While most families are happy to welcome a bundle of joy into their brood, it’s no secret that having a baby is an expensive business.
With an extra mouth to clothe, feed and look after, it’s little surprise that many families end up feeling the financial pinch.
However, one lucky mum-to-be has had a major cash injection into her savings pot, after scooping a share of a £1 million cash prize.
Heather McIlhiney-Grant, 29, who is expecting her second child in September, won £76,923 when her street in Brixworth, Northamptonshire won People’s Postcode Lottery’s Millionaire Street prize.
NHS worker Heather, who is already mum to Theia, four, is hoping to use the money to spend more time with her expanding brood.
She also hopes the win will ease any financial stress on her and her husband Will, 31, who works as an NHS nurse.
‘Kids are so expensive,’ Heather explains. ‘They grow out of their clothes so quickly and you just want to give them everything.
‘This [money] honestly couldn’t have come at a better time. The baby is due in early September on the same week Theia starts school. It’s all going on.’
At first, Heather didn’t believe she had won the cash prize, until she saw the prizegivers approaching her street.
‘It was making me all hot and sweaty and I was already feeling like an oven!’ she joked.
Heather and Will, who have been married for two years, are hoping to use their winnings to swap their current car for a bigger set of wheels to fit their growing family.
Heather is also preparing to use the cash to take a full year’s worth of maternity leave.
But the pair aren’t looking to only spend entirely practically. Heather is looking to splash the cash on a new pair of shoes – but they won’t be Louboutin’s astride her feet; she’s opting for something a little less glamorous.
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‘I’ll buy a new pair of Crocs! I got a pair for when I’m out in the garden but now I wear them everywhere,’ Heather laughs.
‘I can wear them on a sunny holiday for my 30th birthday next year.’
And the whopping win may also have an unintended side effect in actually helping Heather settle the argument about their future daughter’s moniker.
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‘Me and my husband have different ideas about names, which wasn’t the case with Theia, after winning this I think I’ll be able to veto some names,’ she jokes.
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