Autumn Freemanwasn’t ashamed of her initial reaction when pink streamers flew instead of blue. In fact, she hopes other moms will own their experiences with “gender reveal” disappointment too.
The expecting mom opened up to her TikTok followers when she posted avideo contrasting her responses to the “gender reveals” from her first and second pregnancies. Freeman got emotional on both occasions, but her feelings fell on opposite ends of the spectrum.
Prefacing the stitched clips — which now have over 494,000 likes and 11 million views on the app — Freeman wrote, “Trigger warning, one of these videos displays gender disappointment.”
In the first video, theMichigan-based TikTokerlaughed and jumped into her husband’s arms as they watched fuchsia confetti rain down from a popped balloon. “Oh my God, I’m so excited!” Freeman shrieked happily in the footage from 2021.
The latter half of the video showed the couple learning their now-2-year-old daughter, Violet, was getting a little sister. But when their festive poppers burst into pink again, the color left Freeman crestfallen.
Autumn Freeman/TikTok
“I’m actually sad,” she told her husband, Andy, who comforted his disappointed wife with a hug. “I wanted a boy,” she added with a sob into his shoulder.
“It’s okay. She’ll be just as beautiful as the rest,” Andy said before Freeman walked off camera.
Autumn Freeman and her husband, Andy.Meredith Flood
Meredith Flood
Despite the initial let down, Freeman tells PEOPLE her dismay faded soon after the reveal, which they filmed last October. At the time, however, she had built up high hopes about welcoming another boy into the family. Freeman had bonded with her “bonus kid," 8-year-old stepson Grant, and was yearning to experience that side of motherhood with her own son. (Freeman is also stepmom to Andy’s 12-year-old daughter, Lily.)
But as her due date nears, the professional hairstylist and travel agent only grows more and more excited about raising two daughters.
Autumn Freeman and her family.Meredith Flood
“I think I was bummed out for maybe a week, and then it went away,” she recalls to PEOPLE. “I just told myself the universe is giving me what I need and what I can handle…I’m just meant to be a girl mom.”
Freeman anticipated TikTok viewers having strong opinions about her gender disappointment, and she correctly guessed that those users would voice their thoughts and wouldn’t hold back.
Autumn Freeman.Meredith Flood
“There [have] been so many positive people — maybe even more positive people than negative people — who are like, ‘I’ve gone through this and thank you so much for sharing it,’ ” Freeman tells PEOPLE. She even shared afollow-up TikTokto spotlight some of the most supportive responses. In the caption, Freeman wrote, “Ladies, you are not alone, and you don’t deserve to be shamed!”
“I would tell her, ‘Yeah, you were the third girl. We thought that we wanted a boy and we found out you were a girl. For a brief moment, I was sad that I wasn’t ever going to experience having a little boy, but now I have you and I know you and I love you and I wouldn’t trade you for the world,’ ” Freeman says.
She adds, “When she’s old enough to comprehend it and see it, I think it’ll be an explainable thing.”
Plus, Freeman imagines her daughter might find comfort in her mom’s honesty the same way so many women on TikTok did.
source: people.com
