To say new mom Porsha Williams is glowing would be an understatement. Even over the phone, the brightness shines through.
“I’m just so happy,” the Real Housewives of Atlanta star, 37, tells PEOPLE of newborn daughter Pilar Jhena — her first child, whom she shares with fiancé Dennis McKinley. “She’s everything I ever wanted and I still can’t believe she’s here.”
“It’s been really, really good,” Williams continues. “Baby PJ is well adjusted and I’ve got her to a month now; she just had her month celebration. So we’re making it!”
All may be well now, but there was some chaos leading up to Pilar’s arrival. Much of that was captured on Williams’ new three-episode spinoff series, The Real Housewives of Atlanta: Porsha’s Having a Baby, premiering this Sunday.
In the trailer alone, there were tensions with McKinley over their living situation and a heated battle between his and Williams’ mothers. The special also documents Pilar’s birth — which looked blissful but was anything but.
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Porsha Williams Gives Birth to New RHOA Spinoff — See a First Look at Porsha’s Having a Baby
Williams had her baby girl on March 22, a week before her due date, via cesarean section.
“A lot of people think that C-sections are easy — an easier way to give birth. But I assure you, it is full, serious surgery,” Williams says. “It was difficult! Even recovery — healing from the cut and taking care of a newborn while being on pain medication and dealing with your body’s shock of having just had a baby. I’m doing pretty good now, but it was just a lot.”
Adding to Williams’ struggles was the fact that her body didn’t produce enough milk for her to breastfeed Pilar, which is an experience she calls “the hardest part” of new motherhood.
“It was something I was pretty nonchalant about in the beginning. Like, ‘Okay, if I can breastfeed, that’s fine. If not, I’ll put her on formula.’ It was that simple,” Williams says. “But once she got here and you’re looking at your daughter, you want to give her the world. You want her to have everything that’s the best for her. So it was really difficult for me to come to the realization that I couldn’t pump enough milk for her.”
Things got so tough that Williams said she was almost sent “into postpartum depression.”
“I just had to come to terms and be okay with it that I wasn’t able to breastfeed. I don’t even know if my body was ready,” Williams says. “My fiancé was very supportive, some of my friends were very supportive — they just reminded me that it’s okay. You still are a great mommy and you still love her as much as anybody can love her child. And it’s all right. She’s going to be okay. She’s going to get everything she needs.”
And Pilar certainly does seem to have everything she needs. “She’s a month, healthy, happy and got a great weight on her,” Williams says.
The baby girl’s name has special meaning, too. Pilar is Spanish, and relates to the Virgin Mary, María del Pilar, while Jhena translates to God. Remarks Williams, “I just love that because I’ve been praying for baby PJ, to have a little girl, and God answered.”
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Though Williams may call her daughter “Porsha Jr.,” she says PJ really resembles McKinley. “As much as I love her name, she might as well been named Denisha because she looks like her dad,” Williams laughs. “She kind of looks like me from the profile but then on, she looks like her dad. Like a super-cute little chubby [version] of her dad.”
She has a nice head of hair on her head, too. “That’s where that heartburn came from!” Williams says. “I was prepared if she didn’t have any, though. I have headbands, beyond. But I didn’t really need them. I cannot wait to give my little girl one of those Go Naked ponytails. She is our next model, I know it!”
There is one big thing Pilar has in common with her superstar mom.
“She’s a diva,” Williams says. “Literally, on her one-month celebration is when I saw the most of her personality. When she wants her bottle, she wants it right then. And when she’s done, she’s done. She’s on her own time schedule. She runs our house, literally! We are all on PJ’s beckoning call.”
The Real Housewives of Atlanta: Porsha’s Having a Baby premieres Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.
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