Pregnant TV star Beth Dunlavey shares details of mystery health issue that's kept her in hospital for 30 days
Pregnant reality TV star Beth Dunlavey has shared that she’s spent 30 days in hospital - but medics still don’t know exactly what’s causing her health issues.
The Circle star shared an image of herself in her hospital bed with her fiance Connagh Howard sleeping in another bed beside her. She said that she has been going through a “scary and bleak” time.
In the caption, the expectant mother also wrote: “They call me a medical mystery because everyone is scratching their head . . . and it seems I’m like a set of dominos, if one thing is knocked off kilter it knocks something else over.”
But, she went on to say: “Some days are harder than others, this situation has tested me mentally and physically beyond my limits, the walls sometimes feel like they’re closing in but every day I have our precious baby boy in my tummy is another win for us so we keep going.”
In video on her Instagram Stories, 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 also revealed that doctors do know that they have found an abscess in her pelvis - but they don’t know how much damage it has caused. She said she’s been told she’s now 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 added praise for her husband-to-be, Love Island star Howard, whom she has been with for four years. In the caption of her post she wrote: “He’s stayed with me in hospital and not left my side.
“He’s carried me out the bed, held my bed pan while I wee, wiped my tears every single day, cleaned my drain, inspected my poo and been my absolute rock. I couldnt ask for a better partner and I just know you’re going to be the best dad to our special baby boy.”
In a further update on her Instagram Stories, Dunlavey said that she’d had a scan and her baby boy was “growing perfectly”. She added: “Soooooo happy he’s fine regardless of how I am.”
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.