Pregnant Sofia – Acting What’s Real……..

The Joy of ‘Acting’ Pregnant………..

My fiancé, Ben and I had tried for months to get pregnant in vain and by October we had lost hope. And then one day in December last year, while shopping at a supermarket, I began feeling sick and dizzy and I had to sit down for a while to re-steady myself. It suddenly hit me that I might be pregnant! I immediately bought a pregnancy kit and rushed home to do the test. I did not even tell my fiancé. When it turned out to be positive, I was speechless. In as much as I wanted to have a baby, I was scared it was finally going to happen. I was 7 weeks pregnant.

I first broke the pregnancy news to my fiancé. He was so happy! We broke the news to the rest of the family in January; I was three months along then. We wanted to be sure everything was okay before we did. My mum and two sisters were so happy for me!

The first three months of the pregnancy were not easy. I remember on Christmas day last year for example, I stayed in the house all day feeling ill. That was very unusual and I felt very odd as I am used to celebrating Christmas holidays by eating lots of nyama choma. I appreciated that pregnancy does change your world significantly and that things are never quite the same. After three months, things thankfully went back to normal.

One major change my body has faced has been the weight gain. I have put on quite a bit of weight. Every time I go home after my check up, I moan to Ben, wondering to him every time if, how and when I will ever lose this weight. I seem to be doing well on the cravings front though, for I don’t seem to have many. My only cravings are that I just can’t last a day without milk and coke.
I remember very clearly the day I went for my first scan. It was an overwhelming moment. The realization that there really was someone in there. I think this has been my favorite moment of all in this journey. No…. wait a moment I think it was the first kick. This baby can really move. Oh well – I can’t make up my mind so I will have both as my most favorite moments. A mum is allowed two isn’t she?

And just as every woman admits, I have scary moments when I think about labor. Especially because everyone who has gone through it is always giving me these very scary stories. The more I listen to them the more I marvel at how scary they all are. People hardly have happy labor stories. But although it scares me, I can’t wait to experience as it will be the day I get to hold my baby. I am really looking forward to this moment.

My support system through this pregnancy journey has been my family. My fiancé is God sent. He makes sure I have everything I need, especially the milk. He also pampers me with so much love. My mum and sisters call me a million times a day just to know if the baby has moved. They are really interested in every single detail. And now that I’m almost due, they call me to tell me about the weird dreams they’ve had of me in labor. We are all excited. This is a family pregnancy and I am glad to have all these loving people around me.

One of my fears as well was that the pregnancy would affect my work. I am so glad that it did not. When I first told my producer, I thought that I would be out of the show once the pregnancy started showing. However, she called when on set one day and told me that she was working on a script where my character Sofia would be pregnant by Babgee, her boyfriend on the show. I loved the whole idea. I thank God that I’m almost due but I’m still working. It is rather interesting to be acting a part and have the same situation in real life at the same time.

At the beginning, I was keen on keeping the pregnancy away from the media and all the public attention. But I love the whole experience so far. I love what I am doing. I even hope to work with my baby on the show! Who knows? At the rate things are going this may soon be a reality.
My journey so far has been blessed and it is my earnest prayer that I will make a good mum.