TRUE-LIFE
I was out walking the dog when my life changed forever
Kaitlyn Bustin, 19, Stourbridge
Staring at the monitor, I held my breath until...
‘There we are,’ the sonographer smiled, her wand on my tummy. ‘You’re about 13 weeks along.’
My teeny baby wriggled on the screen and joy flooded through me. But I was scared too. It was March 2022 and at 18, I hadn’t planned on being a mum yet and the baby’s dad hadn’t wanted to be involved.
I hadn’t even told my mum Tracey, then 53, my dad Kieran, 44, or my little brother Alfie, then 17.
The scan proved to me how much I loved and wanted this baby.
But I still couldn’t find the nerve to admit that I was pregnant.
So I kept my secret. Even when we travelled to Egypt that April for a family holiday.
I hid my morning sickness by sneaking off to my room, pretending to be napping.
Sipping virgin cocktails, I told my family I was drinking vodka mixers.
By the time I was 17 weeks gone, my bump was blooming.
I couldn’t keep this secret for much longer.
Sitting in the break room at my job as a carer, I wrote out a text message to Mum, deleted it, then I wrote another.
I’ve got something to tell you… I finally texted.
Heart pounding, I watched the little dots on the screen telling me she was typing back.
You’re pregnant, she replied.
Clearly, I hadn’t hidden it as well as I thought!
We’ll always support you, came another reply.
All the worry lifted from my shoulders.
Mum came with me to a private scan a few days on. We asked the clinic to place a note with the baby’s gender in an envelope.
Then I set about planning a gender reveal party for the following week.
Standing in the sunshine in my parents’ back garden, I handed out confetti cannons.
My mum, dad, Alfie, our extended family and some work friends got ready to twist the cardboard tubes. ‘Three..two…one!’ I yelled. Pink paper confetti erupted into the air before fluttering to the ground. A baby girl!
‘Congratulations, love,’ Mum smiled, wrapping me in her arms.
Daydreaming of pink booties, floral baby grows and telling her stories of princesses and mermaids, I couldn’t wait to meet my baby girl.
Decided to name her Ayda-Rose, after my beloved Staffie, Rose.
Then, in June, when I was 23 weeks pregnant, I had a sudden craving for chocolate milkshake.
‘Fancy coming to the shop?’ I asked Alfie as I grabbed Rose’s lead.
On the way home, we were walking under a bridge when I heard a car’s engine rumbling.
A screech of tyres echoed in the distance.
‘They must be going so fas
