Helen Wright went into labour in the morning … and was back at work by lunchtime.

She keeps baby Jessica with her throughout the day so she can breastfeed her – and even conducts meetings and school assemblies with the tot in a sling!

“Most parents want their daughters to have the exhilarating excitement of a career they love and the joy of a family,” says 39-year-old Helen, mother of three and the principal of an all-girls school in Wiltshire.

“I have that, and I want to show the girls that it’s not an impossible dream. “The students have loved having Jessica around and their faces light up when they are near her. She is such a good baby too.

“I just couldn’t hand them over to someone else to look after and bring them up,” Helen continues. “I don’t believe in doing that. Plus I have a job that is full of responsibilities and these pupils need stability, so it made sense to have Jessica with me from the beginning.’’

Helen explains that she breastfeeds Jessica, now 12 weeks, between meetings and lets the tot sleep in a moses basket beside her desk.

“The day I had Jessica I went to hospital at 5.45am and I had her less than an hour later,” Helen says. “I was then discharged three hours later and felt absolutely brilliant, so I thought why not share that?

“I was back in my office at school just after lunch and was immediately introducing my beautiful daughter to everyone.

“I look after people’s daughters for them so they expect me to be pretty special and an excellent role model,” Helen adds.

Read the full story in this week's Woman's Day, on sale March 15, 2010.

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