This was me heading into an important leadership meeting when Felicity was just 8 weeks old.

What you can’t see in this photo:

→ It was the first time I’d properly left the house for a full day.
→ I was running on about 4 hours of sleep for the week.
→ I was dosed up on painkillers after a traumatic birth.
→ I was still wearing maternity post-birth underwear.
→ And I was fuelled entirely by chocolate mini eggs.

We even had to ask the taxi driver to stop so I could feed the baby in the back.

From the outside, it looked like I was “doing it all.”

But inside, I was barely holding it together.

And just 3 weeks ago, I stopped breastfeeding, something with a physical, logistical, and emotional toll we don’t talk about enough:

→ The hormone crash.
→ The constant calculations of “Can I be back in time to feed?”
→ The emotional weight of managing both worlds.

I’m not sharing this for sympathy.

Or to be wrapped in cotton wool.

I’m sharing it because I want to normalise what this stage of life really looks like.

So if you’re a working parent wondering how everyone else is “doing it all”…

They’re not.

Be kind to yourself. You’re carrying a lot.

And you’re doing more than enough. 💙
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