doesn’t feel like we do that.” Laura is the more outspoken of the two but she says that Jason is now more “comfortable in the spotlight”. They have been offered reality show deals but are only tempted by one. Laura reveals: “Strictly is the only TV we’d consider as it’s skill-based. I definitely wouldn’t rule it out for the future.” For now, as summer approaches, she is trying to overcome her terrible hayfever. And being pregnant, she is looking at how to make simple lifestyle changes to reduce her symptoms, working on a campaign with Boots UK to help other women.
She says: “I’ve had hayfever for as long as I can remember and now I’m pregnant my symptoms seem to have started earlier and to be much worse.
“As a cyclist, I still want to be riding, and spending lots of time outside – I want to try to carry on my normal routine and enjoy being pregnant without hayfever holding me back.”
It’s hard to imagine anything holding this mum-to-be back.
TENNIS superstar Serena Williams is expecting her first child later this year with fiance Alexis Ohanian. The 22-time Grand Slam champ, 35, posted a picture of herself, apparently at 20 weeks. Serena has said: “I definitely want kids.”