Ex-student warns freshers to be careful sleeping flatmates

Bethany Lee met her now-fiancé David Smith in their halls of residence at the University of Aberdeen in September 2022 and immediately the pair began dating.

The 27-year-old, who was studying psychology and sociology, claims they had a typical university relationship where they quickly fell in love and spent every day together.

Just four months later in January 2023, the student discovered she was pregnant but claims neither her nor David found it particularly 'shocking' or 'serious'.

The happy couple welcomed their baby in September 2023 (Image: Kennedy News/bethany_gl)

The happy couple welcomed their baby boy Finneas Smith in September 2023 and both Bethany and David dropped out of university to look after him and save money.

After attending baby groups, Bethany said she wished she could treat her son to more holidays and buy him brand new things like other mums could, but believes Finneas is a 'happy baby' regardless.

The mum-of-one, who moved back home to Devon to live with her mum, admits that at the beginning she also felt 'lonely' seeing what her uni friends were doing.

She now hopes to advise new students to 'go with the flow' but be 'safe' and 'not get pregnant at university' like she did.

Bethany, from Exeter, Devon, said: "I met my partner now when we were put in the same flat together.

"We started dating straight away. It was like every university relationship. We just spent lots and lots of time together, all day every day.

"I didn't think 'oh we're going to be together forever' or that we weren't going to be together forever.

"We fell in love very quickly and spent all day together. It just happened.

"I found out in January I was pregnant. To be honest, I didn't really think much of it. I don't know why I didn't think it was that serious.

"Nor did my partner, David, he was just like 'oh okay that's fine'.

"I was waiting for it to be super shocking, but it never really happened. It was just one of those things and I was just like 'I guess we'll just have a baby'.

"I went on to finish my first year of uni and my son was born in September.

"Even now, I'm still chilled. It's like I'm sort of waiting for the penny to drop and my son's nearly one."

Her 25-year-old partner, David, dropped out of his Zoology course in 2023 at the end of his second year and now works full time at in retail.

Bethany, who works part-time as dental receptionist, went back to work after Finneas turned six months old but hopes to go back to university next year.

The couple recently got engaged in July and are now living together in Derbyshire.

Bethany said: "Life has been so busy and crazy. When I'd just had my son and he was quite young, that was a big adjustment.

"You don't keep in contact as well with friends when you move away.

"I do still speak to people from uni, but it was a little bit lonely in the beginning just adjusting and seeing what all of your other friends from uni are doing.

"I've looked into [finishing uni] this year but we only just moved out of my mum's house last month. I wanted to go back this year, but I think it'll probably be next year.

"[David] decided after that that he was going to take the time out of uni as he needed to work when I couldn't and financially we needed the money.

"He also thought that if he was working and in uni, he wouldn't have much time to spend with our son.

"He would rather have spent the time with him when he's little and then maybe when he's a bit older he could go back to university."

Bethany states they're not planning on having any more babies until they have bought a house together and have gone back to uni to finish their degrees.

While she loves watching her toddler grow up, she says she wishes she could afford to spend more money on him and now hopes to warn freshers to be 'safe' and 'not get pregnant'.

Bethany said: "It's mostly lovely. We love spending time with our little toddler, it's so rewarding seeing him growing up. It happens so quickly.

"When I was living in Devon, I went to a few of these baby groups, but a lot of the mums there have these very structured lives.

"They're already married, and they own their homes and they're taking their babies on lots of foreign holidays, doing really nice stuff for them and buying brand new things for them.

"I kind of felt like I'm not in the financial situation to be doing that which is harder as I'd like to be doing those things.

"I love spending so much quality time with my son and I don't think it bothers him, he's a happy baby anyway but it would have been nice to be able to do those things.

"I think we're happy for now, I would eventually like [more kids] but first of all I'd like to get my degree, and we also want to buy a house. We're currently renting so we want to make sure we're all settled.

"My advice to new students starting this year would just be to go with the flow but also try to maybe be safe and don't get pregnant when you're at university."