Rebecca Adlington gives birth! Former Olympian welcomes daughter Thea Joy with husband Andy Parsons after suffering two devastating miscarriages in three years

Rebecca Adlington has confirmed the birth of her third child after suffering two painful miscarriages in three years.

The former swimmer announced her pregnancy in September after struggling to conceive her second child with husband Andy Parsons and her third child overall, describing it as a ‘miracle’.

Adlington, 37, already shares two-year-old son Albie with her husband and eight-year-old daughter Summer from her previous marriage to ex-husband Harry Needs.

Taking to her Instagram account on Sunday evening, the former Olympian confirmed that she and Parsons had invited their daughter, Thea Joy, and told her followers: ‘Our family is complete.’

Adlington accompanied her post with her first look at her little girl sleeping in a hospital cot while the family formed hearts around the baby with their hands.

Fans and celebrity friends were quick to share their best wishes with fellow Olympian Greg Rutherford, writing: ‘Huge congratulations’, while Tom Parker’s widow Kelsey gushed: ‘So special, congratulations’.

Rebecca Adlington has confirmed the birth of her third child after suffering two heartbreaking miscarriages in three years.

Another Olympian, Jazz Carlin, added: ‘This is the most amazing news, congratulations to you all! I hope you’re feeling well, I’m sending lots of love.’

Meanwhile, fans said: ‘Congratulations, she is so beautiful’: ‘A beautiful name given to an absolute beauty, congratulations to you all’: ‘Congratulations to you all’: ‘Congratulations my baby will be loved by all of you’: ‘I’m so glad for you all xx’.

Last year Rebecca opened up about the heartbreaking reminder of her second miscarriage that left her ‘hating her body’. I came home from the hospital.

The TV star and her husband Andy spoke to This Morning hosts Emma Willis and Craig Doyle about their two devastating miscarriages in a bid to raise awareness and help anyone suffering.

Rebecca had her first miscarriage in 2022 when she was 12 weeks old and was told she had a molar pregnancy, which resulted in her having emergency surgery.

Molar pregnancy occurs when a group of abnormal cells grows in the uterus instead of a healthy fetus.

The following year, at her 20-week scan, she was told she had miscarried for the second time and had to give birth to a daughter, whom the couple named Harper. She later admitted that she had a really hard time taking care of herself because it looked like she was still waiting.

Speaking of her heartbreaking ordeal, Rebecca bravely told ITV viewers: ‘I’m angry at my body, my body has failed me, it hasn’t given me this: “This is going wrong! Go get help!”‘

Adlington, 37, shares two-year-old son Albie with her husband and eight-year-old daughter Summer from her previous marriage to ex-husband Harry Needs.

Fans and famous friends were quick to share their best wishes

‘He didn’t say anything to me. I had no symptoms. It was really hard to get over it and you still look pregnant afterwards.

‘This is very difficult to deal with; You give birth, your baby is not alive, then you go home, as a woman, you have to look in the mirror and you still look 20 weeks pregnant.

‘It’s incredibly difficult. I hated my body, I had lost love for my body, I couldn’t understand why my human body was disappointing me now, even though it had given birth to two healthy children and four Olympic gold medals.

‘And the second time too. ‘It’s hard the second time.’

Meanwhile on This Morning, Andy gave his partner’s perspective, saying: ‘My role was immediately the supporting one, I was supporting Becky from the beginning when it happened.

‘From now on, all energy and thoughts are on Becky; It’s her body, it’s her trauma, it’s essentially her problem with what happened.

‘So I went to work when I realized my main focus was taking a step back at times, I realized I couldn’t process it properly on my own, I was struggling a lot myself.

‘We had leaves that were really essential for us to be able to talk about this going forward. Petals is a baby loss charity so we had couples counseling and that was really helpful.

‘Focusing on one hour a week to talk about Harper’s loss, so that was a big deal.

‘There is not enough support for men in this situation, they have also lost a child, but the focus is rightly on the woman, the focus needs to be on the man as well.’

Contact the Miscarriage Association (miscarriageassociation.org.uk) or Sands (sands.org.uk) for support.