Maura Fay

So the latest figures from PUBL, the state agency which administers the early years programmes, paint a stark picture.

Their most recent analysis from last August showed that up to 40,000 children under the age of three are on creche waiting lists nationwide.

The pressure is most acute for spaces for babies.

For children under one year old, more than 6,600 are waiting on a place and there are fewer than 100 creche spaces available across the country.

Currently, there don't appear to be any short-term measures to try to tackle the problem, but in January, the government did announce a new state-led childcare building scheme.

Under the plan, the state will buy or refurbish buildings and turn them into not-for-profit crashes in areas where the demand is highest.

The aim is to increase overall capacity in the system over the next year or two, so easing pressure on it somewhat.

It's causing a lot of difficulty.

So particularly for parents who don't have family who are in a position to help provide childcare, a lot of people are using a combination of 16 weeks unpaid leave, nine weeks of paid parental leave and annual leave and also private childminders.

The first lady we had, we were paying her 50 a day.

Do you have any hope of getting a crash spot anytime soon?

I spoke to another woman named Sarah from the Midwest of Ireland.

Both her and her partner's parents are not in a position to help with childcare.

So since very early in her pregnancy, Sarah has been looking for a creche place.

Presently, the earliest she's going to get a creche spot is when her child is just over a year old.

She and her partner are currently figuring out how they're going to manage bridging that gap in the meantime.

Like Jessica, Sarah needs to go back to work for financial reasons, but there's also other reasons why she wants to go back.

She points out that maternity leave can be a very lonely time for mothers.

I also asked Sarah what she missed about working.

So one childcare provider I spoke to who wished to remain anonymous said that they wouldn't do a baby room anymore because simply they don't get paid enough to run them.