Fawnly 
I had my first baby in 2025, and it was a journey. At the time I was a scientist on a fixed-term contract, and I had no idea what pregnancy would mean for my work. I worried my supervisor would be unhappy, and I didn't know how or when to tell them.
You're meant to wait until 12 weeks, right? Bubba had other ideas: at six weeks, severe morning sickness made the decision for me. But even after telling my employer early, I had no real idea how much money I'd actually get on maternity leave, or how it would affect my fixed-term contract. You often don't even receive the maternity policy documents until after you've accepted a job.
So during my pregnancy I built a rudimentary Excel sheet to estimate my take-home pay across maternity leave, just to work out whether we could afford for me to take the full year. It turns out most of my friends were also struggling to do the same calculations. That spreadsheet became the Maternity Pay Calculator. It takes the guesswork out, factoring in KIT days, enhanced maternity pay, Child Benefit and the number of weeks you take off.
I was the first in my family to have a baby, and it was a minefield. It felt like unlocking a whole new level of adulthood: a huge new vocabulary, and then the small matter of actually parenting. What does a baby even need?
I'm hoping Fawnly helps you along that journey from expecting to parenting, with tools and resources to plan, and enjoy, your maternity leave and the years that follow. If I can help just one more new parent through this, that's a win in my book.
More recently I trained with the NHS as a breastfeeding peer supporter, and I'm still breastfeeding my baby well into her toddler years. I also co-sleep, something there was very little clear information about when I started. Finding a network of mums with similar ideas has made all the difference to my parenting journey.
What Fawnly is for
I want to support and empower women to make the choices that feel right for them: to easily understand the financial implications, to plan, and to bring a family into the world on their own terms. Peer and parental support can make or break a parenting journey, and I want Fawnly to be part of that support.
I'm also a firm believer that you need far less “stuff” than the baby industry would have you think. Fawnly will always help you spend less, not more, and make calm, informed decisions rather than panic buys.
Above all, I want to bring a scientific edge to everything here: the analyses, the tools and the blog posts. With a BSc and a PhD behind me, and a habit of always keeping up my professional development (CPD), I lean on evidence and official sources like GOV.UK and the NHS, and build everything to actually do the working out for you. Keep tuned. :)
- Scarlet