Seeing my baby’s first steps

My wife was at work when we were told to go straight to the hospital and within 24 hours, she had an emergency cesarean. This was very scary at the time as my wife was only 28 weeks pregnant, so my son Teddy was born very early at 28 weeks.

 

Teddy was in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for eight weeks. It was a very difficult time in our lives not knowing if he was going to be okay – especially as you see a lot of very sick babies in NICU.

 

On top of this, Teddy was born during the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2021, so only one parent was allowed to see him at a time, which we found really difficult. He never saw our faces because we had to wear masks and we were never together as a family in the same room for those first couple of months. My wife Emma was also recovering from the C-section surgery. It was a very stressful time.

 

Thankfully, he is fine now. He just needed to grow.

 

I didn't start my paid parental leave until Teddy came home from hospital. I took off four weeks and we finally got to have that beautiful family time together.

 

Westpac’s parental leave policy has built-in flexibility: you can spread out the 16 weeks rather than taking it all in one go, and you aren’t forced to take it the moment your baby is born. I was sad to meet other parents in NICU who both were still working because they couldn’t afford to take time off work.

 

When my wife returned to work 12 months later, I took a further 12 weeks off. I was a bit apprehensive about it initially, but it was so good to have that time with Teddy. We went to music class and Gymbaroo and connected with other parents. I saw him take his first steps.

 

It’s great that Westpac actively encourages both parents to take time off, because I think traditionally that hasn’t been the case for working parents.

 

The next year came with its challenges. There was a lot of sicknesses when Teddy transitioned to day care. Thankfully, my manager is supportive of me using my discretion if I needed to work from home or take carer’s leave. I also take time out of my workday to go pick up Teddy from daycare, and I'm trusted to make up the time as I need to.

 

Westpac is absolutely the best place I've ever worked in terms of the way it supports staff. Obviously, the parental policies are really good, and there is also premature birth leave for mums who give birth to premature babies, which I know is really important.

 

I feel like I can bring my whole self to work, and that includes being a parent. I don’t have to be apologetic about having family responsibilities.

 

#WeAreWestpac #WeThrive