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Knowing and naming
Getting fatter by the minute
Health and wellbeing
Emotions
The birth itself
Being a mum
What about dad?
Knowing and naming
Famously, Victoria named her firstborn after the place where she found out she was pregnant, and has never lived it down. "We did get a certain amount of stick about that," Victoria groans. "I like Brooklyn as a name - it's quite different - but you couldn't do it all the time. It wouldn't work if you were somewhere like Moscow." This didn't stop them wanting to increase their family. "Brooklyn was the first person I broke the news to after my doctor confirmed I was pregnant. Then I sent him over to David to tell him the secret. I was in tears as he toddled over to his daddy and said, 'Mummy is going to have a baby.' I hoped it would make him feel he is involved with the new baby." Victoria was very open about wanting a baby girl, "She could follow in my footsteps and be a singer!" and was even spotted buying pink accessories. Although Brooklyn told the world he was going to have a sister called Paris, the Beckhams produced another boy. David says he was called Romeo because, "It's just a name we love."
Getting fatter by the minute
"I've had a bit of morning sickness, but I'm enjoying being pregnant and everything is good really," said Victoria during her first pregnancy. She craved pickled onions so much while carrying Brooklyn that she sent David out to buy three jars at a time. Second time around, she munched Marmite on toast and Fruit Pastilles. "I can't stop buying and eating them," she says of her sweeter leaning. "I crave them all the time and it's getting silly." The newly converted Pilates devotee stuck to simple black outfits to slim her expanding waistline and appeared in figure-hugging jeans and a jumper just days after giving birth to Romeo.
Health and wellbeing
"I had polycystic ovaries before I had Brooklyn, which made me put on weight and gave me bad skin," Victoria explains of the condition that could have potentially damaged her fertility. Overcoming one health concern, she soon faced another. "After Brooklyn was born I lost a lot of weight. From being Podgy Spice pre-Brooklyn I had become Skeletal Spice. What upset me was that I ate like any normal person, but I lost weight. The same happened to my mum and my sister after they had a baby." Victoria's dramatic weight loss prompted concern and she visited her GP. "I did go to the doctors and got completely checked out - every blood test under the sun. They just said it's something that can happen after you've had a baby. But I was upset about how I looked." Post-pregnancy metabolism was cited as the cause and Victoria gradually regained her healthy appearance. Of course, it was not long before she started to grow again…
Emotions
"I love being pregnant, I love giving birth, I love being a mum," enthused Victoria before her second pregnancy. "The best gift that I've ever been given is Brooklyn. I just can't wait to be a mum again. I still want more children after this one. I want a huge family because I love children. I've got a huge house and I want to fill it with kids." And when she became pregnant again? "I can't stop smiling!" - so it's highly unlikely she'll stop at two…
The birth itself
Brooklyn was born at London's Portland Hospital on 4th March 1999 and weighed a healthy 7lbs. When Victoria went into labour, the baby's head wasn't properly engaged so she had to have an emergency caesarean section, which took 15 minutes. "I was there for the birth," said David. "It's something I've always wanted to do. It was an amazing experience." History repeated itself at the same hospital on 2nd September 2002, when once again Victoria endured an emergency section, "on doctor's orders". David emerged to greet the press at midday with the news: "We've had a little boy called Romeo. He's got Brooklyn's nose and Victoria's chin - he's gorgeous." Romeo weighed in at 7lb 4oz and returned home with his mother two days later.
Being a mum
"I'm still in a position where I can take Brooklyn to work with me, but I think it'll be more difficult with two children," Victoria said in August 2001. "I'm lucky - and grateful - that I've got my mum and David's mum, who are both really supportive and help me out a lot. At the moment I don't have a nanny, but I don't think there is anything wrong with having a nanny, so I'm just going to have to wait to see how I get on." There are certainly no complaints from David on her parenting skills. "We both get up with him in the night and Victoria's really good with Brooklyn, very motherly," he says. "She never leaves his side and she feeds him and washes his clothes. That's the way she wants it."
What about dad?
"This has been such an exciting year for us," said David. "England got into the World Cup finals, Victoria's had a second Top Ten hit and now - a baby!" Victoria's bump added a new dimension to their relationship, "She's really attractive," he continued. "It's one of the sexiest times in a woman's life." Victoria has nothing but praise for her husband, "David is brilliant at home, he looks after Brooklyn and he's always tidying. If I've been working all day, David will run me a bath. He always puts his family first. One of the sweetest moments was when I overheard David on the baby monitor kissing Brooklyn and saying, 'I'm the only man in the world who can kiss you on the lips, because I'm your daddy and I love you so much!'" David is so thrilled with his second son that he jokes the Beckhams will soon be aiming for a five-a-side team, "maybe we'll try that in a few months!"
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