In an exclusive interview and photoshoot with HELLO!, Stacey Solomon has spoken of her joy at being pregnant with baby number three. She and boyfriend Joe Swash are expecting their first child together later this year and she says of her TV presenter beau: "I wouldn't say Joe's more excited than me because I'm so excited, but he does seem so over the moon. He's much more outwardly excited than me. I'm kind of a bit like, it's not here yet and nothing's happening, so it's not real. Life is normal life. But he's a million miles ahead, thinking about everything, definitely buying loads of stuff – gadgets I never knew existed."
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WATCH: Behind-the-scenes with Stacey Solomon
The new arrival will be a baby brother or sister for her sons Zac, 11, and seven-year-old Leighton and Joe's 12-year-old son Harry. And talking of recent reports that she won't be taking maternity leave from her presenting jobs - which include Celebrity Juice and Loose Women – she says: "We're self-employed, so you have to make hay while the sun is shining. It's not like I can work my way up the ladder and guarantee myself a staff position anywhere. So providing that all my children are happy, first and foremost, then I’ll go back to work ASAP. I've got a mortgage to pay and I've got children to feed and I love what I do. Nobody's asking Joe if he’ll go back to work when the baby’s born."
© Photo: HELLO!For the HELLO! shoot Stacey, 29, who is an ambassador for YourGoodSkin, insisted on having all the images totally un-airbrushed. "In pictures I don't recognise myself sometimes. I look worse – I look weird. Those are the occasions when I felt like I am not good enough. You start thinking. 'So they didn't like my arms, or my legs, or that I have a line in my forehead. And to me that’s a horrible feeling."
READ: Loose Women's Nadia Sawalha shares candid photo moments after giving birth
And she says she is now a champion for loving yourself as you are, imperfections and all. "I try really hard to remind myself that it doesn't matter what I look like – it’s completely irrelevant – and there are things that mean so much more to me. What I look like doesn't define me and it doesn't make me who I am."
YourGoodSkin is available at Boots and Boots.com
To read the full story, pick up the latest copy of HELLO!, out Monday 1 April
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