Casey Batchelor: ‘I’m thrilled we’re having a girl, we’ll try for a boy next!’

She was so convinced she was having a boy this time around, that Casey Batchelor pre-ordered blue balloons to surprise her fiancé before going for a secret gender scan. But the star – who is engaged to businessman Dane Goodson – was shocked (and thrilled) to learn she was having another girl to join Florence, two, and Sadie, one.

“I was adamant we were having a boy because this pregnancy has been so different than with the girls,” she explains.

“I’ve had no sickness, no tiredness – I often forget I’m pregnant. We had only discussed boys’ names and I’d planned a nursery, I was that sure. My clairvoyant, who’s got everything right in my life, even told me I was having a boy. So when the sonographer said it was a girl, I was in so much shock I came home and blurted it out to Dane. I had to cancel the balloons! Even when I went for my standard NHS scan weeks later, I expected them to say it was a boy!”

However, now the news has sunk in, former model Casey, 36, says she and Dane are delighted. “I’m over the moon now the shock has gone and I can’t wait to have my own little girl gang. They’ll all be so close in age, it’s going to be amazing – we’re thrilled. We’ve already picked out a name. It’s going to be old-fashioned to match Florence and Sadie.”

But despite having not yet given birth to their third child – who is due in June – Casey says the pair are already discussing a fourth baby. “I like to have everything planned, even though it seems crazy to be talking about a fourth when we haven’t even had our third,” she says.

“Dane would like to try for another, as it would be nice for him to have a boy. Number four would definitely be the last though and it would be quite soon after this baby comes. We’re already in baby mode now and it would be nice to have my life back a little bit in my forties.”

But for now, the CBB star – whose eldest daughter Florence will turn three a couple of weeks before their newborn is due – is worried about coping with (almost) three under three.

“It’ll be crazy in this household,” she laughs. “I think the first few years will be hard, but after that they’ll all enjoy playing with each other and benefit from being so close in age. Flo keeps cuddling my belly, but I think she thinks it’s a great big cushion!”

This time around, Casey will have another planned C-section after experiencing a traumatic forceps delivery with Florence, in which an epidural caused agonising headaches for weeks.

“I was so ill after having Florence and had to be readmitted to hospital, so there was no newborn baby bubble,” she explains. “With Sadie I had a planned C-section and it was so much better. Of course the recovery is hard, but I’m lucky in that I have a lot of support and family help for those first couple of weeks where you’re not very mobile. And hopefully, if restrictions allow, it’ll be the same this time.”

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After giving birth to Florence in 2018, Casey was cruelly trolled for her postnatal body. She went on to lose 4½st in six months through a healthy diet and fat-burning yoga. Then, after welcoming Sadie in January 2020, Casey candidly discussed her post-baby journey, along with her “jelly belly and huge boobs” with Closer, telling us, “But my body has created a baby, which is an incredible thing… Maybe trolls don’t realise that your body doesn’t just spring back after birth, but I don’t want other women to feel bad about themselves.

“That’s one of the reasons I thought I was having a boy, as I haven’t put on much weight,” she explains now. “With Florence, I put on 5st, and with Sadie 4st, but so far I’ve put on a stone and a half. With Florence I just sat on the sofa and ate biscuits all day, but this time I’ve got two babies to look after.”

But one thing that has certainly changed dramatically – again – is Casey’s famous boobs. In 2014, she had a breast reduction, taking them from a 34GG to a EE cup. During her first pregnancy, they grew to an H cup before her weight loss caused them to shrink to a 34DD. A similar pattern happened in her previous pregnancy and Casey – who also breastfed both girls when they were first born – admits they’re on the same track this time around.

“They’re massive again, they’re back!”

she laughs. “I said to Dane, ‘As soon as we’ve had all our children, I’m giving my boobs some TLC’ because they have been through it. There’s so much loose skin, they’re like dog ears. I’ll have a nice uplift and I’ll be happy whatever size they are. My poor boobs could write their own autobiography!”

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‘Before Dane, I considered a sperm donor’

At the age of 32, Casey admits she’d given up on finding love, and even planned to use a sperm donor to have children. She explains, “I thought I was never going to meet anyone, and I was adamant I was going to be on my own. There was a point just before I met Dane where I was going to look into getting a [sperm] donor and having a child on my own when I wanted one.”

But things quickly changed for Casey.

“Dane and I moved in after six months together, fell pregnant after a year and now we’ve got two babies together and a third on the way. We’ve also got engaged and we’ve just bought our family home,” she says.

“I had a great time in my twenties, but by my thirties I was so ready to settle down – you know what you want by that age too, and that’s why everything happened so quickly with Dane.”

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