This is a story for young mothers By Sarah Davies

Isn’t it funny, the minute you think you have everything sorted, life throws you a curve ball and you are back to square one.

Rewind back to May 2007. I was in my final year of a Communication degree at University. I was completing an internship at one of Australia’s most prestigious advertising agencies in North Sydney. Developing an instant rapport with the entire team. My account manager asked me to come back during my next holidays for more experience, and that didn’t surprise me. I was ecstatic and it seemed my plans to get into a great job straight out of Uni were going to come to fruition.

Later that afternoon I walked into the toilets and vomited. I had been feeling a little off for a couple of weeks but put it down to stress and exhaustion. When I suddenly realised my period was a week late I bought a test. As the blue lines appeared in front of me I was thrown into an immediate state of panic. Although I had been with our baby’s father for over three years, we hadn’t planned to settle down. That for at least another five years.

The next few weeks were a blur of tears

Nervous joy and silent whispers as we came to terms with what would be a defining change in our lives. I have no idea where I would be had I not had the support of our families and my then-boyfriend – now husband. He was simply amazing. A pillar of love and support in the face of this challenge.

When I handed in the final assessment of my University career, and after I’d finished the last exam I wasn’t drinking beer with my friends. That time, I rather felt the kicks from our baby inside me. Instead of packing for a new job in the city, I was moving back to the country town. The town where this journey had begun. I wasn’t sad, I was overwhelmingly happy and excited and enthusiastic. Although I was only 23 this was my story. This was our baby and I wasn’t going to let anyone dampen it – especially not those that thought I was too young.

Nearly four years on and our little family is healthy and happy. Amusingly I still get the odd double-take from people when I tell them I have a three-year-old but I wouldn’t change a thing. And while miss Lulu had momentarily paused my exuberant plans, ultimately I knew nothing would stop me from achieving whatever it was I wanted in life.

As the great writer, Charles R. Swindoll once said “We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.” So for those people who tell young mothers that their lives are over when they have children, it is so not. Your life is only just beginning.