‘I'm usually in LA covering the Oscars for my birthday, this year I was home with two kids hanging out of me' – Glenda Gilson

Glenda has taken to motherhood like a duck to water Photo: Kip Carroll

Eddie Rowley

March 16 2021 09:21 AM

Showbiz reporter Glenda Gilson normally spends her time rubbing shoulders with superstars and celebrities ranging from Michael Bublé to George Clooney.

But today the biggest stars in the Virgin Media TV presenter's life are her baby sons, Bobby and Danny Mac.

"I never thought I'd be talking about Mother's Day as the mother of two babies," Glenda told the Sunday World.

"It's so lovely, but I just can't believe I'm now a mother of two. I don't know how that happened."

Glamorous Glenda (40), who is married to businessman Rob MacNaughton, gave birth in lockdown last October to their second son, Danny Mac.

"It all went smoothly, and little Danny Mac arrived exactly one year and 364 days after his brother Bobby was born. October 21 is Danny's birthday, and 22 is Bobby's," she says.

"The eldest is great craic now. He's putting words together and yapping away. The other fella is keeping me awake all night.

"I took to motherhood like a duck to water, as they say. You just kind of do it and you keep going. Obviously some days are harder than others when you have no sleep and you have a child that hasn't had sleep that day. It can be tough.

"But when I look back on lockdown I can say that I really enjoyed it. I'm so thankful to have had that time, and to have Rob around as well.

"Of course, not every day is rosy because we're looking at each other for the last year indoors, so it's a lot for everyone. But to be sitting in the play room with the two of them and going out for walks and doing things together has been lovely for us."

Glenda, who turned 40 on March 3, jokes: "Rob is probably giving out that it's Mother's Day this weekend because I celebrated my 40th last week, plus he had Valentine's Day and now this. I'm sure he's like, 'ah, get lost would ya!'

"I was always in LA covering the Oscars on my birthday. This year on my birthday I was sitting here with two kids hanging out of me.

"I've had the last two birthdays in lockdown. For my 40th, we had a takeaway and a bottle of wine and that was it. It ended up with the two of us on our phones looking at each other."

Glenda insists that she wasn't apprehensive about having a baby in the middle of a pandemic.

"But I will say I'm thankful that it was my second time," she says. "I do feel for women that are going in for the first time. But there is nothing to worry about as everything is done the exact same way.

"The doctors and nurses are doing a brilliant job, only they are masked up and PPE-d up, so you don't really see them as you usually would.

"When I was pregnant I did find the appointments a little bit difficult because you are on your own. I found that when I'd come out, Rob would say, 'so what's the story?' and there were bits and pieces I probably was missing little, things like that.

"When first-time mothers are going in for their 20-week scan to find out the sex of the baby they have to do it on their own. That's kind of a tough situation, but look, once your child arrives safe and sound that's all anyone wants."

Glenda admits she found the current ban on visitors to the hospital a blessing. "I was in for four days and Rob was the only one allowed in for an hour each day," she says.

"Some people will kill me for suggesting this, but I think they should keep this rule because it's so much easier on you.

"When I had Bobby, I was in hospital for five or six days. You'd hear a knock, and God knows who was going to be on the other side of the door. You could have someone that you work with, or you know, and they walk in and you're sitting in your pyjamas in a bed.

"I was talking about this with the nurses and they said they found it so much easier to get their work done when there aren't loads of visitors around the place."

Paying tribute to her mother Aileen (71), Glenda added: "Myself and my mum get on like a house on fire. She's a great help, she really is, especially since I've had kids ... she does so much for me and I'd be lost without her."