Louis Tomlinson's sister opens up about her baby's gender mix-up

Louis Tomlinson's sister has revealed that she initially thought she was having a boy due to a false gender test result.

Lottie Tomlinson, from Doncaster, appeared on mental health campaigner Bryony Gordon's new Mail podcast - where no taboo goes unaired.

The Life of Bryony features a weekly heart-to-heart between the award-winning journalist and five-time Sunday Times best-selling author and her guests.

During the episode, Lottie spoke to Bryony about her brother's fame, the grief of losing her mother and sister and also her pregnancy.  

The 26-year-old said she first found out about kits you could do at home when her sister Phoebe decided to order one during her pregnancy last year.

She pricked her finger and sent off the blood sample, only to be told a week later that she was having a boy. 

Phoebe had a big gender reveal party, but was then told at her 20-week scan that she was actually having a girl. 

Despite her sister getting a false result, Lottie thought that the chances of this happening to her would be slim.

So when she became pregnant, she decided to order the DIY test - which you can take from eight weeks onwards - to find out her baby's gender.   

The test - which costs around £80 and claims to be 99 per cent accurate - told Lottie that she would be having a boy.

However, at her 16-week scan, medics informed Lottie that she was actually carrying a girl. 

She told Bryony: 'I literally sterilised the area, scrubbed my hands, followed all the steps, so I thought there's no way this is going to be wrong. Comes back as a boy. 

'So I was like, oh I'm having two boys. Got to my 12 week scan and obviously in the back of my head I had that kind of doubt because of what happened to Pheebs.

'So I said to the lady that was scanning me, I said, 'We've had a blood test, like we know the gender, but can you just confirm if you can tell at this stage?'

'And she went, 'I can guess about 80 percent accuracy at this stage, but it's a girl.' I was like, 'What? Oh my god.' And then 80 percent you're still thinking like, is it a girl? Is it a boy? 

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 'And I was like, right, I just, I need to find out. So I waited till 16 weeks, had the scan, girl. On the website, it says 99 percent accuracy.'

Lottie - who announced her pregnancy in July - also spoke to Bryony about grief, as her sister Fiz, died from an accidental drug overdose three years after her mother passed away in 2016. 

Lottie said: 'It's quite an unusual situation to have two big grief experiences so close together and also both as heavy as each other. 

'But It's also given me quite a lot of insight on how differently I dealt with things and different ways that I've coped and I credit therapy a lot from the way I managed to cope.

'I never had it with my mum and then I had it with my sister and the difference between those two experiences was really vast.'

During the emotional chat, Lottie also reminisced about the conversations she had with her mother about starting a family. 

'I always wanted to be a mum. And my mum knew how much I wanted to be a mum,' she said.

'And that's one thing I always remember her saying to me when she was ill and we knew she wasn't going to make it. 

'She said she wished she'd seen me have my baby. So, it's such a bittersweet thing because obviously I just wish she was here.'

In future episodes, Bryony will welcome experts and guests including James Middleton and Kimberley Nixon among others. 

The Princess of Wales' sibling will reflect on the role pets can play in supporting our mental health.

As the host of the podcast Mad World, Bryony has previously had heartfelt conversations with the likes of Prince Harry, Mel B, and Nadiya Hussain.

She describes The Life of Bryony as, 'my little corner of the world where we can talk openly about mental health, the weird bits of life, and everything in between.'

Listeners can expect to be entertained and enlightened by Bryony's distinctive blend of sharp wit and unapologetic honesty as she tackles topics we're not in the habit of talking openly about, including anxiety, addiction, depression, and more.