“Surprise, you’re having a baby!”
This is the news Maidi's doctor revealed to her during a doctor's visit
LIMPOPO – Maidi Monareng was surprised to hear the news as she expected she had the flu.
“I was overwhelmed and surprised, I even cried a little bit. It was the last thing I expected to hear. My white wedding was to take place in December and I just thought that I would look like and elephant!” Maidi said. “My expected date to give birth was 18 January and my beautiful boy, Morapedi, made his arrival right on time.”
Maidi and her fiancé, Masilo Malola, held their traditional wedding in August last year. They met 11 years ago, were high school sweethearts who went their separate ways after finishing school. He went to Port Elizabeth and she to Bloemfontein to further their studies, and then, three years ago, they met again and Masilo proposed.
Maidi was reporting on the Vuwani protests and was in Vuwani for two weeks prior to finding out she was pregnant. She drove to Vuwani every day, did not eat very well and it was hot, so she thought she was merely tired when she visited the doctor. She suffered a lot from morning sickness, up until the 26th week of her pregnancy, and lost a lot of weight.
When Maidi first told him the news, Masilo thought she was making a joke. Although they initially planned to wait a few years before starting a family, they were elated when they held their healthy baby for the first time. Maidi said when she held her son in her arms for the first time she forgot about the pain she just went through, her first words were “God is good”.
“Morapedi’s dad just walked in then – he did not want to watch the birthing process, but my mom was with me the entire time – he looked at me, then looked at his son and smiled such a beautiful smile.
I was so happy to have the two men in my life,” Maidi remembers. “We then prayed and said thanks and an hour after giving birth I was walking around.”
She said she went home the following morning. “My motherly instinct just kicked in. Morapedi is such a precious child, he doesn’t cry unless he needs a nappy change or is hungry, I enjoy him so much. I started working three months after his birth. My mom, who stays in Tzaneen, looks after him, something I am extremely grateful for. In around six months’ time he will be with me in Polokwane.”
Maidi said she wants to give her son the best life possible. “I want to parent him to be a responsible person in society, a happy person. I want to give him all he needs to succeed in life.
Maidi now looks forward to her “white” wedding later this month, and going away on a belated honeymoon when Morapedi is one year old. She definitely wants more children, and is thinking of having baby number two in about two years’ time.
Maidi thinks it is wonderful to be a mom. “Getting up in the morning, knowing that what I am doing is for my child is wonderful. It gives meaning to my life.”
