$280,000 to become a mum

Shelley Gowley, 46, Townsville, Qld

Time for bed,’ I said, tucking the baby into her cot and kissing her little head.

‘What are you up to?’ my mum Dawn asked, looking around my bedroom door.

‘Playing mummies and babies, of course,’ I told her.

I was six years old, and it was my favourite game. It stayed that way as I grew up – my dream was to become a real-life mummy.

In my 20s, I got a job in childcare. And when