Now Reading
Janet Arinaitwe Answers 10 Questions On Being A Mom-Of-Three Living With HIV

Janet Arinaitwe Answers 10 Questions On Being A Mom-Of-Three Living With HIV

Janet Arinaitwe is a mother living with HIV. Janet was born with the virus but didn’t find out until she was a teenager.

At 17, her mother told her about her own (mother’s) status but Janet didn’t know that it could have been transmitted to her from birth.

At 19, when Janet had her first sexual experience, she went to the hospital for a vaginal swab test, to know if she is free from any sexually transmitted disease. While she was free from STDs, her doctor told her that she is HIV positive.

When the expecting mother found out about her status, she told her mother who was also shocked that she had transmitted the disease to her daughter from birth. Although, Janet’s grandmother knew she was born with the disease because she took her for a test when she was six but she didn’t disclose it to Janet’s mother so as not to upset her.

Thankfully, Janet has two children and they are free from the disease. She is presently carrying her third child, who is also tested to be HIV negative.

Having children who are free from the disease was challenging for Janet but since it was something she could manage, she took it seriously. In an interview with VICE, Janet noted that she is the first person in the UK to have three consecutive children who are HIV-negative.

ALSO READ: HIV+ Mom-Of-2, Phenny Awiti Recounts How She Discovered Her Status And What Happened After Is Heart-Breaking

“I took my medications regularly. I visited my doctors on time. I followed all the advice. Eventually I got the results I wanted.”

According to Janet, having C-sections, choosing not to breastfeed and taking her medications on time are some of the steps she takes to ensure delivering healthy children. As an HIV-positive woman, pregnancy is challenging for Janet.

”I’ve had adverse reactions to medications. My feet do get swollen, extremely swollen. My ankles, my bones hurt, extreme fatigue. I’m always vomiting and its not like your normal little vomit. I vomit like 20 times a day.”

See Also

Because of the stigma that Janet faced in her home country, Uganda, and still faces in the UK, she is worried about her children and doesn’t want them to be stigmatised because of her. Janet is rethinking how to protect them from it all.

There’s still a huge amount of ignorance about HIV and AIDS. In the video below, Janet answers some of the key questions.

ALSO READ: Married and Living With HIV/AIDS: Nigerian Women Share Their Sad Stories

Watch her speak here:

https://www.facebook.com/VICE/videos/307883256462268/

Copyright © 2021 Motherhood In-Style Magazine. All Rights Reserved.