"People joke about it, that it's going to be easy at home, but it's going to be very challenging, but a different kind of challenge."
The Hills family is one of many in the Bay of Plenty region who - like the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her partner, Clarke Gayford - are opting for a stay-at-home dad arrangement.
For the Hills, having Rich at home with their two daughters was about "simplifying life". Annemarie, an investment adviser, says she feels lucky.
"In the first five years, they will talk about Mummy being away, Mummy has an important job, it doesn't mean anything to [the child when] you say prime minister.
"I'm sure [Ardern and Gayford] will tell them, 'We are just like anybody else, we are a family and that's what's important'."
While the child will be 2 during the next election, she said it was unlikely the stress of that would impact on the child more than any other young one with busy parents.
"I think Jacinda will keep that stress away from the baby. We all have stress in our lives, that is something that we can't avoid."
Driessen believes the family, while faced with challenges ahead, will be fine.
"It won't be easy for her, but ... I trust that all will go very well with the baby."