Jessa pregnant with excitement

She was the self-described "Reaction Queen," raising hell with every issue brought up against her; never letting an occasion to speak her mind pass by.

But now, Jessa Zaragoza is ready to relinquish her crown to anyone who cares to wear it, She would rather be called "Thinking Queen" from now on. Marriage to Dingdong Avanzado, 10 years her senior, has softened the rough edges of this feisty artist’s temper. The fire is still there, but it is watered down by judgment, mellowed by marriage and motherhood.

"Dingdong turned out to be a most understsanding, open-minded husband," gushes Jessa. It was his advice, she now admits, that saw her through (her little problem before she married Dingdong.

The change spills over to her recording career.

"During my Bakit Pa days (1997)," recalls Jessa, "I would sing a song just for the heck of it. But now, I understand the lyrics better."

Life and love have given her more formidable weapons: a keener grasp of the emotions in a song, and the knack for bringing this across to the audience.

"What people will see," she beams, "is an enhanced Jessa."

No wonder she’s so proud of her new album, Jessa: Kahit Na Ilang Umaga, her second for Star Records, and the seventh in her career as a singer.

When she sings Dingdong’s composition, the sentimental Kung Maibabalik, Jessa knows she’s giving life to something more than just another song. She is interpreting her husband’s artistry.

When she croons other love songs in her album, like Ikaw at Ako Pa Rin and Sana’y Muling Mayakap Ka, all Jessa need do is close her eyes and imagine Dingdong beside her, urging her along.

The album took all of six months to finish, given Jessa’s fully-packed schedule of tapings for Attagirl (now defunct), shows abroad and others.

Pregnancy has not stopped Jessa from pursuing what she loves most. She plays the vicious Binibining Andromeda, the strong-willed manager of Carol Banawa’s character in ABS-CBN’s teleseries Bituin, topbilling Nora Aunor.

The cast and crew of the telenovela, knowing her delicate condition, handle Jessa with tender, loving care. They have incorporated her pregnancy into the script, and have allowed her the privilege to be home by 12 midnight for her much-needed rest.

Save for a few months of bedrest during the first trimester of pregnancy, the infanticipating Jessa has had no problems with her delicate condition.

After she has shed off the extra pounds she has gained during pregnancy, Jessa expects to literally and figuratively be back in shape for a duet album with Dingdong, a two-night concert at Onstage, and even a soap or a sitcom perhaps, and shows abroad.

Meanwhile, those around her, observing how her skin has that extra glow and her eyes an added sparkle, are guessing this early Jessa and Dingdong’s first baby will be a girl.

"Many people have been telling me that," Jessa admits. She offers a ready explanation for that extra glow of hers these days: "I’m so happy, I feel like I’m still in my honeymoon stage."

She and Dingdong have junked the Lamaze method of childbirth, reasoning out that it could be bloody and painful. They are resorting instead to the epidural method, which makes childbirth a lot easier for the mother and less worrisome for her husband.

When their firstborn comes into this world in mid-June, Jessa expects to be the disciplinarian, with Dingdong playing the role of the more ‘giving’ parent. This patronizing dad-stern mom combination is expected to work in the Avanzado home, with Dingdong and Jessa’s parenting style balancing each other.

Besides, in a home where love and peace reign supreme, conflicting parenting styles should be ironed out in a jiffy. That, let’s cross our fingers, is how things will be in Dingdong and Jessa’s cozy Quezon City love nest, once the stork drops by for the first time some four months from now.