Rachel | Northcote
“A woman who’s influenced my life would definitely be my mum. Since becoming a mum myself I’ve realised how hard it is and how difficult it can be raising a child and giving someone life, and it’s really made me appreciate everything that my mum has done for me and sacrificed for me.
My mum moved to England and had me, and my Mum’s originally from Tonga. She couldn’t really speak the language, so she gave up all her family and her life here in New Zealand to go live with my father in England, and it’s just that whole sacrificing nature that’s something that I believe mothers just have, it’s a quality that every mother has, and it’s something which I’m starting to learn myself once I became a mum.
Coping as a mum at the beginning, I found it really, really difficult but now I love it. I just thrive in it. I don’t know. I don’t know what it is, but I think I’m just so lucky and I’m so blessed to have such a chill baby. On a daily basis all we do is just play and talk and I have the best conversations with him, probably because he doesn’t talk back, but it’s just, it’s such a surreal experience, and I’m just so happy to be one.
Women role models are super important. If it wasn’t for women we wouldn’t be here. I think that’s really important to remember, and we’re so lucky living in New Zealand where we have a young female prime minister who is also just about to become a mother as well. It’s just times are changing, even with all the things that are happening in America with stand up protests and I think it’s just a great time to be a woman, and to raise kids as well. We’re raising kids in a society now where women are being accepted and treated equally. Still got a little way to go, but we’ll get there.
My son was born in September, and my mum came over for his birth and she stayed with me for six weeks, and I really, really struggled. I didn’t know what I was doing, and she just, she was there with me every step of the way. She was in hospital with me. She stayed overnight with me. She even would wake up in the mornings to help out with feeds and it’s just that caring, nurturing influence that mums have, and you think that when you grow up you don’t need a mum anymore, but it’s not true. You always need your mum.”
