Pregnant TV star Beth Dunlavey gives 'not good' health update as she says she's been 'robbed' of pregnancy

In video on her Instagram Stories last week, Dunlavey told her fans: "Basically I'm a ticking time bomb and I'm going to need surgery after the baby is born”, according to The Sun.

The 33-year-old revealed that doctors have found an abscess in her pelvis - but they don’t know how much damage it has caused. She said she’d been told she’s high risk and will not be allowed to leave hospital or "go anywhere".

She went on: "They don't know whether the abscess is a consequence of the pregnancy, everything stretching or whether it's to do with something else. I mean I have to have IV antibiotics every day.” She also said that she had a drain fitted, a small plastic tube that connects to a small plastic bag outside of the body to collects any fluid or air that has drained away from the body, usually from the site of an operation.

Earlier this week, Dunlavey told her Instagram followers that she had to undergo an MRI scan, the fourth in her pregnancy so far, to check on her health. Yesterday (Tuesday August 13), she took to her Instagram Stories to share the results. In a lengthy video recorded from her hospital bed, she said: “Got the results and . . . not good. Basically, the abscess has stayed the same size. In fact, it’s increased a little bit. The drain is still in, it’s been in two and a half weeks. . . It was discovered that the drain hasn’t been flushed correctly.

“This drain thing was a middle of the road thing. When I was admitted nobody knew what was the matter and then when it all came out as to why I was so poorly . . . the drain has been a blessing and the best case scenario . . . but it’s hanging out of the side of us, it’s painful. I can’t shower, I can’t wash my hair, it’s uncomfortable, I can’t sleep. All I want is for it to be out, but then equally all I want is for me and the baby to be healthy so I don’t really have a choice. It has to stay in.”

She went on to reveal she would have to have a fifth MRI scan in a week, and that her drain would need to be flushed daily in that time. The dejected and poorly star stated: “I just haven’t got anything left.”

The Circle TV personality continued: “I know the most important thing is the baby’s fine and I’m fine - but it’s still horrendous, being stuck in here and not having an end in sight. I’ve been here six weeks or something now. I feel entirely robbed of what a pregnancy should be. I’ve went from being the happiest I’ve ever been in my life to literally the most depressed.”

Referring to her fiance, Love Island star Connagh Howard, she added: “The worst part of this is the guilt, it’s the guilt of crying all day and being so sad, and feeling like I’m affecting him., I should be feeling happy and enjoying everything and feeling good hormones and I’m not . . . I haven’t for months.” Becoming visibly upset, she said: “It takes nothing to make me cry because I’m just on the verge constantly.”

On a photo published to her Stories shortly after the video, showing her legs at the bottom of the hospital bed which was below a window, she wrote: “I didn’t think I’d ever [have] this many tears to cry.”

Dunlavey revealed in April that she and Howard, aged 32, were expecting a baby boy together after struggling with fertility. The couple first started trying to get pregnant after a year of dating, but they struggled to conceive. The reality star then had to have endometriosis surgery in 2023, but she still hadn't become pregnant. The couple were referred to a fertility clinic in September 2022 and, after a series of tests, they were told last March that they had "unexplained infertility", so they were offered IVF. In April, Dunlavey took to Instagram to share the happy news that she was pregnant.

Dunlavey started dating Jack Quirk after they lived together while they each appeared on reality show The Circle in 2019, while Howard was linked to Rebecca Gormley during his time in the Love Island villa in 2020. The now-engaged couple first began dating later in 2020 after swapping messages on Instagram.