Here, Suzanne, tells the story in her own words.
Life was a whirlwind in our house.
My fiancé Chris and I had three kids, Josh, nine, Emelye, four, and Poppy, two, and we were planning a big white wedding.
I was working out on my cross trainer every day and using the kids as weights, determined to drop a couple of dress sizes for the day.
Soon, the kilos had dropped off so much I had my size-14 dress taken in.
But on our wedding day, when I put it on, it fell straight back down. I had lost too much weight!
My maid of honour did her best to pin it together, and the day was perfect.
Back home, life resumed as a busy mum-of-three.
I loved playing horses with the kids riding on my back, swinging them around in the park and hoisting them onto climbing frames.
But one morning, I came over queasy and felt a strange pain in my tummy. Then I was sick.
Chris called an ambulance but when it arrived, not even the paramedics knew what was wrong with me. Until… whoosh!
I let out an almighty scream and pointed down at my trousers, which a paramedic whipped off.
Seconds later, he was holding a baby.
As a shocked silence descended on my bedroom, it dawned on me that I had given birth without even knowing I was pregnant.
Instead of gaining weight and a bump, I’d lost 12 kilos! I’d also drunk alcohol and exercised like a maniac.
Incredibly, I would’ve been six months gone on our wedding day!
All five of us instantly fell in love and Chris and I named our little girl Leora.
Afterwards, we often joked that our family was definitely complete now!
Then, when Leora was two, I dished up four bowls of spaghetti for my brood and sat down exhausted.
‘They know how to keep us busy,’ Chris said. ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘No more kids?’ ‘No more,’ Chris laughed.
Three of them had birthdays coming up, so that week, I started planning their presents and parties.
Between doing the school run, mountains of laundry, cleaning and cooking, I was more tired than ever.
To keep me going, I drank energy drinks and took iron tablets. One good thing was that I seemed to have lost my appetite.
‘I’ve lost six kilos!’ I told Chris.
One day, I was packing for a camping trip and tried on a new bikini I’d bought. It had blue and white stripes and I wasn’t sure about it.
‘You look great,’ Chris said, as I snapped a picture.
‘Okay, I’ll keep it!’ I said.
But after our trip, I realised my period was late. Could I be pregnant? I thought.
Chris and I had been using protection so it seemed unlikely, but I bought a pregnancy test just to rule it out. When two pink lines appeared, my heart thumped.
Guess what, I messaged Chris, with a photo of the stick. He called almost immediately.
‘I had a feeling you were pregnant,’ he said. ‘Well, I wish you’d told me!’ I said. ‘How many weeks are you?’ he asked. ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘Maybe four or five.’ But at the scan, the sonographer frowned.
‘You said this was your first scan?’ she said. ‘Yes,’ I replied. ‘You’re about seven months pregnant,’ she said. I turned to Chris whose face had turned white. I couldn’t believe it. We already had one surprise baby – but another! I went over the past few months in my head.
Again, I’d had no bump, lost weight and I’d been getting periods.
After Chris and I got over the initial shock, we were grateful to have two months to prepare this time.
In the last few weeks of pregnancy, my stomach ballooned into a very round bump and the kids loved to cuddle, stroke and poke it to try and make the baby move.
Then in October last year, we had another healthy baby girl, Araya, who weighed 2.7kilos. I was in absolute awe of her, but couldn’t quite believe I was now a mum-of-five.
It only hit me when I returned home and the kids swarmed around us to meet their new sister.
‘Can I hold her?’ Poppy asked. ‘Me, me!’ Leora beamed.
Josh played it cool but the moment he had a cuddle, he was besotted.
Now Araya is six months old, and Josh, 13, Emelye, seven, and Poppy, five, all love her. But Leora, three, absolutely worships her baby sister. She helps me to change her nappy, fetches Araya’s clothes for me and feeds her with a bottle.
They have such a special bond and seeing as they both made such a surprise entrance into the world, I don’t doubt they will cause more mischief for me in years to come! Now I’m considering having the coil to prevent another pregnancy.
I absolutely adore all five of my children, but I don’t think I could handle another one. No more surprises!
Read more in this week's issue of that's life, on sale now.
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