����ý

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has announced that she is three months pregnant.

Ms Davidson said she and her partner Jen Wilson were "excited" to be expecting their first child in October after undergoing IVF.

She said she would be taking some time off for maternity leave like "thousands of working women do every year".

But she said she expects to return to the Scottish Parliament in the spring of next year.

The party's deputy leader, Jackson Carlaw, will stand in for Ms Davidson during her maternity leave.

Ms Davidson admitted there had been some "ups and downs" while attempting to conceive, but said she and Ms Wilson were now "looking forward to starting our family" after finding out in March that an IVF procedure had been successful.

And she said it will be "business as usual" until she goes on maternity leave.

The 39-year-old Edinburgh Central MSP said she had struggled with morning sickness since becoming pregnant - at one point having to leave the Holyrood chamber just before a session of first minister's questions.

She told ����ý Scotland: "I've had a bit of the fatigue, the nausea and the dizzy spells and all the rest of it, and I think trying to do everything I was doing before and keep up the pace so people couldn't tell, just until we knew everything was OK, was a bit of a struggle, so I don't think everyone's noticed.

"There was once I was on my way up to first minister's questions and you can probably see if on one of the tapes that I go in and sit down, I'm there for a good 30 seconds before I get back up and walk right out again, just in case.

"But I was OK and I don't think anyone noticed."

Ms Davidson, who was recently named in a Time Magazine list of the world's most influential people, said having a baby should not impact on her political career.

She said: "I think that you've seen right across the world lots of women in politics who have made different choices.

"I don't think that we should limit a woman's choices by whether she had children or not. Her ability to do her job shouldn't be impacted.

"It does require organisation to do both, you can't have all of the time in all of the world, but you can have a family and combine that with a career, and I don't think we should ever send a message to women that they can't have both."

Ms Davidson also said she hoped her announcement could help to underline that it is normal for same-sex couples to have children.

She added: "I think it's important that people realise that this happens and it's normal. Hopefully this takes some of the taboo or mystery away from it."

The couple had planned to get married, but ended up using the money saved for the wedding to pay for medical treatment after their dog - Wilson - was hit by a car.

Ms Davidson said she and Ms Wilson still plan to get married, but said she was hoping to "lose some baby weight" first.