Like just about every other person on the planet, when Covid-19 hit I found myself stuck at home for months and months. I was lucky enough to have a job that allowed me to transition to working from home fairly easy. Based in New Zealand, over the course of 18 months we continued to bounce in and out of severe lockdowns. When i finally fell pregnant after a grueling IVF cycle in June 2021, we had only started transitioning back to work. At approximately 10 weeks pregnant we were hit with another lockdown, and this was the last time i stepped foot in an office until January 2023. At this point in time, my daughter started daycare full-time at 10 months old. I counted myself extremely to have had 10 months of maternity leave with 6 of those partially paid. Over the course of another 17 months, I battled with the guilt of sending my daughter to daycare for more than 10 hours a day and feeling like I was failing as an employee too. I had simultaneously completed my chartered accounting qualification during this time and felt even more compelled to prove my worth at work.
It's no lie that the cost-of-living crisis has spiraled out of control for many families and although we were extremely blessed to own a home, we could not afford to live on one salary or take on part-time work to be more present at home. The simple, cold truth is that you cannot give 100% at home and 100% at work. Something just didn't feel right.
An opportunity to emigrate to Australia presented itself at what felt like the best and worst time. We felt settled and comfortable but had our reservations about how we were spending our days. My husband was offered a transfer and i decided to quit my job. With little over 2 months to get ourselves relocated to Australia, we decided a change was needed. We made the decision to sell our home in New Zealand and we would rent in Australia until we were certain about where we wanted to settle. This meant we could wipe the slate clean and design a life where we could live on one salary and I would be able to become a stay-at-home mother to spend more time with my daughter.
Another decision we had to make before leaving New Zealand was to transfer our final embryo from the same IVF round that gave us our daughter. Given the amount of interaction with the fertility clinic in the first 7 weeks of the pregnancy, it made sense to do it before we left. We transferred our final embryo on Good Friday 2024. This transfer was successful.
It has been a whirlwind few months and we are finally settling down in our new country. Enjoying every moment with my beautiful daughter and looking forward to welcoming another little girl into our family. The greatest motivation for starting this business has been going through another pregnancy and being reminded by how overwhelming this process can be, especially for first time parents. This sparked an idea of creating an online store showcasing products from multiple established sources and attempting to make it easier for first time parents to easily see and review product choices that I am confident to promote having used them before.
The evolution of this business is still to be determined but through multiple social media platforms, I hope to attract an audience looking for support during one of the most important periods in their life.
Watch this space!
~ Melissa
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