Ever since singer Juliana Kanyomozi's pregnancy news broke the internet in 2019, she has been out of the public eye, leaving many wondering what she's been up to.
Now through her Youtube channel show dubbed Sit Down With Yana, Kanyomozi has shared details about her pregnancy and the journey to becoming a mother again.
From the time Kanyomozi lost her son Keron Raphael Kabugho to Asthma on July 20, 2014, she tried unsuccessfully to put the idea of ever becoming a mother again out of her mind. She was, therefore, delighted when her doctor informed her in 2019 that she was pregnant.
The trauma of losing her only son made her receive the news that she was pregnant with trepidation. She confesses, "It was very personal. My family and I prayed for this for a very long time and we thank God that he listened to our prayers and has been kind."
Juliana broke the news of birth of her baby boy on her social media platforms on 12th May 2020. Her baby, named Taj, is now one year and almost six months.
Despite, the excitement of becoming a mother again, Juliana says, it hasn't been all rosy in the last two years particularly because of the stress and challenges brought about Covid-19 pandemic which also claimed lives of two of her relatives.
Despite these depressing times, the singer says she has always found comfort in her new baby.
"In all of that, I think for me, my real light, my little corner where I would go and hide and get my joy is my baby".
Facing it all alone
Juliana narrates that months prior to her delivery, she decided to go to Canada. At the time, she recalls, Covid-19 which had only been reported in China had started spreading across the world and before she knew, the severity had escalated and a lockdown was imposed in Canada and Uganda as well.
She says, the lockdown happened so fast that her sister and her baby's father who were supposed to join her later in Canada were locked in Uganda because of travel restrictions, meaning she was headed to face it all alone.
"Imagine a lockdown in winter, you are in a foreign country, you're pregnant, you're alone...That was scary because now I suddenly started to think about how I was going to do things alone,'' she recalls.
Coming in terms with the reality, Juliana recalls she knew she had to do it all alone including doing hospital visits, shopping and taking care of herself. She says these were some of her hardest times because she had to endure the risk of contracting the Coronavirus since she was using highly risky Uber at the time, to travel to hospital.
"Every time I sat in the Uber, I was like okay...I could get Covid here because there were many cases getting Covid from Uber drivers and Uber drivers getting Covid from passengers. So, it is something that I used to worry about," she recalls.
Amidst, the challenges, Juliana put everything in God's hands, pushed through alone with the hospital visits until the time for delivering thanks to her kind team of doctors. "Because it was a pandemic, they kind of knew that there were a lot of people in the country that were stuck alone in the country".
She recalls a doctor in her 60s took good care of her, prepared her and checked on her everyday until the delivery time. She says, she felt comfortable, and well taken of in her apartment in Toronto despite being with no relative alongside her.
Towards her delivery day, Juliana says a friend came through and helped her with all other stuff like shopping and even escorted her to the hospital on the day of delivering.
"Everything went smoothly and as planned and by third day, I was ready to leave the hospital, she came and picked me and we went home and she stayed with me for the first two weeks, helped me out and after that, she went home"
Apart from missing home, she says everything else was well and that she managed to take care of herself and the baby.
The joy of finally coming back home
At the beginning of this year, as summer approached, the Covid-19 cases in Canada started to reduce and eventually some restrictions were lifted including travel bans, an opportunity Juliana used to fly back to Uganda.
She says seeing her family again after a year, is one of her most memorable moments in her life.
"I can't explain how happy it felt seeing my family again. I finally experienced what people go through when they say I miss home and want to go home..Because I was there for one year and I was done, like I had had it."
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She says despite all the good treatment and all the good times she had in Canada, she always felt something was missing in her life and that's being home with her family.
"There are sometimes when I would sit there and cry just because I missed my family. So it was so emotional seeing my mum, seeing my family again."
On being a mother again
Seven years since she lost her son, Kanyomozi says being a mother feels like the greatest gift in the world. She is amused that she had forgotten some of the rituals that go with being the mother of a newborn but is quickly catching up.
Motherhood has inspired Kanyomozi to want to return to the studio and make music again. She coyly says, "There's new music that will come at some point of of course."