It’s not a COVID pregnancy without all your celebrations happening outdoors.

A personal moment in time that I needed to properly document! Honestly, yall. If you have had a COVID pregnancy or delivered a baby during this worldwide pandemic, then YOU KNOW. But, if you don’t know, let me let you in on a little something.

Nothing is normal.

Honestly, I could stop there, but I’ll continue. Our gender reveal was in the front yard as neighbors stood in the street, and friends sat in their cars. I’ve gone to every midwife appointment alone (Stephen has never even met her yet!). No one will be present at the hospital on the day of our baby’s birth. It rained on my “drive-by” shower (which was moved to my carport). Oh, and there have been more group zoom announcements than ever before.

Honestly, yall at this point, it just is what it is. I am embracing the COVID pregnancy and delighting in everything that comes my way. Standing in the rain while greeting shower guests with an umbrella will forever be etched in my memory! (Mind you, it’s to see one of my hostesses who is recovering from COVID and couldn’t be there the way she wanted!)

Passing out thieves hand sanitizer at our gender reveal is also a favorite memory.

I’ve come to learn that it’s not about the STUFF. It’s genuinely about the people, and the reason for all the celebrating: a new life. Someone spoke over me during all this, “the end result is the same: a baby,” and they are right. It doesn’t matter that the celebrations looked VERY different this time around; what matters is we were still able to bring in our friends and family to celebrate this precious life.

As I was getting ready for my carport baby shower, my daughters went out to help my friends finish setting up. When they came inside, Rivers looked me in the eye and, with her sweet three-year-old voice, said, “I love helping your friends decorate for the party, mommy. It makes me super happy.”

THAT is what it’s about. I can confidently say after both of these COVID pregnancy celebrations, I felt so loved, known, and celebrated by the people in our lives. Our neighbors sat on their front porches and walked down the street to cheer us on. Our church family showed up by driving over to our home and sitting in their cars. Some of my closest friends here even managed to coordinate gender reveal confetti cannons, balloon arches, homemade sugar cookies, delicious food, and all the details that go into a party.

We are so so blessed, and I never want to forget how this feels.

Today, I let myself just sit in the moment and feel all my feelings. What sprung up was an overwhelming sense of joy, gratitude, and love.

In just a few short weeks we’ll be welcoming baby girl into the family and I can’t wait to tell her about all the adventures we’ve had together.