FROM ONE GENERATION TO THE NEXT

Emily Titmuss, 23, is lucky to have a team of mums supporting her through parenthood...

- FRANCES LEATE, LAURA MILLS

Passing the scan photo to my great-grandmother Kathleen, I could see just how thrilled she was as her face lit up. 'Another girl to add to the brood," she beamed, gazing at the blurry picture. She's due in September. I grinned. It was early 2021 and I was about to become a mum for the first time. One by one, I'd told all the incredible women in my life that I was expecting.

First I'd surprised my mum Wendy, then 53, with the news that she was about to become a grandmother again, and together, we'd shed happy tears. Then, I'd told my nan Lynda, 73, who was thrilled for me and my fiancé Albert, then 23. And last but not least, it was time to tell my great-grandma Kathleen, or 'G-Nan' as I lovingly called her, who was close to turning 101.

Thanks to my sister Zoe, then 26, who had a little girl, Leah, then six, we already had five generations of women in our family, and now we were about to add one more to our growing tribe.

SHARING MEMORIES

G-Nan had always been important to me. Growing up, she'd told me stories from the war, the blackouts, going into the shelters. We spent a lot of time together as a family when I was little, and even now, in adulthood, I'd made sure to stay close to home in Potters Bar, only a short drive away from Mum, Nan and G-Nan.