From Baby Blues to Battles: My Journey Through Motherhood and the Workplace

From Baby Blues to Battles: My Journey Through Motherhood and the Workplace

So, where did we leave off?

Oh yes—baby number one had arrived. He was finally here. I was officially off work and in full-on mummy mode. Did I miss the nail bar at that point? Yeah, I did. But was that going to last? Let’s just say… no chance.

Fast forward a few months, and motherhood wasn’t quite the glow-up everyone talks about. My little man was always poorly—colic, reflux, constant crying. He was such an unhappy baby, and as much as I tried to smile through it, I was struggling.

At first, I was doing okay. I had that new mum adrenaline, the “I’ve got this” mindset. But when he was just six weeks old, everything changed—he caught norovirus and ended up in hospital. He was seriously ill, and honestly, that experience broke something in me.

From that point on, I lived in fear—terrified we’d end up back there. I was constantly on edge, overthinking every cough, every cry. I became a nervous wreck.

Other mums had poorly babies too, but I still felt completely alone. And that loneliness didn’t lift once we got home. If I’m being honest, it still lingers. Looking back, I think I masked a lot. I didn’t talk about how I felt. I just pushed through.

I’m pretty certain I had postnatal depression—and no, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. If anything, I want to shout it from the rooftops now:

If you don’t feel like yourself, don’t wait. Don’t bottle it up.

Speak to someone. Ask for help.

You are not weak, you are human.

Anyway, back to it.

As time went on, I started to find little bits of “me” again. Even with a still-on-and-off poorly baby, I slowly started doing some mobile work. I think it was when he was about 8 weeks old—maybe even earlier. Truthfully, that whole time is a blur, and that makes me sad.

Then came the work drama.

After my maternity leave, I was waiting for someone from work to contact me about returning. Easy enough, right? Wrong. It was horrendous—arguments, dismissive attitudes, flat-out rudeness. I was treated like an inconvenience for simply becoming a mum.

It became clear I needed backup.

Thank God I’d had the sense to join a union before all this kicked off. I’d done it “just in case”—well, that moment arrived. It was time to stand up for myself. Time to sue, if that’s what it came to.

Was it the outcome I hoped for? Maybe not. But one thing was certain—I wasn’t going to let an all-female industry push me out just because I’d had a baby. Nope. I wasn’t having it.

So, let the battle commence.