Bonnie Ryan has revealed she’s counting down the days until her sister Lottie has her first child this summer.
The RTE 2FM presenter and her husband Fabio are expecting their little bundle of joy in August 2021, and following their recent announcement, her mum Morah and siblings Rex, Elliot, Bonnie and Babette are absolutely over the moon.
Sharing her delight, Bonnie beamed, “Lotts is the first one in the family to be pregnant and having a baby and it’s so exciting. We have a gorgeous step-niece though who’s six and she’s the most fun ever.
“It’s very exciting. Every week in our family Whatsapp group we’re like what size is the baby today and what has it grown. It’s crazy, especially as it’s the first person in the family so it’s all very new to us.”
Lottie shared the pregnancy news with her family at Christmas, much to the delight of her mum Morah.
“My mother nearly fainted [when we told her]. She thought there was no hope for me,” she told Jennifer Zamparelli on 2FM.
“It was amazing. In my family, I’m the first out of five kids to have a baby and for them, the excitement is incredible and they’re over the moon with happiness.”
She revealed Morah is going to be very particular about what she can be called once the baby arrives.
Laughing, the expectant mum said, “We’ve been told under no circumstances we can use those phrases granny or nanny. She’s taking the time to come up with the name. I didn’t think she’d be a granny person anyway.”
Less than a month before discovering she was expecting a baby, Lottie and Fabio went to a specialist to discuss freezing her eggs.
As she came off birth control to see how her body would react before getting treatment, Lottie fell pregnant and admits it’s the best thing that could have happened.
“Our journey was an unusual one. It all started when i went to freeze my eggs,” she said on RTE 2FM.
“I knew I was of a certain age and I had all these ideas. I said listen, we better freeze them because I’m on a rollercoaster of wanting to perform so we went to the clinic and started a conversation with the doctors.
“He said to me if we were to start trying now, it would take about a year. I said i better come off the pill so we can check everything and be prepared and three weeks later, I was sitting on the floor of my bathroom surrounded by tests.”
Lottie couldn’t believe the results and initially thought the test was faulty.
“I said to Fabio go get another one there’s something wrong with this one as well. When I say we got a rake a tests, I mean Fabio must have emptied every chemist in the area.
“We both eventually went, I don’t think they’re all wrong. I don’t think anything can prepare you for seeing that positive mark on the test.”
Due to restrictions surrounding Covid-19, Fabio hasn’t been able to attend every scan and appointment with Lottie, which is something they’ve struggled with.
“I was really nervous so we went privately initially to have a scan and I was able to bring him into that,” Lottie said.
“But since then I’ve been to hospital twice and he hasn’t been able to come with me. It’s been emotionally difficult.
“It’s not great not being able to have him in there but the doctors and nurses and midwives are just so incredibly gentle and caring and they understand that it’s sh*t. We’re getting on with it.”
Over the weekend, Lottie spent a lot of time thinking about ‘what a deadly grandad’ Gerry Ryan would have been to her little baby.
Gerry sadly passed away on April 30th, 2010, over a decade before Lottie and her siblings Rex, Elliot, Bonnie and Babette even considered starting families of their own.
While watching a documentary about her dad’s life, was overcome with emotion as she thought about how great it would have been to see him with the tiny tot.
“Watching pops on the telly has me all emotional thinking [about] what a deadly grandad he’d have been,” she said.
“He’d tell me to get my sh*t together and [keep my] chin up. The Ryan Line continues…”