Emily Seebohm keeps Olympic Games dream alive while inspiring new mums
Rhyme-time. Mum's group. Swimming lessons.
Competing in the Australian Olympic trials?
Those first three activities are staples for new parents across the country.
The last one? That is pretty unique to Emily Seebohm.
The 30-year-old's dreams of becoming a five-time Olympian are still alive after qualifying fourth-fastest for Thursday night's 200m backstroke final at the Australian Swimming Trials in Brisbane.
But for the first-time mum, a far more important feat will be showing that anything is possible.
"I think a lot of people when I announced I was coming back, they were like, oh, that will never happen. You won't be able to do it," Seebohm said following her heat swim on Thursday morning.
"I'm doing it for myself and I'm doing it to prove to [son] Sampson that if you've got a dream, don't let anyone tell you can't do it."
Seebohm is bidding to become just the third Australian swimmer to compete at an Olympics as a mother, and first since Hayley Lewis in 2000.
For most, combining the rigorous training required to mount a bid for a spot at the Olympic Games with a newborn would be beyond comprehension.
But Seebohm has not only done that, she's thrived and put herself in a great position to make the Games team in the 200m backstroke, an event she last won a major medal in at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
"You know, I breastfed for eight months solid," Seebohm said.
"And I was able to do that and go to training, and pump and go to gym and be home with Samson and make it to swimming lessons, make it to gymnastics, make it to rhyme-time.
"I was able to do that.
"Yes, it was super hard, but it's doable and you just have to have that great support system."
Seebohm credits the fact that her family is super close — they live 300 metres down the road — as being a key factor in her ability do do that.
But also the fact that night feeds are a thing of the past.
"No, I refuse to do them anymore," Seebohm said.
"I know he can make it through the night — some nights he just chooses not to.
"Some nights I catch him talking to his teddies at 3:00am. I'm not sure what he's saying. But his life's pretty good, so he's got no complaints."
In fact, Seebohm said that compared to the nerves and adrenaline of Olympic competition, the sleep she gets as a mother is more than favourable.
"Some nights I only have six or seven hours of sleep," Seebohm said, no doubt blowing the minds of most new parents.
"And it's just about managing that.
"During Tokyo, like with heats and finals and being nervous, sometimes I couldn't sleep and I did two hours or something.
"Anything's possible. It's just being able to bank the rest that you do get."
Seebohm said one of her main inspirations for coming back to compete at these trials was to rediscover the athlete that she was before she became a mother.
"I've had mums from mum's group that have come out and watched with their bubs, which has been really exciting," she said.
"And mums have reached out to me on Instagram or Facebook or whatever it might be saying how inspiring this is.
"A lot of women I find, especially when I was pregnant, I felt like I lost being that athlete that I was and this is me trying to regain that what I once had.
"You know, proving to other women that it's possible to not only have kids but achieve your dreams too."