Mother to a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Arna, actor Pranitha Subhash recently announced her second pregnancy on social media. As we talk to her, she says, she and her husband, businessman Nitin Raju, always believed in ‘hum do hamare do’.

“My husband wanted both the kids to grow up together and the gap to not be too long between them,” she shares.

Ask her how the second pregnancy is different from the first and the 31-year-old reveals, “Compared to the first time, I am not really focusing on resting up as I have a toddler to take care of. It’s more like I am running behind her. But I think the second time around, you are not pampered enough. People are like ‘oh, you have done it already’. So, no one is really asking me about my cravings. They are just making sure that I eat well and get back to taking care of my toddler.”

But how is Arna reacting to the news of getting a sibling? “While we are trying to make her understand, it hasn’t really sunken in her that there is a baby coming. She doesn’t realize that the baby is going to grow into a full-fledged human, and not stay a baby always,” Subhash gushes, adding that motherhood has made her more contentious.

“It makes you feel settled. Previously, you are ambitious and out there, but it changes you in a way that your priority becomes your family. I am trying to balance work and personal life. Today, work isn’t just one vertical but is spread out including digital work, blogs and Instagram. It keeps me busy but not make me feel overworked,” she shares.

While her current focus in on her family, Subhash is looking forward to returning to acting once both her babies are grown up a bit. “Today, the taboo and stereotype against working moms is almost gone. Every leading actress is either pregnant or has already delivered, be it Deepika (Padukone) or Alia (Bhatt) or Priyanka (Chopra Jonas). Through surrogacy or being pregnant, they are embracing motherhood and getting back in the major league, not as sidelined characters. So, taking cues from them, I should also be able to get back to work. There is no pressure on me to pave the way as it is already paved. How lucky am I that when I am going through this phase, the industry has changed for the better,” she ends.

The first thing that came to actor Pranitha Subhash’s mind after she got a positive pregnancy test was a big belly. She says, “I was overwhelmed when I tested positive. Somehow, you don’t immediately think of becoming a mum or having a baby. You think of the pregnancy and big belly. At least that’s what happened to me.”

Subhash, who took to social media to announce pregnancy recently, adds, “As actors, we are obsessed with our looks. But when you get pregnant, you slowly start to think that there’s another human being [growing inside you]. That fact takes over your life.”

The Hungama 2 (2021) actor says that besides feeling different, emotionally, a woman also undergoes a lot of physical changes. And no matter how uncomfortable they might be, everything feels alright. “You start becoming a little chubby, your body goes through so many changes, you are tired and there are emotional changes, too. But at the end of the day, you start loving the symptoms,” she says.

The 29-year-old wants to keep her due date under wraps: “That is something we want to keep to ourselves. I’ve a bunch of throwback pictures that I will post [after delivery]. While it is good, this phase is also confusing for me, so I am going to take my time.”