Discovering Aljany, Pt. 3: The Long-Awaited Meeting
Every time something intense happens in my life, I feel the need to write. So it's logical that I also do it for my pregnancy, this unique event I experienced three years ago. I need to write about it for myself first of all, so that I don't forget every little detail of this event. So that I can read these words again, taken from the heart of what I experienced, in twenty, thirty, forty years.
I will describe this long journey, starting from the beginning until the long-awaited meeting with the baby who would be my son.
A new journey
Two years after my wedding day, I decided to stop taking the pill. I wanted to have a child at any cost – I felt like I didn't have one at that time in my life, I would never be able to. Sure enough, a few months after I went off the pill, I started experiencing symptoms.
My husband and I were visiting friends in Christ-Roi, a neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, when I suddenly felt like I couldn't stay in the room. I felt a kind of hot flash in my back and I couldn't breathe. We got into our car, he turned on the air conditioner, and I felt a little better. We decided to go home.
Perceptive as he is, he stopped by the pharmacy to buy me a pregnancy test, not knowing that I had already taken two (both of which were negative). The third one was also inconclusive. However, my breasts hurt, I couldn't eat meat anymore (although meat and I are a true love story), I couldn't breathe any perfume, and I felt a certain heaviness in my lower abdomen.
I went to see my sister, a nurse, to explain my situation. She suggested I take a blood test, and it came back positive. I was already three months pregnant without knowing it. Our hearts were filled with joy and we couldn't stop telling everyone. We were like children receiving their first Christmas presents.
Stressful days, happy days.
A not-so-simple pregnancy
My pregnancy was not the easiest. I quickly told my coworkers, who were all very happy for me. I was lucky to have some great colleagues! However, telling my supervisor was stressful. We were in the throes of COVID, and business was not good. I was afraid of being fired – it turned out to be a well-founded fear.
I had to make tough choices, including moving back in with my parents for a while. Many women don't need to live with their loved ones during their pregnancy, but I did. I needed my mother to be there – especially because during the first few months, I was in bad shape. I was vomiting all the time and couldn't keep anything down. But I was eating like a wolf. My mom was always there for me every step of the way. She never let go of me. I was in her care.
I also had my friend Gregg who was always there for me. He went with me to my first ultrasound because my husband was held up at work.
He was also the one who walked the streets of Port-au-Prince every day looking for the only food I could eat, tonmtonm, a preparation of crushed breadfruit with an okra-based sauce that is usually eaten with the hands. It’s a dish that originated in Africa and was brought to the Caribbean through the slave trade.
Gregg never gave up on me.
Despite all the difficulties of pregnancy, I was really happy to have this little guy growing inside me. Still, times were hard and things didn’t turn out as planned. I’d been let go from my job and didn’t have any savings. Neither did my husband. He is a state employee and the state administration doesn’t always pay at the end of the month. The 40 weeks of my pregnancy were spent in eternal uncertainty. Each prenatal consultation was fixed at 3000 gourdes ($20 USD), on top of the cost of dietary changes and the medication that the doctor prescribed to keep me healthy. Everything was so difficult.
Read the series!
Part Three: The Long-Awaited Meeting
Part Seven: How Can You Be a Journalist Here?
Discover more!
About the Author
Aljany Narcius
Haitian journalist Aljany Narcius is currently pursuing a Master 2 in Media Management, online from France’s University of Lille. With ten years of experience in the fields of journalism and communication, Aljany is a linguist who uses the Creole language as her weapon in the fight against social inequalities, exploitation, and all kinds of violence.
