Tell us a bit about yourself?

Hi, I’m Jae! I am 25, a Queanbeyan girl born and bred & the second eldest of 4 children. I grew up with my aunty for majority of my life and my siblings were spread through the foster system. In early 2013 my beautiful mum lost her battle with mental health and that was when I knew I needed to work hard to break the generational cycle that was ingrained in me for my future and my children. With love and support of my beautiful husband and so many others I can proudly say I broke that cycle.

My husband Matty and I are high school sweethearts, together since we were 16 now married with 2 beautiful babies. Hudson (born Jan 2020) & Zahara (born Sept 2021).

What were you doing before babies?

Before babies I was working full time in the Public Service and going out for breakfast or coffee every other day. I am a very social person and have always loved being out and about with my family and friends, I was also quite active playing sport and training most days of the week.

How did you come to be a mum?

In March 2019 I had the biggest shock of my life when my period was late for the first time ever, I took a pregnancy test and it turned out I was experiencing a chemical pregnancy. This short but sweet experience made us realise we were so ready to be parents and just 6 short weeks later I found out I pregnant with our beautiful boy Hudson. My pregnancy was beautiful apart from a bit of sickness to begin with I enjoyed every minute until about 36 weeks when I went in to be checked for reduced movements. We discovered Hudson had stopped growing and my fluid was so low they thought my water had broken. After a week of constant monitoring I decided to get induced at 37 weeks as I was advised Hudson would be better off out than in at this point. After 3 long days of different inductions and labour I was finally ready to push and then they noticed his heart rate wasn’t recovering in between contractions. His heart rate declined dramatically getting down to 60bpm and was not recovering so we were rushed to theatre. 8 short minutes later our beautiful boy entered the world and I’ve never been happier to hear a baby cry - he was just perfect and in that exact moment I knew my world changed for the better.

12 short months later on Hudsons first birthday I found out I was pregnant with our surprise baby girl Zahara. The sickness came on hard and fast which was tough with a toddler. Then, at 10 weeks I suffered a major bleed but I didn’t want to panic, my husband & I have always lived by what’s meant to be will always be so we just rode the emotionally wave and were ecstatic to see her heart still beating a few days later. This pregnancy was so different - my sickness hung around for about 22 weeks, I had no energy, my skin and hair were dull, I put on double the amount of weight to my first pregnancy and my body just ached. I had a scheduled c-section at 38 weeks and wow it was honestly the most beautiful, humble and healing experience that I ever could’ve wished for. She was perfect and my heart instantly doubled in size.

What has your feeding journey been like?

Sadly breastfeeding wasn’t something that came easily to me at all, every aspect of it with Hudson was so hard it mentally and physically exhausted me and I felt like my body failed him. Due to mental load of this I chose not to breastfeed Zahara and bottles have served both my babies perfectly.

What has sleep been like in your house?

I guess you could say I’m a lucky one - so far both my babies have been independent sleepers and have slept through the night from 6 weeks old so sleep hasn’t overly been an obstacle for us. Fingers crossed it stays this way as Zahara gets older.

The hardest bits…

Personally the hardest part of motherhood for me has been becoming a mother without my own mum. You never truly appreciate a mothers love or sacrifice until you have children of your own. There’s nobody in the world I want to share my babies lives with more than her and the sad reality is I can’t. We make a conscious effort to have her apart of our everyday life, we look at photos of her and talk about her quite regularly and the kids will always know and speak of her like she’s right beside them.

The best bits…

There is so much to love about motherhood for me. Nothing warms me more than the way my kids look at me - like i’m the only person in the whole wide world, their sun rises and sets with me. I love watching them grow and change, watching their little personalities blossom.

I’m so excited to watch them grow up together.

How do you make time for you?

I try to schedule a beauty appointment, coffee or shopping trip with a girlfriend once a week if not fortnight that I tend to do without the kids. My husband is so supportive and always checks in on me and my needs so I don’t ever feel like i’m burning out. We’ve always said our babies need happy, healthy parents and self care is crucial to achieve that

What’s next for you and your family?

For now we are very content and feel as though our puzzle is complete with our 2 precious babies but never say never. We have a lot in the pipeline for our near future, hopefully building another home or two. I’m so excited to watch our story unfold one chapter at a time.

A piece of advice for our readers?

Do what works for you not what others tell you should work for you. Ride the wave and soak in every moment, as they say the days are long but the years are short.