Has he changed your life?
Oh yeah, absolutely. It’s been incredible. It’s almost like it’s meant to be. He came at the right time. He kind of saved me. I focused on that rather than the s--tstorm that was going on around me. Staying healthy, to carry him full term.
Parenting is hard at any age and your children have a big age gap – do you ever feel like you’ve got mum guilt dividing your time?
I have absolutely no mum guilt whatsoever. My kids get the best of me. I think the best thing I did was have two helpers who replace babysitters ... It’s been much easier this time around having my two big girls help out, and they got to experience seeing a pregnancy. They played with him when he was born ... not in the room but afterwards. And yeah. I love it. I don’t know why everyone goes on about worrying about a big age gap. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong. I mean, I think there’s too much riding on mothers.
Are you a very strict mum?
Yes! My kids and I are friends, but I make sure that they know that they need to respect their father and me and we have certain expectations of them. We have a ‘No d--kheads policy’ in our house. So I’m tough but fair. I expect them to be respectful, to remember their manners, to honour and look after the most vulnerable in society and – all that stuff that was instilled in me by my parents: work hard, don’t walk around as though anyone owes you anything, don’t be an entitled person. They know I’ll always be fair, but I set reasonable standards for them because you’ve got to teach your kids to be resilient and that they’ve got to work hard if they want to get somewhere.
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