It’s been a long time coming since I featured a Cashmere Mom. This Cashmere Mom is so dear to me that I had to make you wait, a couple months or so as I literally raised a human. You might have heard of him…… Beck?? Beck Oneko Corder anyone? Here is Kajuju Ngara’s Birth Story
Kajuju and I went to high school together at Riara Springs Academy. She was a year above me. We met again on the day I went to the hospital to get a whole body check up once i got past the I think I’m pregnant stage. I remember my head was in the clouds that day and the first thing I saw as I walked in Warwick Centre was this heavily pregnant woman. The timing couldn’t have been more deliberate. I looked up and she was radiantly glowing, it was even better when I recognized who it was and I couldn’t stop staring at her belly. I don’t know if she noticed this. We talked and she told me that she was in her 3rd trimester. I was just staring at her thinking that would be me in another 9 months. Kajuju was the first person out of my family that I told about my pregnancy. I nearly bust to tears right there at the reception as I revealed this to her. I really needed someone my age to share all this emotions I had in me. DAMN HORMONES!!!
Unfortunately we didn’t get the chance to talk as Kajuju needed to get to her doctor ASAP, Now looking back I definitely understand how she was feeling. Heavy, tired, hormonal and just in the state of screaming your baby out already! Since that chance encounter we have kept in touch and I was so happy to interview her for Cashmere Moms.
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CM: What was your first reaction when finding out?
KN: OMG I am not ready to be a mother!!! I am just 25, I’m too young, I’m not even married, heck I’m not even sure I want to marry this guy!!! Oh no this can’t be happening to me. Breaking the news to my mum was also hard. She was devastated!! But I got over it, my hubby was very supportive, he proposed. In fact he was overjoyed that I was pregnant!!
CM: It’s amazing how I can definitely relate. I had worries that I was too young to handle motherhood and having been raised by a Single Career Driven Mother of 5, breaking the news to my mother was one of the scariest moments of my life. Luckily her response was GREAT! (It took her 48 hours) and now she’s beyond obsessed with Beck, She’s gone as far as moving her life from Johannesburg back to Nairobi. Anyway, let’s get on with it, What was your most common food craving and most unusual craving?
KN: I loved cheese, butter, milk, bacon, yoghurt and prawns, so Nairobi resturants that served good sea food were my fav.
CM: I definitely know now that we are Pregnancy Twins. I was obsessed with blue cheese, oysters and I ate a ton of seafood. You have heard of how doctors reprimand pregnant women from getting mercury overload effects? That certainly wasn’t a worry for me.
KN: Yes I have but cravings are cravings. !! I would wake up at 2 am craving prawns for breakfast!!
CM: Tell me the hardest part about being pregnant?
KN: The morning sickness pregnancy excessive nausea and vomiting. I threw up from Day 1 till the day I gave birth. It was tough, I had to stop working because of that condition, (Hyperemesis Gravidarum). I was also hospitalized twice because of the excessive vomiting. I used to throw up six times a day! Those were difficult days. I would never wish them even on my worst enemy.
CM: Where were you, what were you doing when you went into labor?
KN: Because of my condition my doctor and I set a date when I would have my baby. I settled for Christmas Eve. I barely slept the previous night, I was so uncomfortable and had minor lower back pains. Turned out I was already in labor and had started dilating. So I went to hospital the next morning at 9am.
CM: What was your labour experience? Natural, epidural, meds, c-section and how long were you in labour?
KN: It was horrific!!! I got to the hospital Aga Khan at 9am and I was induced. The vaginal examinations were excruciatingly painful!! I labored the whole day, (9am-7pm) walking up and down the stairs trying to speed things along. However, I never dilated enough, and I had to be rushed for an emergency C-section when the doctor realized my son had the umbilical cord around his neck. I woke up in the middle of the procedure, as the anesthesia had worn off
CM: Oh My God!
KN: I have never experienced such excruciating pain in my life. My hubby was with me in theater and I could see him with the pediatrician holding up my baby. Turns out he was very tired after the long labor, and he was not breathing and he did not cry immediately after I gave birth. He spent his first night in HDU.
CM: Thank God you had your hubby in the room and it must have been incredibly surreal.
KN: Yes it was, I was then put to sleep so that they could finish the procedure. I’m told I took a while to wake up, my mother wanted to storm into theater, demanding to see me!! I woke up at around midnight, in a lot of pain.
CM: What techniques did you use to get through the pain of contractions?
KN: Breathing and squeezing mum’s and hubby’s hands.
CM: Who did you have in the delivery suite with you?
KN: I had my mum, hubby and my aunt. They helped me through.
CM: What were your first thoughts when you saw your baby?
KN: I was so happy, he was so cute, so pink, so fragile. I kept on thinking Dear Lord, I am now responsible for this baby. I just wanted to stare at him and hold him.
CM: What is and how did you choose your baby’s name?
KN: My son’s name is Ethan Munene Mbugua. I chose Ethan because it’s a biblical name. We chose Munene because it’s both a Meru and Kikuyu name.
CM: Was your husband/partner a help or hindrance during the first few weeks after giving birth?
KN: He helped me out a lot. I moved back home with my mum for two months. No one can take care of you like your mother can. I was very happy and relaxed, and I healed well when I was back home from giving birth.
CM: I definitely agree that nobody can take care of you like your mother can. I always wish my mother had been with me from the time I gave birth to Beck but she did come 2 weeks later from Johannesburg, work wouldn’t permit her to come earlier. She was a welcome blessing!!!
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