It’s been almost a year since television and radio presenter Emma Freedman gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Will, with her partner Charlie Rundle.
Arriving six weeks early, Will was born prematurely, something Emma says was “very difficult”.
“When your baby is in hospital and you have to leave them every night and they’re ventilated and they have tubes and cables and monitors coming out every which way, that’s very challenging,” Emma, 31, tells Now To Love.
Despite Will’s turbulent welcome into the world, Emma and Charlie remained positive.
“We knew he would come home and recover and there are other parents who are not so lucky,” Emma says.
Emma is besotted with baby Will.
(Image: Instagram / @emma_freedman)Will is now healthy as ever and Emma is loving motherhood.
In fact, it didn’t take long for the new mum to get into the swing of things and back to work.
“I love it! I love being a mum!” she said.
“It is a real juggle when you go back to work and I went back at about 3 months, not full time, just part time.”
While Emma explains returning to work was more of a necessity than a choice, she’s relished the opportunity and reprieve, of sorts.
“I’m a contractor, I don’t get maternity leave. So it was a bit more of a necessity to go back to work, and I think a lot of women are in a pretty similar position,” she explains.
“I did enjoy going back, to clear your mind and have something else going on because it can be a lot and consuming when you’re always at home with a new born.”
Emma felt she had to return to work three months after Will was born.
(Image: Getty)While motherhood can be overwhelming, Emma prefers to focus on the positives rather than the typical “struggles”.
“There is a lot of talk about things being a struggle when you’re a mum and I think we should really celebrate the things we are great at, how enjoyable it is,” she says.
“I don’t think motherhood needs to be a struggle. I know for some people it is, but for me I was really lucky, I enjoy nearly every part of it.”
The television presenter hopes the attitude and stereotypes surrounding motherhood can shift.
“You start to see all these memes about how hard the day is, and I think ‘Yeah it’s hard, but if you’re going to focus on all the negatives, you’re only going to be more negative’.”
The TV and radio host is focusing on the joys of motherhood.
(Image: Instagram / @emma_freedman)Emma has recently teamed up with Big W on a campaign to reduce stress and anxiety when shopping for baby needs, helping mums to do a one-stop-shop, as well as providing a ‘concierge service’ with midwives and experts on hand.
“I found I was racing around to different shops and trying to find this or that, as well as ordering things online, it became more of a hassle then it needed to,” Emma says.
For more information on BIG W’s Bub & Me Education Program visit, www.bigw.com.au.
