Live TV: When anchors announce they are going into labour

Janet, Kituri and Natalie Pasquarella [Photo: Instagram]

K24 presenter Isabella Kituri on Thursday got the nation talking after experiencing false contractions known as Braxton Hicks.

Anchoring the 7 o’clock Swahili bulletin with Franklin Wambugu, Kituri gave the station’s audience a labour scare forcing the segment to switch to a short commercial break.

Explaining later, the anchor revealed that her shaken co-anchor was ready to “wheelbarrow her out of the studio.”

“Nkt! This crazy guy called Braxton Hicks… visits pregger mums as a falsified labour agent… Franklin Wambugu was ready to wheelbarrow me out of the studio,” posted the TV girl who unveiled her baby bump early this year.

According to AmericanPregnancy, Braxton Hicks are “contractions that occur before real labor and can begin as early as the second trimester but are most commonly experienced in the third. The uterus tightens for approximately 30 to 60 seconds.”

Janet Mbugua

This was not, however, a case of Braxton Hicks

Citizen TV news anchor Hussein Mohamed, like Wambugu, was shaken stiff in 2015 when her then co-anchor Janet Mbugua pranked him that she was in labour.

Screengrab of Janet and Mbugua [Photo: Courtesy]

The popular media personality pulled a fast one on Mohammed just a few days to her highly anticipated delivery that year.

Mohammed stuttered before letting out one word, “Okay!” to the amusement of those in the studio.

He was relieved of the stress by Mbugua who told him it was a joke. His face told it all.

Natalie Pasquarella

In 2017, Natalie Pasquarella’s water broke in the middle of a live segment on NBC News 4.

According to NBC news, Pasquarella “waited for the newscast to end before letting anyone know her water broke.”

Screengrab of Natalie Pasquarella [Photo: Courtesy]

“That little laugh that was the moment Natalie’s water broke,” said her co-anchor to the audience.

She was helped by a producer and others at 30 Rockefeller Plaza to a hospital.

Victoria Fritz

BBC presenter Victoria Fritz gave unlike Natalie Pasquarella was a bit lucky.

Her water “prematurely broke shortly after leaving the studio” after going live on air that morning for a business segment.

Screengrab of Victoria Fritz [Photo: Courtesy]

She was rushed to the hospital by colleagues.