Jeannie Mai is trying to keep the peace in her pregnancy. In September, newlywed couple Jeannie Mai Jenkins and her husband, rapper Jeezy, announced they are expecting a bundle of joy. This is amazing news for most women, especially those of a certain age. While the talk show co-host is undoubtedly excited, Jenkins also revealed that she is tired of the “high-risk” reminders.
After five months of hiding her pregnancy, 42-year-old Jeannie Mai Jenkins finally shared the news with the world. The Real co-host expressed to Woman’s Health that her journey to pregnancy was not an easy road. She admitted to the magazine that the couple needed a bit of “assistance” in order to achieve becoming pregnant. Thus, beginning the “humbling experience” of IVF treatments. Jeannie Mai and then-fiancee Jeezy discovered that she was carrying a child a month before their wedding. However, the woman who once declared that she would “never have children” would experience a chemical pregnancy and sadly miscarry.
In a beautiful turn of events, Jeannie Mai and Jeezy found out that she was pregnant again, and that it happened naturally. With all of the excitement surrounding the expansion of their family, Jeannie Mai shared the one thing that she has to constantly fight. According to Jenkins, she is always reminded of the high risks attributed to being pregnant at a certain age. The reminders, Jeannie Mai says, feel very “daunting and insulting.” She goes on to share that she is aware that one must be knowledgeable of the facts, but questions how many times she must hear that she is at the high-risk stage.
Jeannie Mai lists some of the limitations that come with being high-risk. “I can’t work out. I can’t eat certain things. I can’t even smell certain things,” she stated. “Everything was just so overly cautioned. It just felt like you couldn’t really live.” One of the things that have helped Jeannie Mai through this pregnancy are visits to an acupuncturist. The television personality shared that she makes it a point to go every two weeks in order to boost her energy and help to prevent miscarriages and other ‘unhealthy situations.”
Jeannie Mai is not the only woman who has opened up about having a child in their 30s or 40s. Talk show host Tamron Hall revealed to People that she also had a high-risk pregnancy in her late 40s with her first child. This was not only attributed to her age but also “other medical factors” as well. Hall also expressed how “terrified” she was to lose her baby at the time. Other high-profile celebrities like Halle Berry, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, and Beyonce (among others) have delivered babies after being pregnant in their late 30s or early 40s. The possibility for complications in pregnancy as a woman gets older is high, but thanks to advancements in medicine and various treatments, more and more women are delivering healthy babies at older ages.
