"I've been up all night and all day with my baby for the past two days—but what can you do, you know?"
Besides being a rap sensation, Cardi B is also a devoted full time mother to her 4-year-old daughter Kulture and her newborn son Wave.
And the 29-year-old, who chooses not to have a nanny, recently had a scary experience.
Before sitting down for an interview with Vogue Singapore, Cardi was forced to push back the meeting 24-hours after Wave had made a trip to the emergency room after both of her children had fallen sick.
"It's been very stressful," she shared. "I've been up all night and all day with my baby for the past two days—but what can you do, you know?"
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"I'm exhausted. I've been overwhelmed and scared," she admitted. "I started to think about how my mum had to go through this a lot because my sister and I used to always fall sick at the same time. I've never appreciated my mum more—having kids helps you see things a little bit different."
She admitted that she had preconceived notions of what motherhood would be like, and recalled how she thought she would hire a nanny to help with her baby while she traveled for work. When her daughter Kulture arrived, Cardi's plan to hire help went out the window.
"Everybody was so nervous for my career and future, but I kept telling them, 'It's easy. Trust me, I'm going to have a nanny and she's going to travel up and down with me. It's not even going to be a hassle,'" she recalled. "When the baby got here, I couldn't even think about getting a nanny because I was afraid of anybody being around her besides my family. I've never had a nanny for Kulture."
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View StoryCardi added that while she's grateful for her mother's support, she doesn't take advantage of her ability to watch her kids. "Your parents have already lived their life and raised their kids. They are older and don't have the same energy as someone in their 20s. I'm never far from my kids because that’s my responsibility as a mother."
The "WAP" artist also spoke about raising her children to be the best possible versions of themselves as well as understand the privilege they've been given in life.
"I want her to do amazing things when she grows up," she said of Kulture. "I want her to be smarter than me—just be the better version of me."
"They need to know to never feel comfortable. Don't ever feel like, 'I'm going to get it because I'm Cardi and Offset's kid.' They are never going to know what struggle feels like, so they might not have that hunger I had to leave the streets," she said. "Even though my kids are well-off, I want them to know that when you work for things and achieve it, it's more respected—especially when people see that you bust your a-- for it."