SPOILERS FOR IF IT'S NOT TOO LATE: BLUE MOON AND BREAKING DAWN. PREGNANCY RUN DOWN AND EXPLANATION.

SPOILERS BELOW

SPOILERS

LEGIT, SPOILERS AHEAD...

You've been warned, lovelies!

Introduction

Hey everyone!

(To begin: PROOF READ, CHARLIE. I accidently wrote "lonely readers" instead of "lovely readers" and posted before I read it through! Autocorrect. I'm sorry!)

So, I've had a lot of questions from lovely readers about dhampirs and why I've gone the route I have, so I've put together an explanation as the next chapter won't be out for a little while (I think) while I work on the first edit (devise the big conflict/edit/cut down/iron out plot holes) of my novel.

I wasn't originally going to have a pregnancy in this story, but once the seed was planted and I got to know the characters over years of their lives, it grew. Bella isn't going to have Renesmee in this story. Breaking Dawn will bring Bella and Carys together in a way they've not been before, because as they begin to spend more time together again, they'll have a chance to reconcile and grow. It was in Feb/March that things began to push them apart, and this is July - time has passed and things are happening.

I spent months looking at dhampir and cambion legends before translating them into this story, and whilst I originally thought the pregnancy should be a full 40 weeks, it doesn't work with the world in which the story is based, or with the story. This length of time (25/26 weeks in this story) fits both with the story and a more understandable timeframe than the month SMeyer gave them.

I hope the below makes sense, and please enjoy! *If I could put a smiley face here, I would!*

- Charlie

Legends, pregnancy, and compilation of ideas

Fun fact: while cambion and dhampir are modern names, legends about dhampirs, cambions, and the like go all the way back through human history! Sometimes I was reading them, thinking, "have we always been like 'that kid's definitely not human'?"

Note: for as much as I've mentioned below, there's a lot that I've left out because, while it's super interesting and I'd recommend a deep dive into incubus and succubus legend if you have a spare day, it's not directly pertinent.

Dhampirs and cambions (by most legends) either grow fully in 7 years; die after 7 years; disappear after 7 years; and/or have no heartbeat for the first 7 years. The inability to hear the dhampir's heartbeat in the womb is a nod to this last. The 7 year timeframe is very well documented in legend, and whilst SMeyer got this right, the books and films greatly exaggerated the growth rate.

If taking the dhampir to be fully grown at around 18 years (if human), they would grow at a rate of 2.5 years per calendar year. This ratio of 2.5:1 is displayed in Carys' pregnancy, translated as the first three months of pregnancy presenting like a normal pregnancy, and then the next 6 months presenting at almost 2x speed.

Some legends say that a woman whose husband died or leaves can become pregnant with a dhampir if that husband returns as a vampire. Carys' pregnancy following Carlisle's return in New Moon is a nod to these.

In Blue Moon, Carys is in week 17 of her pregnancy, which translates to week 22 in a human pregnancy; she is showing, but it appears as heavy bloating. Pregnancies present differently in each person. If it's their first pregnancy, it can take up until week 20 for a person to start to show, and can be later still until it's noticeable to everyone. I've known of women (including my mum) who haven't shown until later than 24 weeks in their first pregnancy owing to a range of factors. Every bump is different, but soon Carys will be more clearly showing.

This being said, Carys has been growing steadily, and her bump is at a point where it's noticeable at week 17 (22).

Carys has 8/9 weeks left, which translates to 16/18 weeks if it was a human pregnancy.

The fate of mothers of dhampirs is especially unclear. According to various legends, the dhampir is given up to an orphanage or abandoned, but the fate of the mother is not expressly stated. It is implied in some that the act of giving birth kills the mother. A lot of cambion tales suggest (though few expressly state) that the mother can possibly survive (this is rare that it's mentioned or that, if it is, they survive). There are other, more modern, myths (1200s+) which suggest incubi actively want to have offspring of their own (I'm looking at you, Thomas Aquinas), but this, again, doesn't always mention what happens after, just the process.

Dhampirs and cambions are both left fatherless in legend as the demon/vampire doesn't stay after impregnating the mother. Merlin's powers (cambion) were famously revealed when the first King he served sent out to find a fatherless child. As Merlin's father was a demon, he was fatherless in legend.

Legendarily, dhampirs are hostile towards vampires because of the way they were created and abandoned. They are said to have a range of powers, including the ability to be impervious to the sun, while it kills vampires. Cambions have more readily available information about their powers, and are also said to be powerful. Dhampirs can easily identify vampires and have been known to work as vampire hunters.

As children, dhampirs and cambions have both been said to have insatiable appetites which can't be satisfied with as many as 5 whet nurses. This may be due to their growth patterns.

Below is a comprehensive run down of the dhampir part of Carys' pregnancy.

This is a new type of pregnancy which I've created specifically for If It's Not Too Late. Please ask if you'd like to use it in any fanfiction etc, though I don't expect anyone would necessarily want to! I'd just like to know if it's ever used because of the research, creativity, and planning which went into it.

I'm currently writing a vampire novel, and if pregnancy is possible in that, it would be different but similar to the below, so that's another reason!

Pregnancy

Dhampirs are incredibly rare, but they are not limited to one group in South America as they were in the novels. Their abilities etc are also not limited to the novels. We're going both legend heavy and headcanon here.

- First Trimester (weeks 0-12)

- The pregnancy develops at normal speed, getting everything together. It is not too much of a strain on the mother. The foetus is at as much risk in this stage as a human pregnancy.

- The only difference here is that the mother's blood can become sweeter at this stage. The sweetening does not make them more attractive as a food source for vampires but instead makes the blood a little less attractive while marking them out to their vampire mate (if they have one, which is rarer still).

- Second Trimester (in humans, weeks 13-28 - in dhampir pregnancies, weeks 13-20(20.5))

- The below are coupled with symptoms one can expect with a human pregnancy.

- The foetus is rapidly growing, but, as with human pregnancies, depending on placement it can be difficult to tell. Dhampirs grow, at this stage, around double-time to humans.

- This is usually accompanied by a brief drop in the mother's immune system, during which the mother should be protected as any small graze/cut can lead to infection, which is strong enough to kill if not treated well enough.

- The mother can be expected to endure an intense fever in the 13th week, which can be mistaken as the result of infection. This happens after the introduction of the first blood and is often fatal unless controlled. The foetus is not in distress but is becoming more vampire-like. It is now that the foetus can be termed a dhampir and the womb hardens.

- The hardening of the womb muffles the strength of the baby; it has been referred to as the "baby-change" by Carys. It is slightly malleable.

- The risk of miscarriage is near non-existent after this.

- Blood is now required for the foetus as it grows. Around a pint a week. Raw red meat can be substituted. If not supplied, the foetus will draw from the mother, leading to sallowness; limpness to hair, skin and nails; lethargy; increasing feelings of dread and doom; etc. If left for too long, the risk to the mother's life becomes more acute.

(Note: In the second trimester, the dhampir will take what it can (up to three or four pints at a time) and work through it before requiring more.)

- If blood is supplied in time, the mother can expect to feel near-instant relief of symptoms and can expect to feel restored over a period of nine to twelve hours.

- Benefits to blood/raw meat (red meat) can include a pregnancy glow, positive changes to hair, skin, strengthened nails (up to this point can be seen in human pregnancies), and they become more irresistible to a vampire mate if they have one. This can lead to the vampire feeling increasingly restless and desperate if apart, and is eased by proximity and touch.
(Note: this irresistiblility (not a word, I know) is not the case if the couple is not mated vampire/human, and so this is far rarer still. This is believed to be in order to strengthen the bond between human and vampire and lessen the risk of mate abandonment.)

- The Quickening will occur around week 15, at which stage the mother can expect to feel butterflies as her foetus kicks. Again, as it grows, the malleable yet vampire-like hardness of her womb protects her body from the strength of the baby.

- The coldness of the womb can be felt by the mother as chills, while her body becomes used to the change of internal temperature around the organ, and the organ is warmed in turn by the body. This is uncomfortable but does not lead to illness. These chills may be felt over the first few weeks of the womb having hardened, as the body becomes used to the change.

- The dhampir reacts positively to heat. Unlike a human pregnancy, increased exposure to hot sun can benefit the mother greatly and make them feel better.

- Third Trimester (in humans, weeks 29-40 - in dhampir pregnancies, weeks 20.5-26)

- Continuation of the blood/raw meat requirement from the second trimester.

- If blood/raw meat is not supplied, more severe symptoms of the second trimester will appear. This happens at a faster rate, over a matter of days, and can lead to the more rapid death of the mother. Blood/raw meat is now required at regular intervals (again, the equivalent of a pint a week is required) as the effects will be seen within a day of the foetus not having what they need.

(Note: at this stage, if supplied with more than one pint at a time, the foetus will simply take it all and require its regular blood as stipulated above. Unlike the second trimester, there is no "working through the stores" so to speak.)

- The foetus is growing at an increased rate, and the strain on the mother's body is heavy, but can be expected to be within a normal range of human symptoms when mother and baby are supplied with what they require (the mother also requires sustenance etc). If the mother is killed or dies as a result of lack of feeding the dhampir foetus, it too will die.

- In the last week, the mother can expect an increasing sense of dread and doom, which is followed, in the last days, by a sense of peace.

- The risk of death during delivery is as high as it is (*note, this is coming from a range of "ancient texts" aka me, so it refers to pre-modern day mortality, though modern-day mortality is still a big issue*) for a natural birth, made higher still by the vampiric womb.

- When a mother gives birth, unless a caesarian is possible with the aid of a tool sharp enough to slice the vampiric womb, it will lead to trauma, bleeding out, and certain death. (I've still got to work out what to do here because I'm thinking the dhampir wouldn't bite its way out but it might have to be a possibility)

- If, however, a vampire is available to assist with the birth, the risk goes down due to the ability to perform a cesarian. This being said, it is so rare for this to be the case (for a vampire to withstand the blood and assist with the birth), that there has only been one known case of this before.

- A caesarian can lead, again, to death unless the mother is almost turned quickly enough. Dhampirs link themselves to their mother's life force. Even if the mother can at first appear to be stable, she will slip into unconsciousness from the loss of both blood and life force, from which she will ultimately die.

I need to tweak it here and there, but it's basically that. It's essentially manageable and a bit grim with the raw meat aspect, but nothing too bad so long as they feed the dhampir and look after Carys. The risk comes from childbirth itself, but luckily they have Carlisle and Rosalie, and I have a plan for the teeth aspect which is a hell of a lot less horrible than Breaking Dawn and I'm surprised SMeyer didn't think of.

End note

I hope this makes things clearer and doesn't stop anyone wanting to read. Most of this will be explained in Blue Moon, and we will learn some parts in Breaking Dawn. As I mentioned before, the pregnancy wasn't something I originally planned, and once I realised it would happen, I wanted it to be completely different.