All the single mums! IT’S TOUGH BUT WORTH IT

New Zealand may have around 200,000 single-parent families, but let’ s be real-it’ s no easy feat! We talk to four amazing ma mas about their journey

I can still have adventures, but they will look a little different’

A SWEET SURPRISE

Angelica Kappos is the first to admit her journey from a globetrotting flight attendant to single mum is an unusual one. For one, the 26-year-old didn’t even know she was pregnant until 30 weeks!

“I’d had a racing heart for a week and had this terrible backache,” Angelica recalls. “Like everyone else, I jumped straight on to Dr Google and it said that my symptoms meant that I was either pregnant or had kidney failure.

“I knew I wasn’t pregnant so braced myself to hear about my kidneys, but when I saw an actual doctor, he clicked straight away. He got out the audio sonogram and we heard the heartbeat. Yep, I was very, very pregnant.”

Angelica had missed a period in 2017 following a casual fling, but after three tests with her doctor, she was told that she definitely wasn’t pregnant.

“I put on a few kilos but really, I didn’t look pregnant at all as she was hiding in my back, hence the terrible backache,” she explains.

On August 12, Angelica welcomed her daughter Hali Rose into the world after an emergency Caesarean section. She weighed an impressive 4.7kg.

The solo mum has since been learning the ropes of her new role at home in Auckland, with the help of her incredibly supportive family and friends.

“I initially didn’t want to have children because my life is travelling and exploring, and I don’t like to be held down,” says Angelica. “And this, to me, was the scariest option, especially as the dad is uncontactable.

“But when Hali Rose came along, it was instant love. I soon realised that I can still have adventures, but they will look a little different. Once she has her vaccinations, we are off to Queenstown, Australia and then Asia next year, but there’ll be no bungyjumping or white-water rafting for a while!”