Have you ever wondered how your baby grows before birth? It is a fascinating and miraculous story. I had seven pregnancies and birthed four live babies. When you see pictures of that developing life in the womb you are overwhelmed with God's design. Life begins at the moment of fertilization. But a woman doesn't know she is pregnant until she misses that menstrual cycle. By that time she feels queasy and knows something is going on in her body. After reading Dr. David Menton's book, "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made", I knew I had to write about the birthing process.
I remember my first two pregnancies. First was a miscarriage, no reason. Second was a full term stillborn which was a dreaded moment in time and left me in grief and depression. There seemed to be no reason for that death. In the second stage of labor the heartbeat stopped suddenly and my OB quickly brought the baby to birth. I never saw the baby nor held her. I know it was a girl because the nurse said, "Oh, she's beautiful!" That's the way things were done in the 60's. Don't let her hold her baby. 'Let her forget'. Well, I did not forget. I suffered heavy grief for a year. And then, one year and 4 days later, our son Glenn was born, healthy and normal. Ecstasy filled my heart as Glenn's baby room was decorated with over 100 congratulatory cards plastering the walls. At last, Dick and I were parents of a delightful male child.
Then, soon after Glenn's first birthday, I suddenly suffered intense abdominal pain which lasted one afternoon. Upon my OB's examination during surgery, I had endured a tubal pregnancy which burst into my abdomen. However, miraculously peritonitis never occurred because my body built a wall around the open wound. What a blessing! Then followed 3 more normal pregnancies with the subsequent births of Beth, Carin and Diana. How I rejoiced!
Yes, how. a woman rejoices at giving birth to her baby. When you study the progression of the baby in utero, you realize God has a plan of development for each baby and you are amazed when you realize no chemist, scientist, or doctor orchestrated the step by step of the baby's development. You learn the egg of the female lies in wait in the fallopian tube for a sperm cell to pass through the egg's outer layer and touch the cell membrane. Then fertilization occurs when the father's DNA from the sperm combines with the mother's DNA within the egg. Life has begun! Cell division continues as the placenta is formed and the tiny baby is implanted in the uterus. By day 22 the heart begins to beat, by day 24 the eyes and ears start to form, by day 40 hands, arms, feet and legs are recognized and by week 8 you know whether the baby is a boy or a girl. By week 10 the baby weighs less than an ounce, by week 12 the baby is able to suck his thumb, by week 19 he kicks and stretches and by week 37 - 40 he is ready to be born.
The placenta has an interesting function. The mother's blood and the baby's blood never mix even though both flow through the placenta. The placenta is very important because it functions as the baby's lungs, liver, kidneys, digestive system and immune system. After birth the placenta is no longer needed and thus is discarded. All this happens because God planned every detail.
Then upon delivery, the baby takes his first breath. The baby spent nine months in fluid so how did he breathe? In utero, blood bypassed the lungs, but then flowed through the heart and the body. After birth the blood does not flow through the right and left atria, which closes, but flows through the lungs and then the baby can take his first breath. No wonder that 'first breath' is so important.
As you can see, no human governs the birthing process. Only Almighty God planned and created our own individual lives. As Psalm 139: 13-14 says, "For You formed my inward parts; You wove me together in my mother's womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well." Thank you Lord, for creating and loving even me.
