Mja mzito journals 39

Diana Wanjiru
Preparing for the next ‘Calvin Klein’

How did you discover you were expectant?
I realized my sense of smell had heightened. All of a sudden, I hated my lotion.  It was after I shared this with a friend, and she suggested I take a pregnancy test. And boy, wasn’t she right!

Was it planned?
Not really. But Six months gone now, I am very happy it happened.

What has changed so far?
Eating: I cannot get enough of chicken I eat a lot but in small portions I have also become a sucker for leftovers.
Social Every time I meet someone who is pregnant, I want to ask all questions. So I have made a few friends, thanks to my baby.

Do you like the changes?
Definitely, now that I always thought pregnant women looked nice. The attention is also awesome.

What is your partner’s opinion about the current situation?
He has been very supportive and cannot wait for the baby.

What are the crazy things he says about the new you?
He hopes the baby will not eat as much as the mum Otherwise, he will have to look for a second job.

What are the grand things he says about the baby?
He says the baby will have amazing looks – like the parents He teases that our baby must be the next Calvin Klein, since, as he says, I always look stunning.

Have you had an embarrassing/bizarre moment?
There is this one time I over-ate and I had the tummy upsets going. My brother kept asking if a dog had pooped in the car!

What’s your favorite bit about this pregnancy?
When the baby starts kicking, I get so excited that I want whoever is seated next to me to feel it.

When is your EDD? Are you looking forward to it?
9th May. I am excited and a bit scared at the same time.

Arrival plans
I have been buying bales and bales of baby clothes. I admire the new clothes every niqht before I sleep and I can’t stop staring at other babies. The plans I have for my child’s future are so many that I don’t know where to begin. All I pray is that my baby grows into a God-fearing child.

Any baby names yet? Which ones? Why?
GEM – It is very precious I know my baby is more than precious; she is my life. JEREMY if it is a boy.

Anything else you want to say?
I CANNOT WAIT.

Raha Gatere
Excited as EDD gets closer

How did you discover you were expectant?
I was feeling sickly and weak and thought I was coming down with something. It was so bad and I thought I would see a doctor.  Then I had a nagging feeling that I should first check if was pregnant. I did not want to go to my mother-in-law’s clinic, to keep the status under wraps. So I bought a home test kit and lo and behold! I was pregnant. I was in a state of denial for a while – because my son was only 10 months old Another test in the clinic thereafter confirmed it I was six weeks along.

Was it planned?

Not in the least.  The plan was to try for a second when my son was about 2 years old. I was looking forward to getting my life back on track but, as you can see, God had other plans for us.
I call this my surprise gift.

Have you been looking forward to it?

I would have to say yes and no. Yes, because I know this baby is a gift – all children are – and will be a beautiful addition to my life, albeit unexpected. Sometimes I don’t look forward, because l remember how immersed I got with my son and it scares me a bit. But I encourage myself because i know that this time I am more experienced.

What has changed so far?

A lot has changed.
My eating habits: l have a low appetite – getting to enjoy a meal is very challenging I have to eat more purposefully, making sure I get all the nutrients I need.

My social life: I have not let it change. I was just getting it back when I found out I was expectant and so I am holding to it as much as I can. before I go under for a few months after my baby is born.

My attire: They say that the second baby shows earlier than your first. It has been a challenge because I can’t believe how big I am getting. But I am careful to remind myself that it is only for a season I am making a point not being frumpish. I try looking sexy and stylish!

Do you like the changes?

Not particularly, but I am accepting them. The hardest change is my erratic emotions. They are worse than they were with my son, I feel like I am a swinging pendulum with the way they are all over the place. I am crying too much. But I think my husband suffers more.

Have you had on embarrassing/bizarre moment?
No I haven’t.

What is your partners opinion of the pregnancy?
That I am very different. What with the mood-swings! He is also looking forward to getting a daughter.

What’s your favorite about this pregnancy?
I have an idea of how labour feels. So I like the thought that it does not frighten me as much as it did with my first. The baby’s many hand-me-downs, knowing the essentials are making my shopping more focused and relaxed I also find myself more energetic this time around. It might have a lot to do with my 16 months ‘energizer bunny’ who keeps me on my toes.

What plans do you have for the baby?
I find myself getting more excited as 23rd April, my EDD, gets closer. l think it Is because I can feel the baby move. My son looks like his father and so I am sure it will be a girl who looks just like her mama. I look forward to meeting her.  I am out to raise a happy and healthy child. I used precepts from the book Contented Little Baby, by Gina Ford, with my son and it helped me a lot. I plan to use it again with my second baby.

Any baby names yet?

Well I do have a name for her I won’t share it now. The name came to me years before I met my husband.

Zubeida Kananu
Blending TV journalism and pregnancy is truly a volatile act

Pregnancy is a delicate period that calls for a good measure of emotional and physical stillness. But there are vocations that make you do the forbidden- Standing long hours, miles and miles of travel – even to malaria prone environs – weight lifting involving cameras, stands and endless electric chords, doing running battles, and mental stress that sometimes involves almost endless working hours. Being a TV reporter and pregnant is definitely an interesting, if not worrisome, phase in a journalistic career The interesting news is that many have gone through such unscathed. KTN’s Zubeida Kananu, on her final leg, is keen to unravel her pregnancy journey in TV journalism.

She looks around the restaurant for me, catches my cue and carefully makes her way to our meeting table with a juice tumbler in her hand. She is all smiles and from our bubbly greeting, you would bet that we grew up in the same neighborhood. Now, that tells you the lady is cut out for her people-oriented profession. She has a photogenic smile, which TV likes to work with, and I’m sure the magazine will be flattered to feature her. Her dreadlocks are pulled away from her face into a neat bun Isn’t she going motherly! We take it off.

I got crazy pains in my lower abdomen,’ she says looking to her side as though that’s where her recall setting is. ‘I went to gynae after gynae, all of whom told me I was ovulating, having early menstrual cramps and the like the last one asked that I do a blood and urine test. The diagnosis read a bladder infection and a five weeks pregnancy!’ She articulates laughing. ‘A scan immediately thereafter showed that the baby was fine and I sighed relief I was given antibiotics and in five days I was as good as new ‘ And there she was, reveling in the good surprise. The news was splashed on her Facebook profile and from then ensued a steady count down to D-day. Only for the first trimester malady to kick in. No sooner would food go down than her system threw it out.  ‘Food, cologne… I could not stand a lot of things – including some people!’ she laughs, almost unbelieving.

Which brings as to Pregnant Zubeida and her ’populated’ career. ‘The first three months would have been impossible at work had it not been for drug intervention,’ explains the reporter. She says that helped keep the food down, her body calm and her mind sane. Transitioning to motherhood can surely take a toll on one’s emotions.

But a few important things have remained no go zones: greens, liver, fish and water. ‘It doesn’t matter how their importance is drummed into me, I just don’t want them near me. But I can take a whole litre of juice ’ How about her intimate life? She mutters. ‘My libido has really gone…,’pointing down and thanking God for an understanding husband.

For the love of duty

‘When I was four months along, I traveled to Western Kenya to do the ’County Edition’ that featured Kakamega, Vihiga, Bungoma and Busia Counties, all the way to the Kenya-Uganda borders. It was just me and three men: the driver, camera man and a colleague reporter.’ Zubeida recalls. She says the hill-climbing, mosquitoes, cold nights, security concerns and all, put her in tune with her spiritual side.  ‘I have never been more prayerful; I kept saying, “God protect my baby!” and adds that the heaven-bound communication, her hubby’s call every other minute to confirm she was well, and the baby kicks urged her on.

‘In the midst of all that, I knew I had to deliver. Looking at the investment my organization had made for that trip, I could not come back with a flimsy story that would make our audience quickly change the station,’ says the reporter ‘Sure enough, it was a job l got lots of pats on the back for,’ she says, citing that the juicy stories we see on TV are not easy to come by Sometimes you have to rummage for them through thickets, mire and kilometers upon kilometers.

Then came the Juja by-election which Zubeida covered for four days. ‘We would work until 1 00 a.m. or 2:00 a m then be up by 5:00 a.m. Besides the medication that helped keep the crazy nausea in check, my handbag was full of junk – crisps, ginger biscuits and juice packs, which my crew generously helped themselves with,’ she recounts. They compensated that with ‘A one’ treatment: earned all the heavy things, gave her the only seat and constantly dished out humour that made their ribs call for help, she says. But that was off camera.

Work time she was her own woman. ‘About every 20 – 30 minutes, I’d be told ‘Zubeida stand by… You are on air!’ When you take the cue and open your mouth, what comes out of it must be substantive and creative enough to keep folk glued to the screen, she avows, her face going professional, ’Remember you are not reading from the tele-prompter. You better have done your interviews, married them with your research and compared notes with your co-reporter so that you both give out fresh info -because no one now remembers that you are heavy with child, or battling nausea. The job has to be done, and done outstandingly.’

The referendum was another memorable assignment for the KTN reporter. She was located at Bomas, the heart of the entire event. She says knowing that all eyes were glued to the screen to get the verdict of a document so important to Kenyans, her Swahili articulation had to be at its best. The creative bit to stand out in their delivery could not be left out too; not to mention that they were required at site by 5:00 a.m and would go back home almost after everyone else. That was hectic for a pregnant lady, but a highly rewarding one for a passionate journalist like myself,’ she articulates, laughing.

Great work performance and the baby – any connection?
‘Oh yes!’ she asserts, explaining that there is some confidence, ease and ingenuity that checked in when she was told she was going to be a mum. ‘My jobs have become outstanding.
I just love my baby!’ Zubeida says jubilantly.

There was also the Majiwa Trial that was the journalist’s mandate when she was seven months along. It was intriguing as usual, getting the details and artfully dispensing them to the masses, until just around the time the ruling was being made. She can’t recall whether it was the intensity, suspense and unwindingness of the case taking toll on her, but she remembers her body giving in to the heat of the crowded court room and lengthy standing. A guard helped her out and administered first aid When she got back to the office, she made for the canteen to replenish her worn our body with milk. Before she got there, fate two struck: ’I hit my head on a window pane I had missed seeing,’ she says re-living the disturbance. The magnitude of the bang confined her to a seat for a while and the wound bled for almost five minutes. As she thankfully got back to her old self, her editors struck her off the field assignments’ docket. ‘I miss them. I miss the field… I miss the people, the tear gas, running around … now that there is a lot of fever in the air…’ she says longingly in her usual chortle.

Now that I’m a mother…
Zubeida says she has always had an Incline towards women and children ‘That is why my health feature ‘Afya‘ was full of children-related issues. Now doing the feature from a mother’s perspective, I’m definitely more charged. I want to do whatever possible to fix the issues,’ she says adorning the serious face again She remembers visiting the Cancer, HIV and other special-condition wards that had many abandoned children and women in her prior expectancy months ‘Somewhere in the middle of these assignments, I would ask for time out – to go cry. Then come back and do the story, with the energy I would otherwise use to punish the estranged parents,’ she states. ‘Now that l am no longer in the field, you’d almost always find me running through the baby health files as I liaise with reporters in the field chasing after the ‘Afya’ stories,’ she says evidently comfortable with her latest jurisdiction. She says she is so crazy about children, that adopting a child is underscored In her life’s to-do list.

The coping magic
Having an understanding hubby, who just loves me even when I am not at my best. This is in addition to lots of prayer.

Embarrassing moment
A nephew of mine came over for Christmas and l was dressed up and all. My hubby, keen on striking a conversation asked him, ‘Unaona vile Auntie ako smart? (You see how smart your aunt is?)’ As he continued fiddling with his toys, he said, ‘Eeh… lakini tumbo yake imefura,’ (Yeah., but her stomach is swollen) clearly showing he did not like what he saw.

Boy or girl
I want a surprise. My friends are guessing as well. Baby names- Now that he/she is a World Cup baby. I have so far gotten suggestions like Jabulani, Diego Folan, Silver Boot or Octopus.

END:PG39/22-26