"But it's not done on three strikes, it's not mucking around, it's not tell a sob story to the judge, it's comply or do the rest of the sentence in jail," Judge Davis said.
The woman said in a letter read to the Whangārei District Court this week: "I'm really upset 'cos I've been doing so well on home de'.
"Believe it or not, it has been a blessing in disguise and has actually helped me and my children," she said.
The woman was spending more time with her children, had saved money, decluttered and re-furnished parts of her house; attended rehabilitation programmes, and stayed sober for five months.
"I've saved some money for my son's birthday, which is this Saturday, and I'm hoping I can go home to them and give him the birthday that I promised as last year I didn't have the funds to do this he has been very excited about this," she said.
"My kids are very happy and in a good routine at the moment.
"It's really hard being a solo mum but I really do try and I am trying to turn my life around for my children and myself.
"Please let me go home to my kids. I would be devastated to lose our rental and all the hard work I've put into making it a loving home for us," the woman said.
The woman, who cannot be named, claimed there were legitimate reasons for having breached the 10-month sentence, which was imposed on her in February for alcohol-related driving offences and other charges including an assault with a weapon, threatening to kill, resisting police, and theft.
One of the breach charges was for letting her tracker battery go flat, the other for deviating from travel arrangements for an approved doctor's visit.
The woman said she was still getting used to the electronic-monitoring bracelet and was not given much information about how long to charge it for so was "just winging it at the start" of the sentence.
She was woken up at 6.30am one morning by the monitoring company because the tracker had gone flat while she was asleep.
She said it was "an honest mistake".
"I know this is no excuse but I truly didn't mean for this to happen and I do apologise," the woman said.
She said of the other breach, her four-year-old son was with her when she went to the doctor and became agitated during their 40-minute wait for a bus home.
To kill time, she decided to walk to the next bus stop but as they approached it, her son needed to go to the toilet so she took him to use one at a nearby McDonald's.
They went outside immediately afterwards where she talked on her phone for a while before walking to catch the bus, which came five minutes later.
A probation officer told the court the woman let the tracker charge go flat twice and "had not been the easiest person to manage". She was also believed to have been actively avoiding Community Mental Health Services.
Probation wanted the sentence of home detention cancelled and applied to have it substituted by the original 20-month prison term, from which it was converted.
The judge tried to question the probation officer about the number of compliance warnings given to the woman but the woman kept interjecting.
The judge told her she needed to learn about her right to silence.
"'Cos I'm trying to weigh this all up and you could talk yourself into jail.
By ignoring his requests for her not to speak, she was also demonstrating more non-compliance, the judge said.
"If you play up again with your tracker charges, if you deviate, you will be back in jail for the rest of that 20 months," Judge Davis said.
"So don't read another letter out – I won't be interested.
"Don't write another letter, don't tell me about your kids, don't tell me anything 'cos I won't listen."
He accepted the woman was not in a position to enter pleas to the breaches that day so granted her bail to do so on July 18.
