I was 21 when I found out I was expecting my first child, and I was simply amazed. A new life was growing inside of me and I knew that somehow, after nine months, a new little person would arrive just in time for our first wedding anniversary. Surprise! We had thought we would wait a while before starting a family, but we are very happy that things didn't go as planned!
Holding Isaac for the first time! I was very curious about the progress my tiny child was making, and got a copy of a publication called "As Your Baby Grows". This was unbelievable, his little body was starting to take on the shape of a baby at just 3 weeks!
If you would have met me back then I probably would have whipped out a fetal development book to show you photos of my unborn baby's current stage. I’d say "Can you believe that at just five weeks the baby already has fingers?" Or I’d tell you that at 7 weeks the tiny person is sensitive to touch and already wiggles around. If there were a window to the womb you might catch a 16 week old fetus sucking his thumb and playing with his umbilical cord.
I was excited to be having my first baby during an age of science and technology. New discoveries allowed me to see photos depicting life before birth, from the earliest stages. Just twenty or thirty years ago many people had the idea that life began with birth. As if the spirit and mind of the child floated around in the heavens awaiting the breath of life. Now we know that those ideas are about as ridiculous as the idea of the earth being flat and the moon being made of cheese.
Now it’s up to us moms and dads to decide what to do with this new information about life before birth. Some mothers play Mozart to their unborn children. Some daddies talk to their little boys and girls about life, love and the great big world. Most mothers try to eat healthy food, and many women stop smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol. The big brothers and sisters sing songs to baby and baby responds with little kicks. But, many Americans still think that at three months, the unborn baby is just a blob of tissue, if that is true than I’m just a blob of tissue too.
I remember being 5 months pregnant, when we would sit in church the baby would always kick me really hard whenever the music would stop. After he was born he was so quiet during the singing, but between songs he would cry as if to say "Sing some more!" During the day when my unborn baby would become active I would pat the babies back and say the same little rhyme, I did the same thing all through babyhood because in response he would always calm down and become attentive.
There is something else that also amazes me. A lot of people don’t want the news about fetal development to become known. People are even fighting to keep fetal development education out of public schools, as if fetal development had something to do with choosing a religion. This information needs to get out so women can make the best choices about health, lifestyle and prenatal care, knowing that their choices during pregnancy affect a child, and a mother, for a lifetime.
If you would have met me back then I probably would have whipped out a fetal development book to show you photos of my unborn baby's current stage. I’d say "Can you believe that at just five weeks the baby already has fingers?" Or I’d tell you that at 7 weeks the tiny person is sensitive to touch and already wiggles around. If there were a window to the womb you might catch a 16 week old fetus sucking his thumb and playing with his umbilical cord.
I was excited to be having my first baby during an age of science and technology. New discoveries allowed me to see photos depicting life before birth, from the earliest stages. Just twenty or thirty years ago many people had the idea that life began with birth. As if the spirit and mind of the child floated around in the heavens awaiting the breath of life. Now we know that those ideas are about as ridiculous as the idea of the earth being flat and the moon being made of cheese.
Now it’s up to us moms and dads to decide what to do with this new information about life before birth. Some mothers play Mozart to their unborn children. Some daddies talk to their little boys and girls about life, love and the great big world. Most mothers try to eat healthy food, and many women stop smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol. The big brothers and sisters sing songs to baby and baby responds with little kicks. But, many Americans still think that at three months, the unborn baby is just a blob of tissue, if that is true than I’m just a blob of tissue too.
I remember being 5 months pregnant, when we would sit in church the baby would always kick me really hard whenever the music would stop. After he was born he was so quiet during the singing, but between songs he would cry as if to say "Sing some more!" During the day when my unborn baby would become active I would pat the babies back and say the same little rhyme, I did the same thing all through babyhood because in response he would always calm down and become attentive.
There is something else that also amazes me. A lot of people don’t want the news about fetal development to become known. People are even fighting to keep fetal development education out of public schools, as if fetal development had something to do with choosing a religion. This information needs to get out so women can make the best choices about health, lifestyle and prenatal care, knowing that their choices during pregnancy affect a child, and a mother, for a lifetime.
New information compels us to change our thinking. Changing our thinking can require us to change our actions. Changing our actions requires us to admit that we were wrong. Admitting we were wrong requires us to feel guilty about the past. Feeling guilty about the past should give us the passion to change the future, so that others will not repeat our mistakes.
Hundreds of years ago a group of people became convinced that the world was not flat, that they decided to take a risk. No one believed them until they decided to sail around the world. The facts were confirmed and a whole new world was also discovered. We are here in America today because people were brave enough to respond to a truth that they could not see. Now through science and technology we have discovered a whole new world, the world of life before birth. You see, people can make really destructive and harmful choices based on ignorance, but when it comes to life in the womb, let us be ignorant no more. Life is precious, from the very beginning.
Hundreds of years ago a group of people became convinced that the world was not flat, that they decided to take a risk. No one believed them until they decided to sail around the world. The facts were confirmed and a whole new world was also discovered. We are here in America today because people were brave enough to respond to a truth that they could not see. Now through science and technology we have discovered a whole new world, the world of life before birth. You see, people can make really destructive and harmful choices based on ignorance, but when it comes to life in the womb, let us be ignorant no more. Life is precious, from the very beginning.
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