Laura was raised in Petersfield, Hampshire in the UK and is the youngest of four children. Her mother is Maltese and her father is English, so she was always visiting Malta to stay with family while growing up. She trained at East 15 Acting School, London, specialising in musical theatre, and went on to professional performance work in London for a few years before she moved to Malta permanently eight years ago.

She met her husband David at an Argentine tango event and they were married on 29th May 2015. Their cute-as-a-button son Adam Peter Bonnici - also known as Dash - was born last year on the 7th September.

"I gave him the nickname Dash, because he's always kicking his legs with excitement and I would say to him, 'Are you trying to dash away?'", Laura» explains, "Also, my whole family has nicknames and I wanted to introduce one for him early on that we liked. And it suits him."

Laura and David always agreed that they wanted to have children, and so little Adam was very much planned and hoped for.

"When we found out I was pregnant, we were overjoyed," she beams. "That said, it was still a surprise - I thought I was just feeling a bit tired and run down - so when we discovered it was because I was pregnant, we couldn't believe it."

Laura was lucky that her pregnancy was very comfortable, with very little morning (or in her case, evening) sickness, so she was able to carry on working. The third trimester was a little trickier, she says, as she suffered from swelling in her legs, ankles and feet.

That said, she carried on dancing Argentine tango throughout the pregnancy, right up until her due date, albeit with David's help to put on her shoes.

"I sensed that the little one loved it when I danced, and so did I. David and I even danced in the labour suite, to calm me down," she smiles.

Laura went slightly over her due date, and for various reasons the birth had to be induced. This made labour especially painful, and after several complications, Adam arrived via emergency C-section.

"He was finally handed to me when I awoke from the C-section just after midnight. I was in shock. After a very long day and being sedated for the operation in the end, so much had happened that to be holding him at last felt unreal. I was shaking quite a bit, and he was put onto my elbow as I was wheeled through the corridor to briefly see my awaiting family, on the way back to the room. He was a little darling though, not screaming or crying, just cosying into my arm," she says.

Laura made the decision to breastfeed and says that she looks upon being able to do this as a gift, especially since many other women in her family and David's have not had a lot of success with breastfeeding, so she was expecting not to be able to either.

"I knew I wanted to try my best to do it. If nature was on my side, then great. If not, no problem. As it turns out, Adam was a little pro from the off," she smiles. "I exclusively breastfed for the first month of his life. Now I breastfeed and supplement with formula and I love that I'm still able to breastfeed him this far along. I appreciate quite how lucky I am in this respect."

Laura says that during the first few weeks of Adam's existence, she felt like she was in this little, exhausted, shocked bubble. "With the various complications that had affected me physically, and adapting to a new baby, it was a bizarre, intense time," she says. "My family and friends were super supportive. They were there if I needed them but understanding when I needed space to hide and to be a new 'mum hermit' for a while."

And what about daddy David?

"I've never seen anyone so delighted to be a father," she smiles, "I had problems moving around for the first few weeks, and so it was David who did the nappy changes, carrying the baby to me for feeds, putting him to sleep and so forth. He was amazing. And that hasn't changed. Adam lights up when he sees his dad walking through the door home from work, and to see such a bond already forming between father and son is a joy to behold."

Even with all the support she has, Laura admits that adapting life to having a small, very high maintenance little person around, when there wasn't one before, is tough.

"To suddenly have my working lifestyle grind to a total, but necessary, halt, was quite a change to adjust to so quickly," she tells me, "Only now am I reintroducing more work elements back into my life. It is making me feel more like myself again, but it's taken a good while to get to this point and find a balance."

Laura has also made a big career change - as a costume designer and tailor, which means that she can be a stay-at-home working mum. She has a taken on some writing and performance work and will be taking part in this summer's MADC Shakespeare performance.

"All is going very well, but it does take some extra determination, discipline and planning now I have Adam in the mix," she sighs, "I was very naïve before he was born, thinking that he would stay calmly and quietly in the same place I leave him at home while I work for hours as I used to. How wrong I was. My time is not my own any more, but I suppose that's part and parcel of parenthood"

On the other hand, she says, it is a wonderful thing to love a child so absolutely, and be so loved and needed by him in return:

"Although I have career-related achievements of which I'm very proud, I have to say that creating our little herd is possibly the greatest thing I have ever done in my life so far. Adam really is a joy. He is very easy-going, very patient, smiles and laughs all the time at everyone, and is happy and excited as a default. Having him has brought my husband and I even closer together, and the love within our family unit is something I'm incredibly proud of."