For Karen Bailey, it also provided the inspiration to set up her own business.
'I have Irish triplets,' she laughs when asked about her children – she fell pregnant for the second time four months after giving birth to twins.
Having twins in itself was challenging – 'I don't know if it had any affect really, but everything was going fine with the pregnancy until September 11 2001, then suddenly I went into labour and had the babies eight weeks early. They were healthy but needed help breathing, their lungs weren't fully developed and they needn't to be fed for the first while.'

Before giving birth Karen was working for her husband's media company; she had also worked in stock broking in the City and was training to be a lawyer. When her third child came along, not long after the twins turned one, there was very little time to think of a career outside of being a full-time mum.

'I would go shopping with the children, the twins in a buggy and my youngest on my back, and just the look of horror on the shop assistant's face when I walked in'

'I realised then that lots of mothers want to shop in a place where everything is available, from the first pair of shoes to the first haircut for her kids.'
The attempt to fill this need gave birth to Igloo, a shop stocking an eclectic range of products for new-borns up to eight-year-olds – with stuff for mums too. 'The business was created out of a need I saw as a mother,' explains Karen, who started the business with a fellow mum (as an expression of the madness brought on by having – between them – five children in just three years).

'I didn't want to go back to work full time, but I did want to work, I think it's important as a woman to have some creative outlet.

'And yes it was a huge undertaking, to set up a business when my youngest was just one year old, but in that sort of situation you just have to take it one step at a time. There were times when I thought, I don't know anything about this, but it was up to me to sort it out.'
Now that it's up and running though, she explains it gives her a lot more freedom and flexibility than a 9 to 5 job would, and she can spend a lot more time with her children. 'I suppose I'm aware of mortality, of the fact we only have a certain amount of time to do things, but we only have a certain amount of time to enjoy things as well. I'm 40 now, I want to build on what I've set up, and the kids need me now in their formative years. I'm not juggling – they will always come first.'

And when it comes to providing advice for mothers in a similar position who want to set up their own business, she's philosophical.

'Accept that things will always be difficult, that there will obstacles in your way. It's easy to give up after the second or third rejection, but if you just keep going you will get there. It takes time, but you only see that in retrospect.

When I started I had no retail experience, just haunches about what mothers might want, but I think that's how it always works. And you might start to wonder, what if it doesn't work, but really you can't think like that. I wondered when I got pregnant how on earth I was going to cope with a third child – but I just did. The unexpected always happens – but you just find solutions.'

Karen's shop is based in London and you can visit their site at www.iglookids.co.uk

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