PHOTOGRAPH: STOCKSY
Nine years ago, I sat in the office of former Psychologies Editor Louise Chunn as she offered me the role of Beauty Director at this beloved magazine of ours. I was thrilled, frightened, surprised and hungry. ‘There is one small problem,’ I said. ‘I’ve just had a baby.’ And so began my atypical route into motherhood… a five-week-old baby at home, and a new job on the table. I took another eight weeks at home. Mr Rushton quit his job and chose to become the stay-at-home parent. We were heart-rooted, clear and happy with the decision, but that didn’t mean there would not be crescendos of disquiet over the almost-decade that followed. A new, sleep-deprived, breastfeeding-andexpressing working mum is a complicated being. In truth, there was little being back then… my life was dominated by doing. Up at an alarm, following countless cries, feeds and months of unsettled sleep – dizzy on a commuter train, then at a desk, in and out of meetings, up and over and across town, and back home, if I was lucky, to catch bathtime… delicious cheeks and wet kisses.