‘I solved my family’s biggest beach problem with my maternity leave side hustle’

“It’s so much easier leaving the beach and swimming lessons now,” the clever Wollongong mum reveals.

For a long time, Natalie’s trips to the beach with her then toddler boys were joyful and stressful in equal measure.

The Wollongong mum thought that buying a hooded towel for her eldest, Finn, would help her avoid having to dress him while still damp before they headed to a nearby cafe or playground while she also juggled his then two-year-old brother, Liam. Just like a lot of parenting, that didn’t go to plan. 

“He would run to me and say, ‘Mum, this isn’t working’,” she says of her then four-year-old. 

“It would flap around and he would trip over it, and he couldn’t go down the slide or ride his bike comfortably unless he had something on underneath.”

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Getting the job done

So the 40-year-old, who learnt basic sewing machine skills as a child, took a trip to her local Spotlight and had a stroke of inspiration.

“I found some terry towelling material in a similar colour to the hooded towel, so I made Finn some matching shorts that were very simple, and at the same time, I sewed up parts of the towel to make it more like an oversized shirt.”

It worked so well that she later made one for Liam as well.

Any intentions to start a business weren’t on the table, however, as Natalie and her husband were expecting their third child and the plan was that Natalie would return to work in finance after a busy maternity leave of taking care of three children under 4.

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After her baby boy’s shocking medical diagnosis, a Wollongong mum turned her family’s life around. Image: Supplied

The arrival of their baby boy, Ethan, however, delivered a life change they never could have imagined or prepared for.

At just a month old, Ethan was diagnosed with lissencephaly, an incurable genetic condition of abnormal brain development which severely affects his ability to talk, move and eat.

“It was a complete shock, because he looked and seemed like he had nothing wrong with him.”

Months later came another heartbreak, with an epilepsy diagnosis, and Ethan has suffered multiple daily seizures ever since, despite being on medication.

“I couldn’t even grieve his diagnosis because we had to act so quickly in getting him treatment and on NDIS,” Natalie remembers.

“Once he turned 18-months, it hit me that he wasn’t hitting any milestones and was like a three–to–five month-old, and would be like this for the rest of his life. No matter what I did, I couldn’t fix him.”

The hooded towel sets keep everyone happy and comfy after a day in the water. Images: Supplied

How a hooded towel "saved" her family

Natalie also came to terms that it would be “impossible” for her to return to full time work with being Ethan’s carer, but desperately needed an outlet from the 24/7 demands of being a medical mum. 

The mum-of-three channelled her energy into making her hooded towel-shirt and shorts concept into her first ever business, especially as there was nothing else like it on the market. 

After two years of research and perfecting the design with many, many road, er, beach tests, Natalie launched the Rugii in March, 2023, under her website, Rugup Beach Co.

“I did it all in the evenings while the kids were asleep, or while Ethan was asleep on me during the day,” she says of Finn, 8, Liam, 6 and Ethan, 4.

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Her hard work and passion is already paying off

To date, she has sold more than 700 Rugiis - each priced at $79.97 and available in both terry towelling and waffle fabrics - and made over $52,000.

Natalie still runs the business on her own despite Ethan requiring full time care as his seizures see him frighteningly holding his breath and remaining stiff for up to a minute, with a high risk of aspiration. 

“Epilepsy is the worst part of this,” she says emotionally.

“It took away his smile for two years and we just got it back last October. Now it’s slowly slipping away again. He can take big steps in therapy, then have a seizure, and all his progress is gone and he has to start from scratch again. ‘Never’ is something I don’t like to say, but I don’t think he’ll ever be able to walk. All he can say is ‘more’ and ‘Mum’, and that is huge for him.”

The mum's clever side hustle idea solves a common parenting problem. Image: Supplied

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Natalie says the business is what helps her come out of the “dark cloud” of thinking about Ethan’s future, where he will require care for his entire life.

“They say a child with this condition lives between two and ten years, but I don’t believe that,” she says positively.

“When he smiles he brings us so much happiness. I know that he will lead a very full life. I didn’t imagine my life would turn out like this - and I would take away his diagnosis in a heartbeat if I could - but now that I’m doing [the business] and caring for him, I couldn’t imagine doing anything different. I have joy from so many things now.”

Originally published as ‘I solved my family’s biggest beach problem with my maternity leave side hustle’