She was the recipient of the Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing in 2016 for her draft manuscript, which was published as Baby by Victoria University Press in 2017.
Jochems has said that the novel was inspired by criticism of Fifty Shades of Grey and a desire to subvert stereotypical gender dynamics, as well as by her inability to find a job and a feeling of being "surplus" to society.
[4][2] Fellow New Zealand author Eleanor Catton has described the book as "sultry, sinister, hilarious, and demented".
[2] The Guardian described the novel's main character, Cynthia, as "a memorable addition to the growing coterie of unapologetic antiheroines (dis)gracing the pages of contemporary fiction".
[7][8][9] In June 2018 Jochems and her mother opened a secondhand bookshop called Book Hound in Newtown.