"Black 'Oman, Hold Yuh Heart" aka Boss Baby Is Coming
A few weeks ago, I was at the HERStory In Black event, hosted by How She Hustles and CBC. The entire evening - honouring 150 Black women in the GTA who are doing amazing things - was incredible, but there was one particularly poignant moment for me.
Dub poet d'bi Young Anitafrika performed a piece she wrote specifically for the event - a powerful and emotional poem that had most of the room in tears. d'bi guided us through the recognition and celebration of who we are as Black women, with a constant refrain: "Black 'oman, hold yuh heart!"
Most of us placed our hands to our chests, but I had a moment of hesitation about where to place mine. You see, I currently have two hearts. One has lived, loved, broken, and mended more than the other, but the newer one beats strong with the rhythm of promise and potential.
All that to say - I'm pregnant with Baby #2!
This pregnancy so far has been very different from 3 years ago when I was carrying Little Magician, and has frankly been a rougher ride. Morning sickness and extreme exhaustion took over the first trimester, and there were days where I couldn't raise my head for anything except to take a sip of lemon water. This one also took a hit to my vanity - with LM everything flourished, but this time around my skin, hair, and nails suffered until the second trimester. I had more food cravings with LM, and this time (aside from my never-ending desires for ackee and saltfish), my diet is driven more by my aversions - namely chicken, most juices, and dairy.
It also feels like my emotions have also been on an even bigger roller coaster this time around. One of my biggest sources of anxiety is, how will I love two children equally?
I remember being pregnant with LM and wondering what it was going to feel like to be connected to another human being in such a way. I couldn't imagine what that love would look and feel like, but it came, in all its beautiful and overwhelming glory. Now, I'm clearly not the first person to give birth to more than one child, but I wonder how my heart will stretch to give another baby the same quality of love I've given to LM all this time, and how I'll be able to keep loving her so that she never feels like she's lost part of me.
Personally, I felt so changed when I gave birth the first time, that I'm also a bit anxious about how I'll evolve after I go through the process of bringing another being into the world again.
Who will they be? Who will I be? How will LM adapt? How will HomieLuva and I maintain our identities as individuals and a couple while raising two children? As has been my trend lately, I have more questions than answers - but I know the answers will make themselves plain in due time. If previous life experience has shown me, I never know what I'm doing, but somehow always figure it out - or at least get by without anyone getting hurt. Lol.
For now, I'm enjoying the smoother sails of the second trimester (though I'm still hella tired thanks to chasing one Little Magician around) and awaiting the arrival of Boss Baby aka El/La Jefe aka Lil Remix. The story behind Baby #2's nicknames deserves its own post, so stay tuned for that - and for all the fun times ahead as I become a mama of 2!