‘I was terrified my 10lb alien tumour would explode'

Lauren Hill, 26, an executive assistant from Essex, was four months pregnant when she discovered a lump in her breast. When it grew to the size of a watermelon, she worried it would burst

- KAREN PASQUALI JONES

'Leaning my head against the train window, I took a deep breath. “Oh no,” I thought, sour saliva flooding my mouth. “I’m going to be sick again.”

It was the third time that morning. I was seven weeks pregnant and had to take a plastic bag with me on my commute to work. “I don’t know why they call it morning sickness,” I thought. Mine started from the moment I woke up and lasted all day and night.

It was exhausting – I was sick 10 times a day, every day – but I was excited to be pregnant. This was my first baby, and my boyfriend Matt Wooffitt and I couldn’t wait.

“I wonder if our baby will look like me or you,” Matt, 26, who is a mechanic, said one night.

“Both,” I replied, smiling.

In bed I’d dream of holding our baby. I loved my job as an executive assistant in London, but I couldn’t wait to become a mum.

My sickness got worse. I was diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum (severe morning sickness) that left me so dehydrated I had to be admitted to hospital and put on an IV drip.

“I’m glad to be home,” I said afterwards, flopping on to the sofa. I didn’t think pregnancy would be this hard. But then a few days later, at 12 weeks, I got up to go the loo and gasped. I was bleeding.

“No,” I panicked. “I can’t lose my baby.”

At A&E, a doctor warned I could be having a miscarriage and took me for a scan. I could hardly breathe I was crying so much as I waited for them to check the monitor.

“Baby’s fine,” the sonographer said reassuringly. “Here, look.”