Isha Sesay
Isha Sesay, a former CNN correspondent, just realised that she has recorded triologic experience she never planned for, at her 46th year on earth.
The British journalist of Siera Leonian descent made the revalation in a moving piece published on Saturday that she was pregnant with her first child, disclosing the events that influenced her decision to have a child on her own.
Wrote she in an essay posted on the website: “If you’d told the 16-year-old me that at 46, I’d be divorced, single and having a baby on my own — by choice! — I’d have shuddered and firmly said ‘no!’
“Back then, I had very definite ideas about the future course my personal life would take, and it didn’t look like this. I imagined something way more straightforward and dare I say it, conventional”.
She explained that after her marriage ended and her mother suffered a stroke, she reflected on her life and decided she would greatly regret not having a child.
Wrote she further: “A brief marriage to a kind man didn’t result in children, and then the year I turned 40, my mum had a catastrophic stroke, leaving me no emotional space to contemplate anything other than caring for her.
“Six years went by and a few months ago I found myself in a subpar relationship with a man who took about 12 hours to reply to all my texts, among other red flags. It was then, in the aftermath of our inevitable breakup, that it hit me: Not having a child would be the greatest regret of my life. And with my biological clock ticking down, if I was waiting for the right man to come along before I did it, well, I might just find myself out of time.
“So, I decided to take control of my life and settle on the bravest and scariest decision I have ever made: to have a baby on my own.
“I had many long conversations with myself and tried to get to grips with questions about what it would mean to not have the support of a partner, both emotionally and financially. How would I handle society’s questions? What would being a single parent mean for my child? I still don’t have all the answers, but I decided to take the leap because I refuse to let fear, social conventions or judgment hold me back from seeking this joy”.
She also narrated the arduous medical process she had to go through, including deciding on a sperm donor.
