“When we found out we were pregnant, it was just pure joy. It didn’t matter that we weren’t married, it didn’t matter that we were in a pandemic,” says Lesley Murphy, reflecting on the moment she and fiancé Alex Kavanagh discovered they were expecting.

The couple got engaged in February 2020, just before the novel coronavirus began to spread in the United States — and welcomed daughter Nora Blanche one year later on February 12, 2021.

“I won’t lie. It was scary to bring a child into that world we were living in,” Lesley tells BachelorNation.com in an exclusive interview. “But I think I’ve always kept the faith. I knew the world was going to get out of this mess and we’re going to get back to a much better place. And we are. I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Despite her initial fears, the “Road Les Traveled” blogger quickly recognized the comforting prospects of carrying a child in unprecedented times that forced her to slow down and self-isolate with Alex. In the midst of it all, the pair grew closer during a cross-country move from Los Angeles to settle down in Lesley’s home state of Arkansas to begin their new life as a family of three.

“There were silver linings. Getting more one-on-one time with Alex was invaluable,” she says of the Australian DRONEGEAR founder. “And I’ll always remember the time we spent in the hospital after Nora was born with just the three of us. I think if we weren’t inside a pandemic, so many visitors would’ve come. And while that would have been nice, we both really enjoyed the bonding experience that we had, just the three of us, together.”

Below, Lesley — who Bachelor Nation fell in love with on “The Bachelor” Season 17 and “Bachelor Winter Games” — shares more about motherhood and reveals how her experience within the franchise helped set the stage for her happily ever after with Alex and their baby girl.

How has life been since welcoming Nora?

Oh, my gosh, it has taken a complete 180. It’s a surrender of your old life. I always knew parenthood would be completely impossible to prepare yourself for. It’s overnight that your life changes. It’s beautiful and amazing and exhausting and really freaking hard. It’s so many emotions wrapped up in one. I think what helps is having a supportive partner and a support system around you. And if you’ve got a little bit of sleep to go off of, you’re good. It’s something that is so full-on and requires all of you all the time. It’s something you have to surrender to.

How have you chosen to “surrender” to life as a new mom?

My assistant and my management company, they were both asking me about maternity leave and if I was taking it. I kind of sat there and I was like, “Huh, I haven’t really thought about it.” Just because I work for myself and I work from home, so, off the bat, I was just like, “No, I don’t think I’ll be taking maternity leave.” But now that I’m in it, of course I’m taking maternity leave. My life does not look anything like it did. I don’t have the time to look after my business right now. I was getting to a place where I was only getting things halfway done. That was the telltale sign that I was trying to do too much.

Is motherhood something you’ve always dreamed of?

No, I’ll be honest. I’ve never been that girl who’s always dreamed about her wedding day or dreamed about motherhood. I think it’s because maybe I live in the present so much. I’ll never forget — one day a few years back, my best friend was like, “I envy you because you’re always able to live in the present all the time. And me, I’m always trying to plan for the future and plan for the perfect job and all this stuff.” And then I’d look at her life and I was like, “Yeah, but look at you. You do have the perfect job and the perfect house and the perfect husband and all this stuff.” And, at the time, I didn’t have a boyfriend, didn’t have a family, and so I feel like it’s that grass-is-always-greener complex. She’s right, though. I do a really good job of living in the present, and I think that makes for a really content life. But to answer your question, no, I never really dreamed about those things. I just always knew when the time was right, they would meet me in my life.

When did it click for you that you wanted to start a family with Alex?

We really didn’t plan to have a baby in a pandemic. It just kind of happened. We got engaged at the beginning of 2020 and a month later, the world shut down. He’s Australian, so it became increasingly hard to try and plan for this wedding. We put everything to the side and a few months later, we found out we were pregnant. It wasn’t like we weren’t not trying. I had gotten off birth control. When it happened, I knew the time was right and that this is what the universe’s plan was for us. It’s so old-school for things to fall in the “perfect” order. It doesn’t have to be first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Nora in a baby carriage. I love that we did it our own way and kind of took control back from this pandemic and had a baby first.

How did the pandemic impact your pregnancy?

Being pregnant inside a pandemic did keep us inside more often, but we were also living in California, where the restrictions were very strict. I certainly didn’t want to get sick while pregnant and pass something along to my baby. We were very, very cautious. But we still wanted to be able to live our lives a little bit. We went on a babymoon to Tahiti in November and I think a lot of people may have thought that was a little crazy, but you can’t live your life based on other people’s opinions. I’m a travel blogger. I also knew that was going to be our last trip as a couple and so we just looked at each other and said, “Why not?” I firmly believe you can still travel safely if you take the necessary precautions, which we did. We had the best time just the two of us for the last time in a while. It was amazing.

You are so transparent about your life experiences on social media. As you move further along into motherhood, how would you describe your approach to dealing with the parenting police and mom-shamers?

I was worried about the mom-shamers. As strong as I am, we all have that inner critic and it can really affect us mentally on any given day. I’m lucky to have a really good community online. I don’t get a ton of it, but it certainly does pop into my DMs and I just kind of have to roll my eyes. It depends on the day, though. Sometimes I do want to respond, and I do want to tell these people, “That’s not OK. Nobody knows my baby better than me. And so, respectfully, f--k off.” I could sit here all day and say, just ignore it or roll your eyes and move on. But it’s hard and something more needs to be done. And sometimes these shamers, I believe, need to be called out. What else is going to curb this cyberbullying or this online hate? You do have to have a thick skin and just let it pass you by. Because if you do give into it and you do respond often, it does fuel this fury inside of you. That negative energy just ruins your day, it really does. I believe in being vocal and having a voice, but sometimes I just don’t want my DMs to ruin my day. There’s a balance.

What have been your favorite parts of motherhood so far?

Seeing Nora smile, seeing her happy, just fuels me. It is the best. And then on the flipside of that, seeing her fussy and seeing her crying kills me. I don’t know what’s wrong and, of course, you can’t ask a baby what’s wrong and so that is on the other side of the spectrum. The emotions are just a full-blown roller coaster. Also, I remember wondering what it was going to be like when the doctor put her on my chest for the first time. I could not grasp that moment, so I couldn’t wait to experience it. That will forever stick out to me as such a high and such a highlight of our time together so far. You grow this human for nine months and then you finally meet her. It was just the most beautiful meeting. It felt like the biggest high, pure elation, everything.

How was your delivery?

I was on an epidural, which was the best thing ever. I don’t even care about the epidural-shamers out there. Like, back off. It was all the best experience ever. I always hear about these horror stories with labor and delivery. But, for me, it was none of that. It was so much fun, such a high. I loved moving through every part of that experience just because I’ve always loved the female body. And seeing how my body reacted to all these things was awesome. I know not everybody has a good experience, but I’m just crazy thankful that mine was so good. It makes me want to have 10 more babies.

Do you and Alex plan to have more children?

Ten more? (Laughs) Probably not. But one more, if we could be so lucky. That would be amazing. I have two little nephews who are super close in age and seeing them become best friends is the greatest thing. So, I would love nothing more than for Nora to have a best friend close in age, but I think we’ll get married first and then try for a second.

How would you describe Alex as a dad?

It’s just so effortless for him, the way he is able to comfort her. It’s wild. Sometimes she’ll be fussy in my arms and then he’ll take over and he just soothes her. He has this magic touch that sometimes I feel like I don’t have. That, of course, is not true. That’s just my inner critic coming out to play. But Alex always has this magic about him and this aura surrounding him. He loves being a dad. It’s something that he was always meant to be and it’s the coolest thing to see him move into fatherhood overnight. He’s such a natural. I didn’t think my love for him could grow any more, but I was so wrong. Seeing him as a dad has pushed my love for Alex over the edge.

How has motherhood changed you?

Motherhood has changed me, for sure. I was so work-oriented and focused on me. I’ve lived this selfish lifestyle for the past seven years, going all over the world and solely focusing on work, and then I met Alex. Now, becoming a mom, it is so not about me anymore and that is very evident. Even when I try and make something about me, whether it’s answering emails or trying to get a blog post up, sometimes she doesn’t let me and that’s OK. We have to take care of her right now because we are all she has. It’s not about us anymore.

Tell me about Nora’s personality.

Fierce! She is small but mighty. She keeps us on our toes. Yesterday she was so content being asleep all day. Whereas the day before that and the day before that, she was super cranky and just wanted to be on our chests all day long. We couldn’t put her down. She wasn’t having it. Once you think you have it figured out with her, she changes her emotions on a dime. And we’re OK with that. We just can’t wait for the day we can travel together. I think we’re going to do that as soon as she can get her shots and we can do that safely with her. Some people are like, “It’s really hard with babies.” And other people are like, “The best time to travel with babies is when they’re under a year old.” Everybody has their opinion. But, to me, everything in life is one big experiment and so I think you just have to strap her on your back, just go, and figure it out.

What are some of her recent milestones?

Consistent poops! I’ve never lived for poops before, but wow, when your child is consistently pooping, it is the best milestone ever. I have lived for the day when she starts smiling and she just started giving us glimpses of that over the last few days and it is the best thing ever. She has also just started sleeping longer stretches, which is everything. It really changes your life. Noticing those longer stretches in sleep because she’s eating more and growing feels like the biggest exhale ever.

Tell me about some future milestones of Nora’s that you’re looking forward to.

The two things I’m so excited for within the next year are traveling with her and seeing how we travel as a family of three — just because Alex and I are so used to being on our own time and doing whatever we want, traveling on a whim, and that’s not the case anymore. Obviously, it’s possible to travel with an infant, but it is completely different. Traveling with her and seeing the world through her eyes. And then seeing her as our flower girl! We are still hoping to get married toward the end of 2021.

What are your current wedding plans after COVID-19 forced you to readjust?

I don’t really intend to go into 2022 and not be married. But the hardest thing is just waiting on the Australian borders to be open because they are super, super strict with everything right now. We really need their borders to open and their quarantine to lift so that we can either get in or his family can get out. So, at this point, we definitely want to get married this year. We’re just not sure what it will look like because of COVID-19.

What made you and Alex want to move to Little Rock, Arkansas, last year?

Neither one of us had a huge community in L.A. My family’s in Arkansas, his family’s in Australia. In a normal year, we’re all over the place all the time. It’s really hard to keep a community when you’re on the road all the time. Once we found out we were pregnant, we knew L.A. wasn’t right for us in that moment.

Would you and Alex ever move back to Los Angeles?

That’s a good question. I was struggling with the thought of moving back to Arkansas last year. I knew in my heart of hearts that it was the right thing to do and, ultimately, the best thing to do. But, in my head, I thought it would be some weird mistake moving back home. I never thought I would move back to Arkansas, but the universe had other plans and I am so happy to be here. But I also kept telling myself, “Nothing’s permanent.” I think it is perfect for right now and maybe forever? It could be a really nice home base. But it’s really nice to be in L.A. for Alex’s business. If we had the best of both worlds, we’d have a home somewhere in the U.S. and somewhere in Australia. In a perfect world, we would spend half the year in one country and half the year in the other. And maybe we’ll be able to get there one day. That would be the dream.

Bachelor Nation is experiencing a bit of a baby boom right now. Ben Zorn recently welcomed a son, and more franchise alums — including Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Lauren Burnham, Lauren Bushnell, Diggy Moreland, Josiah Graham, and Bob Guiney, just to name a few — are expecting. What is it like seeing so many members of the Bachelor family starting and growing families of their own?

It’s awesome. I think we watch these people on TV trying to find love and it’s so cool to see them grow a family after that because we’re so invested in their love and then we see it grow and multiply with a baby. That just shows you the realness of it. I think a lot of people are skeptical of the show. They ask, “How real is ‘The Bachelor’?” And that kind of just shows you the facts — yeah, it’s pretty real.

What advice would you give new parents, including those within Bachelor Nation?

I’ve heard things like, “Sleep when the baby sleeps.” But am I also going to do laundry when the baby does laundry? Am I also going to do taxes when the baby does taxes? There are so many things that I still need to get done in the day and I can’t just sleep when the baby sleeps. I would say to find a really, really supportive, loving partner and lock them up. They’re everything. Find a really good support system and know when to ask for help. I am so stubborn. I want to be able to be Super Mom and want to be able to do everything. But I just can’t. Nobody can and everybody needs help, so it’s OK to ask for help. It can be all-consuming and certainly so beautiful. But you have to take care of you in order to take care of somebody else well. It’s so important to find little things for yourself every day, whether that be a Peloton ride or a pedicure or actually sitting down for a meal.

So many Bachelor Nation stars describe the show as the best form of therapy. Because you got to learn more about yourself in interviews, do you think your time within the franchise led you to this point in your life with Alex and Nora?

Yeah, that’s an interesting question — and you’re right. So much of our time is spent in interviews. It really is like this therapy session because there are a lot of questions that you’ve never been prompted to think about. Actually, I think “The Bachelor” had more of a profound effect after the fact than inside the experience. Because afterwards, you’re able to process it, look back, and reflect. I have no regrets because you can’t really regret a relationship, because somewhere along the way, it’s a learning experience. You learn something from it. So as much as I hate myself for going for certain individuals, you learn something from that, whether it be to not go for the f--kboy, or maybe you really didn’t love this guy as much as you thought you did. Whatever that learning experience is, it will propel you forward and make you better for the next relationship.

Will you let Nora watch your “Bachelor” journey one day?

Yeah, I totally would because I don’t regret anything. I was myself through and through. And I always want her to be herself through and through. Don’t change because a camera’s around, don’t tell a boy you love him because the cameras are on. I didn’t tell Sean [Lowe] I loved him because, guess what, I didn’t. And that’s probably why I got kicked off. You’ve got to be yourself at the end of the day, and I think I was. I was a pretty fierce female on the show and that’s what I want Nora to grow up to be.

If Nora ever expresses an interest, would you encourage her to go on the show once she’s old enough?