The women you see in our campaign have all given birth to healthy babies by now. With Mother’s Day around the corner, we’ve asked them some quick questions about their first months of motherhood. Meet WILLEMIJN, mom of FINN.

NAME: Willemijn
JOB: family guardian at Jeugdbescherming Amsterdam
MOM OF: Finn Oliver, born November 21st 2021

The first months were…

“I was on cloud nine for the first 2 weeks. I felt so happy and proud! The weeks after that, that happy feeling continued, except the sleepless nights made it all a bit heavier. In the beginning, you don’t care about the sleep deprivation, but after weeks - or should I say: months, haha - the lack of sleep starts to kick in. Overall I’m very emotional, both because of all the happy feelings, and the permanent tiredness.”

Cliche, but true

“That being a mom is the most beautiful and yet vulnerable thing there is.”

The type of mom I turned out to be

“I thought I’d be a relaxed type of mom, and I think I am. I did not expect to be obsessing over his naps, though. Since I let go of any routines, it all feels so much more relaxed.”

Motherhood in 3 words

“Love, pride, exhaustion.”

On maternity leave

“Finn was born 2 weeks early, so I was happy my maternity leave started when I was 34 weeks pregnant. I would recommend taking lots of time off - I started working again when Finn was 4,5 months old.”

Best tip

“We had lots of people coming over from the day Finn was born. We were so proud and wanted to show him to everybody. My husband was of course perfectly fine, physically, and he really enjoyed it, but I was still recovering from giving birth. Next time, that's something would do differently. So my tip: take it slow!"