A pregnant woman. [Photo/The Standard]
The Swahili say "kuzaa si kazi, kulea ndio kazi".In what is a seeming agreement to the above saying, most mothers say the journey to motherhood is no walk in the park.Take Clementine Mueni, a new mother from Naivasha, for instance. She says the nine-month period was the most difficult stage of her life.She fell sick a lot and the hospital became her friend. In her first months, she experienced abdominal pains and she hardly ate anything due to nausea.After delivery, Mueni thought all was well only to have sleepless nights for weeks. The baby cried all night long due to stomachaches. This was the nightmare for Mueni since she couldn't do anything with the baby crying all through.As if that was not enough, Mueni developed a wound on her breast and had to be operated at Kenyatta Hospital. She was to later learn from the doctor that the baby was not breastfeeding as required, thus leaving excessive milk on her breast which caused the wound.For Margaret Mwangi, a Bahati resident in Nakuru, bleeding began in the first weeks of her pregnancy after she performed any duties. She feared that she would lose her baby and thus visited a doctor who recommended her bed rest.She could not go to work or even do simple duties like laundry until after delivery.Apart from the challenges women pass through during pregnancy, new mothers face the challenge of how to handle their new-born babies.One thing the mothers agree on is that the journey to motherhood is not easy and even being a parent in the first days is even more difficult and one requires a hand from those who have been there before.