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By Jing Lejano
Every pregnancy is unique. But how different is it really to be expecting a baby in your teens and being pregnant in your thirties?
Actress and model Dimples Romana, mom of 12-year-old Callie and one-year-old Alonzo, says of her two pregnancies: “They’re so different, yet so alike in many ways.”
Dimples and her family
Pregnant in her teens
Dimples was barely 19 years old when she got pregnant with her eldest, and she feared that her body might not be mature enough to nurture her baby. The idea of giving birth also got her really scared. She recalls, “I was very young. Even if I wanted to ask other women what their experiences were like, they wouldn’t be able to share the same one because when they had their children, they were probably 25 or 26.”
But more than these worries and fears, it was the emotional struggle which shook her nerves.
She recalls, “A lot of people were making me feel like I wasn’t good enough to be a mom… I didn’t have any problems, I didn’t have nausea, I didn’t have any issues on what I wanted to eat or not. It was really more of this heavy feeling. Since I was young and a lot of people were doubting me, I started doubting myself, too.”
Pregnant in her thirties
So when Dimples and her husband Boyet decided to have another child a decade later, they made all the necessary preparations. She says, “We really wanted to make sure that this time around we were very ready.”
But there were still a couple of things which surprised Dimples. She was amazed, for example, at all the products and services available to modern expectant moms. “It’s more enjoyable now. There are now a lot of companies catering to pregnant moms and providing them with a lot of creative things to do.”
She was also staggered by the overload of information which left her somewhat confused. Fortunately, she got this precious advice from a dear friend: “Listen to your heart. You know what is right for your child.”
Thankfully too, Dimples experienced none of the emotional drama which marked her first pregnancy. She says, “Now everybody was so excited. People didn’t doubt us anymore. We didn’t have to prove anything. It was more of a freer kind of process for us. It was happier. I think that transcends into the way we were carrying the baby. When Alonzo came out, I felt that he was all happy.”
“Everybody was happy to have him, even Callie, which came as a surprise to me because I was very afraid that she will not take Alonzo very well. But thankfully, I am very proud that we had raised a child in Callie who is very loving and very caring. I’ve never seen her jealous, not one bit.”
But if there is one thing that remained constant for both of her pregnancies, it’s the happiness that she felt all throughout those precious nine months. Dimples says, “The joys of being pregnant is one of my favorite joys of all time because you only get to experience those joys during that nine-month period. You don’t get to repeat that anymore. And even if you do on your second child, it will be so much different: different set of joy, different set of being happy.”
Motherhood journey
Dimples and her kids
“My motherhood journey is like a roller coaster. I have an almost teenager and I have a baby so you could imagine how crazy that it! Up to now, I feel that I’m still adjusting,” Dimples says.
“Motherhood doesn’t have a manual. Nobody can ever tell you what to do with your children. That’s why mothers really know what’s best for their children. Only a mother can understand the language of their kids even while they’re still babies. And I feel that it extends up to the teenage years, even up to adulthood. I know that because I still have that bond with my mom. I respect that bond so much that I apply that to my family now.”
Throughout her motherhood journey, Dimples says Mommy Mundo has been there all the way. Apart from going to Mommy Mundo events, she has also learned much from other moms who are part of the community, especially from Mommy Mundo Founder Janice Villanueva.
She says, “She has created a world for us, where moms can be free to give advice to one another. She’s made it an open thing for all the moms to be able to help one another. It’s a community. What better way to have that kind of community and be led by a mom like her? Only somebody who has the same intentions, the same feelings, and the same struggles could understand and create a community for all of us.”
Has your motherhood journey been like a roller coaster, too, like Dimples’? Share your motherhood journey at Expo Mom Davao in August. See you there!
Jing Lejano is a single mom of four and lula of one. A seasoned writer and editor, she is the content head of Mommy Mundo.
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