Nadya Hasan on Her Next Great Chapter: Pregnancy, The Pressure for Perfection and Bringing A Baby Into The Public Realm

Baby Adam completes the Emirati social media maven’s happily ever after

“Everyone kept telling me to slow down. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to slow down but I didn’t want to lose myself at the same time,” Nadya Hasan explains, perfectly encapsulating one of the biggest dilemmas women face when becoming a mother.

But luckily the social media maven – one of the first to step into the space in the UAE and establish herself as a personality luxury brands want to associate with – had a relatively seamless stretch with a hectic social life and even a babymoon in the Maldives before she and husband Wiktor Gniewek welcomed Adam into the world.

“Honestly I think I had one of the most amazing pregnancies. I enjoyed it. I knew that I was pregnant, and I was heavy, and my feet were the size of whales but I still wanted to look good, and be myself. Everyone was telling me to stop wearing heels and to calm down as I had an inflamed pelvis towards the end and couldn’t walk – I was like a penguin – but I think it was a great pregnancy. And I had a great partner. No morning sickness, no fatigue.” “And no unusual cravings,” her husband laughs.

There’s a chemistry between this duo that’s immediately palpable. And given that they’ve been together for 12 years, becoming a couple two years after meeting at an event in Bambah boutique at the start of their respective careers, their easy familiarity probably made it easier for the duo to transition into becoming a trio.

“We met in 2010,” Nadya recalls. “It was my first event as a blogger and Wiktor and his sister were launching their new label Poca & Poca.”

Nine years later her Polish beau got down on one knee on Valentine’s Day at a sunset picnic he’d planned in Melbourne and asked her to marry him “To get the proposal she had to fight a kangaroo,” he recalls. “We left our cabin laden with food, and there were lots of hungry kangaroos she had to shoo away!” Even though they’d been together for so long, Nadya remembers, “I was in shock. I didn’t think he’d propose but he did!” The pandemic threw marriage plans off course; they signed papers in their living room in January 2019, after which their Polish celebration got postponed due to the pandemic lockdown.

“That was how we started married life,” says Nadya wryly. Given their different cultural and religious backgrounds, there’s a remarkable synergy when it comes to their outlook. “I think we have a lot of similarities in terms of our upbringing, in terms of our outlook on discipline, education, personalities and how we want to bring up Adam,” she says.

The Abu Dhabi native – who switched hospitals when she was eight’ months-pregnant and ended up giving birth at Danat El Emarat Hospital after hearing only good reviews from friends and family at her baby shower, “It is like a five-star hotel, from valet parking to the concierge and butler” – admits Adam’s arrival was a bit of a surprise. “We were planning on having a family. We went through IVF because we wanted a different kind of beginning for our family as we were aiming for twins. That didn’t pan out but we still have embryos. Adam was somewhat of a surprise as we were trying for over a year…”

In today’s age there’s great pressure for perfection, with every facet of our life requiring curation, but despite living in a public realm, Nadya shrugged it off. “Everything that I planned, from the announcement to the baby shower – was what I had saved in my archives from years ago that I wanted for myself. Our announcement was just us going to Bab Al Shams and taking a few pictures. The gender reveal was really simple. We wanted it to be something that we would normally do. It was about making memories for ourselves. We could have gone over the top but we didn’t.”

Wiktor concurs, “We enjoyed it so we didn’t feel any pressure. We didn’t try to make it perfect. We wanted it to be real. We kept our true identity.” Interestingly enough, proud Wiktor was keen to show the world his new son but it was Nadya who felt she needed to keep Adam hidden from prying eyes. She explains, “It’s our family’s tradition that you shield the baby from social media, at least for the first few months. I was reluctant to share him, and used to always say: ‘Hide his face!’ But that is of course about to change… [laughs]. We had a discussion – when it came to motherhood, I was happy to share everything and anything – but with Adam, I was more protective.”

With a plethora of baby nieces and nephews in her extended family, Nadya had plenty of experience with children, but is unequivocal when she urges: “Always ask for help. Take the help whenever you need it. Let it flow, listen to your body and your baby. You can do it.” She says this because she too struggled prior to giving birth. “We have so much pressure as mothers. You’re going through so much change. How to be the perfect mum? How to be a present mum? You have to breastfeed till the end. You cannot leave him alone. Will we bond? I started freaking out and getting very scared. Breaking down. Wondering what would happen. It is a lot. ”

And even though she followed traditions and decamped to her mum’s house for 40 days after Adam’s birth to regain her strength and recover, she admits, “Honestly I didn’t want to leave the hospital.” And after finishing her stint at her mother’s, “I cried when I left there as I didn’t know if I could do it. But the moment we came home and settled into our routine, we were golden.”

Having a night nurse for two months and a doula, Shirin, during their delivery journey helped the couple no end. The latter “showed Wiktor help me stay calm,” Nadya says. “We had stars, candles, aromas, we had music…”

Nadya is also passionate about the subject of breastfeeding. “That was a big one. So many people put it into my head as a complex. It made me really sad when I couldn’t provide it to him. How you raise your own baby is the way you raise your own baby. No one should put that pressure on you on how to raise your child. Because he is yours.” The family-of-three (“for now, maybe in the future they will be more of them…” says Wiktor), has adjusted to life with their new addition. “I say no to a lot more things. I used to go to everything. Now I pick and choose as I want to spend time with Adam. I prioritise him. Things revolve around him,” Nadya says, when considering how her schedule has changed. “When Adam needs Wiktor, he is present. Night time routine – both of us are there.”

“If we are not happy, I don’t think he is going to be happy. If we don’t have time for ourselves, we are not going to be in a happy dynamic. Right now we have a good sense of our own individual time for ourselves, our time together and our time with Adam,” Nadya observes.

“It changed the feelings between us,” agrees Wiktor. “It is stronger, better, different – deeper I think. Nadya isn’t just my wife but also the mother of my son. It is a more mature love than romantic husband-wife love. It is a family love.”

“He is the cutest little thing. He is a good baby,” smiles Nadya, as Adam steals the show on the day of our Bazaar Junior shoot, already comfortable in front of a camera. We wholeheartedly agree.

Photographer: Amer Mohamad, Stylist: Charlotte Marsh-Williams. Make-Up: Nuriya Ibragimova. Hair: Kairo Yan. Lighting Assistant: Yasir Ali Shah. Fashion Assistant: Marguerita Christofordis

From Harper’s Bazaar Junior Autumn/Winter 2024 issue