Open Letter to my unborn Daughter

Oh, my beautiful daughter, where do I even begin? I have yet to meet you but I already know you are Haitian strong. You have been a warrior throughout this whole entire journey while mommy has often had many, many days of doubt, pain, insecurity, etc.

But your strength became my strength and we navigated this road together.

As I sit and write this, I have tears flowing down my face. For the last 6-7 months, my tears have come from the saddest place in my heart and now these tears are housed in something newly introduced to me– Motherhood.

I am going to be a Mother. I am going to be YOUR mother and I just have no words to accurately describe how proud that makes me feel.

But baby girl, this world you are coming into is a tough one. It is not all unicorns and rainbows where the intense love that your father and I have for you can get you through it alone. You will have to be smart and tough and from the womb, I already see those are two of your qualities.

As much as we will want to protect you from any emotional, physical, and mental pain, we will not be 100% successful. What we do promise is that we will arm you with all the knowledge, confidence, education, and love so that you can stand strong on your own when you face it.

Your Daddy and I are so different yet almost the same person. You will better understand when you see us together. Our love is powerful and we will put all that power into you.

For nearly 6 months I felt no connection to you. It was not against you but against the illness that debilitated my body because of your invasion. It took some time for me to not associate Hyperemesis with you but once I separated the two in my mind and heart, I let you in. And boy has that been fun. You kick me so I poke you back. It is our little game that could go on for an hour if I let it. It seems you are playful and ALREADY holding your ground. Mommy loves that.

You currently blow kisses and react the best to your Daddy’s touch and voice which scare me that you will be a Daddy’s girl. I was a Daddy’s girl too but ummmmmm show me some love too!

Your Daddy and I don’t know what you will look like since you have been hiding your face. Peek-a-boo has already commenced. Like I previously said, you are very playful!

And we love that.

We have some gigantic plans for you but the biggest will be to ensure that you make decisions for yourself. Yes, we want you to be an athlete– I mean we are a sports family but I promise we will not force it on you. Baby girl, you will, however, be immersed in the wonderful world of sports so early that I am SURE you will love it as we do. Our fingers and toes are crossed!

Our family aka tribe is small but mighty. Well, let me explain. Your maternal side family is HUGE. You will have an abundance of cousins, nephews, and aunties to dote on you. On your paternal side, you have the most wonderful siblings to look up to and to guide you. Kai, in particular, is pretty excited to show you the ropes. He is FULL of love and I am pretty sure he will be your favorite. Mostly because he is the youngest and closest in age to you even though it is nearly a decade.

You have two fantastic grandmothers and a grandfather who will crack you up. Mommy’s biological dad is around but I do not want you to ever be sad if he isn’t as active. It took Mommy some time to recognize that blood does not a family make. Presence is truly what makes a family and you have SO many individuals who are ready and very willing to be there for you.

Your Tatie Clo-Clo will have you outside camping and ziplining and other cray-cray things. I’ll explain “cray-cray-” to you once you are able to read this on your own. She is the nature girl of the two of us. My job is to teach you how to survive the mean streets and she will teach you all about nature. Just do not drag me along. I slept outside once with her. I’ll stick to nature sounds on my google home over the harmony of real animals whose habitat we invaded.

Mommy and Daddy are not perfect. We have made many mistakes, hurt others, and/or been dead wrong through the years but you are not one of them. You are a product of our love. I am pretty humble in all facets of my life but this. Seeing our love and then feeling it is going to be your biggest strength as you navigate the world. Seriously.

I could go on and on but I won’t. For the sake of my fingers and my audience reading this. Baby Girl, we will see you oh so soon. I never thought you would stay in my womb this long but it looks likes you want to go the full 40 weeks. Yes I call you rude for it but like I previously wrote, Mommy and Daddy want you to make your own decisions while we guide you. So if you want to go 40 weeks then so be it.

But 41 is out of the question and 42 weeks– you are grounded for life.

Here is to many, many, many years of love, respect and most importantly fun. We are ecstatic to meet you!!!