Coping as a Pregnant Reporter
Being a pregnant reporter can be quite complicated. One has to not only carry equipment, cables and documents; sometimes you have to run to venues or in times of trouble, out of them! The risks to both mum and baby are when it comes to fieldwork.
Charity Katago-Kamau says, ‘Business reporting has it’s own challenges and is very demanding. Being pregnant, the fact that only two of us were reporting on business at the station I work for made it even more challenging.’
Like most career women, Charity did not know how her pregnancy would affect her work. Even though it was not her first baby, having delivered a girl in March 2002, Charity was anxious about the job she had held since 2004.
‘It was in February when I found out that I was pregnant. I had just gotten back home after an official trip in Zambia. While in Zambia I developed unusual appetite for junk food which previously was not my preference. I also developed rashes on my face and thought that it was the after-effects of the contraceptives that I had stopped using in readiness for the second baby.’
When she arrived at the airport in Nairobi, Charity’s husband of six years was waiting. It was a happy moment, but suddenly she couldn’t stand the smell of his cologne. That aroused her suspicions about pregnancy.
‘I went for a pregnancy test and from the reaction of the lab technician, I knew I had conceived even before being told by the gynaecologist.’
Charity was happy because she had achieved her desire to conceive two kids before the age of thirty. It was nevertheless not an all-out celebratory mood. ‘Despite wanting a baby, I was worried because my daily schedule as a reporter is ordinarily very tight.’
These concerns also brought to her mind the tumultuous delivery she experienced with her first child. ‘I went through normal labour but in the last moments the baby started losing her heartbeat and failed to turn. She was big and threatened to come out with the cord tied around her neck. I ended up with an emergency Caesarean section!
Besides worrying about how labour would evolve for the second baby, Charity is a student at a University in Nairobi, where she attends evening classes. The pressure reminded her that she took a media career path by default, as she had initially wanted to study law.
‘When I completed my 0 levels, I thought of doing something worthwhile as I waited to be called to University where I hoped to study law. I applied for a course at the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC) just for the fun of it. I was admitted as a government-sponsored student. After a year, I was called to study Information Technology at Moi University. I was not happy about this offer and I turned it down. Besides the course offered not being my choice, I felt that the regular University strikes would affect my studies.’
A pregnant Charity was now in the field covering events and leaving people gazing at her in amusement; sometimes, disbelief. ‘I could see the way some looked at me, seeming to wonder why I was doing that kind of job while pregnant. Carrying cables and bending to pick equipment was inevitable.’
‘The greatest challenge I faced was getting very tired during the day and yet I had to go to work the next day.’
She therefore decided to ask her employer for relocation. ‘Compared with my first pregnancy, I was feeling more mature and confident. I was not as scared of my boss as I was during my first pregnancy. As my bump became bigger, I talked to him and he allowed me to relocate from field work because it was making me very uncomfortable.’
In the meantime, she went for an ultrasound scan which confirmed that she was carrying a boy.
‘Naturally when you have a baby girl in the house you would want to follow that with a boy. However my daughter, now five years old, preferred a baby sister. I explained to her that she would be happy with a baby brother and she softened.’
‘I do not intend to conceive another baby,’ reveals Charity. ‘But if need be, I will adopt one and bring her up like my own child.’
END: PG 11 /26