Great Expectations

An eager young woman married an amazing young man and expected life to go on.

She expected to start a family
She expected to have a baby
She did not expect that her family would not right away begin.
She did not expect that the day before Western medicine would attempt to assist her, she would learn that she already had a little baby growing inside her.

She expected pregnancy would be fun, and it was...
She did not expect that pregnancy would be scary, and it was...
She did not expect the vulnerability a woman experiences when pregnant,
She did not expect the strength a woman experiences when pregnant.

She did not expect labor to be... so laborious
She did not expect labor to be... so...what it was.
She expected to see her baby and love tremendously
She expected to see her baby and recognize immediately

She did not expect her baby to have so much HAIR :-)

She expected the nights to be hard
She did not expect the days to be so hard as well
She expected to grow deeper in love with the baby every day

She expected that she and her baby would love each other
She did not expect the love to grow so exponentially with each smile exchanged
She did not expect the love to change to produce such fear when things got overwhelming
She did not expect that she would change so much because of the love

She expected there to be anger and frustrations and fights
She did not expect the confusion of differing perspectives
She did not expect the desire to demand sensibility
She did not expect to be the source of the anger and frustration

She expected that she would teach her daughter lessons

She did not expect her daughter to teach her lessons

She expected life to teach her daughter lessons

She did not expect life to change so drastically each day

She expected her baby would always come back to her

She did not expect to develop such a deep friendship

She did not expect to be vulnerable to her daughter's expectations of her

She simply did not expect

She did not expect to need her baby so much
She did not expect the excitement of driving home to see her baby
She did not expect the disappointment of missing seeing her baby
She did not expect the need for her baby to need her.

She did not expect to rely on her baby
She did not expect that her life would start and end with her baby
She did not expect how much it would hurt her when her baby was in pain
She did not expect to be so happy herself when her baby was happy

She did not expect to expect so much.

She expected love, but not this deep
She expected connection, but not this strong
She expected laughter, but not so loud
She expected fulfillment, but not so full

She would like to wish her sweet, beautiful daughter a wonderful, happy seventh birthday.