Liz Hurley gave birth earlier this month and supermodel Kate Moss has just announced she is three months pregnant. Women's Editor CHRISTEN PEARS speaks to a less famous mum about getting back into shape after having a baby

AS Liz Hurley gets to grips with bringing up baby Damian, Kate Moss is preparing for the birth of her first child. They are two of the most photographed women in the world and regulars on the showbiz party scene but with enough money to pay for an army of nannies, it's unlikely the new arrivals will have much of an impact on their hectic social lives. But what about their famous figures?

True, the waif-like Kate will soon be waddling beneath an ever-growing bulge but, as Liz proved, being pregnant doesn't mean giving up glamour.

And now she's had the baby, it will probably be just matter of weeks before she's back in shape, thanks to a personal trainer and dietician.

Unfortunately, it's not that easy for the rest of us. Jayne Longstaff, from Bishop Auckland, gave birth to her second son, Caine, in June last year and ballooned to a massive 15 stones.

"A lot of women use being pregnant as an excuse to get fat. I didn't overeat but I did treat myself when I felt like it," she says. "After I had the baby, I was really horrified at how big I'd become. I was so huge, I was terrified that people would see me and think I was still pregnant. I felt really uncomfortable and I knew I had to do something about it."

She tried several diets, none of which worked, and then she joined Changes, the Darlington-based slimming club, and lost more than three stones.

"I still want to lose about another stone but I'm really pleased with how I've done. The plan is based on healthy eating so it fits in with your normal, everyday life and with your family."

Jayne, 35, is now a consultant for Changes and is starting a new class at Willington. "It worked for me and I would like to help other people do the same. It's not easy to get back in shape when you've had a baby and a lot of my friends have just given up on their bodies. If you go to a class, you have a lot of support and people who can help you through it."

Although Changes does not have a specific diet plan for new mums, it does offer a helpful tip sheet. And if babysitter problems mean it's difficult for you to get to a weekly class, there is a postal service.

The organisation can also help expectant mothers stay slim through their pregnancy. June MacFarlane, one of the founders, says: "Members come to us when they're pregnant and say they have to leave but that's not the case. It's fine for them to stay throughout the pregnancy when we can help them stop putting on the extra weight in the first place."

But gaining weight is the least of some new mothers' worries and a new book, bluntly titled The Fat Ladies Club, describes what pregnancy is really like.

It was written by five women who became firm friends at an NHS antenatal class in Hertfordshire, when they were all expecting their first babies, and the details they give are of the sort never found in medical-style textbooks.

One of The Fat Ladies Club authors, 34-year-old Sarah Groves, was a multilingual international jet-setter before her son Jack was born, like the rest of the book's babies, in the summer of 1997. Now a full-time mum, she reflects that the first three or four months of pregnancy dominated by morning sickness, leave a woman feeling "jaded and so disgusting", and in the last two months "you get really fat and huge".

For a short time in between, she says, it might be possible to flaunt a neat, little bump: "But if you put on weight like most of us do in all the wrong places, it's not really flash your bump time. Your body just grows out of all proportion without you having anything to do with it."

After the baby is born, matters slide still further downhill. As a new mum Sarah wore cabbage leaves inside her bra to ease her swollen and sore breasts - and she didn't care if the veg smelled. "Whatever is going to make your life easier and more comfortable, you are going to do it."

All of these tales may perturb Kate Moss and other expectant women - but the indignities pale into insignificance when the baby is born.

Even labour is soon forgotten, Sarah says cheerfully: "It's one of those experiences that is so mind-blowing - that out of such pain can come something so fantastic. Once you've had the baby, once you've been through those moments of pain, it just fades so quickly."

And to prove it, all of the authors of The Fat Ladies Club went on to have another child.

The Fat Ladies Club by Hilary Gardener, Andrea Bettridge, Sarah Groves, Annette Jones and Lyndsey Lawrence is published by Penguin, priced £6.99.

For more information about Changes classes throughout the region, call (01325) 260060. Classes take place at Willington Methodist Chapel every Tuesday from 6pm to 7pm. Contact Jayne Longstaff on (01388) 765381 to find out more.