I attended a lovely baby shower the other day. We gathered around picnic tables beneath the valley oaks, talked and played games, laughed, and shared the celebration of a miracle – a baby soon to be born.
The miracle started with conception. According to scientists, all the DNA necessary to set the course of a life is present when sperm and egg connect, and a zygote is created. In the quiet darkness of a woman’s womb, a human life has begun. Every stage from this moment forward is the development of a human being.
By week four, the foundations are laid for the baby’s nervous system, skin, nails, hair, mammary and sweat glands, enamel for teeth, heart, lungs, skeleton, and liver. Arms and legs begin to form. By week five, the heart beats, eyes and ears are forming. Our little person has fingers and toes and a cute little button nose, a jaw and palate by week six. By week seven, a blood test can determine the sex of the baby and every essential organ for a human to survive is formed. The baby responds to touch and can experience pain. By eight weeks, facial features are becoming more defined, muscles contract. By week nine some babies suck their thumbs in the womb.
Before the end of the first trimester, the baby’s kidneys, brain, and lungs are functioning. Our little girl/boy is kicking! The skeleton is beginning to harden. Facial features and expressions become recognizable by week fourteen.
Guess what? Within the first two weeks of your second trimester, your baby can hear! Start reading aloud. Put on some great classical music.
By week eighteen, Mom and Dad can find out if they’re expecting a little boy or girl. The baby’s genitals are forming externally. Weeks nineteen through twenty-one show remarkable growth of the baby. A head of hair is growing! The baby is swallowing amniotic fluid and producing meconium (which will fill baby’s first diaper). Taste buds are working by week twenty-four and the baby responds to sounds. Before the end of the second trimester, Mom can feel her baby kicking and moving. The baby now has eyes open and sleep patterns.
The third trimester of the unfolding miracle begins. Baby is gaining weight and now has eyelashes and eyebrows. Amazing brain development is going on. The baby can distinguish between light and darkness. Lungs continue to develop, bones harden (except for the skull which remains moldable for delivery), central nervous system, everything working.
Baby is running out of room. By week thirty-six, the baby has turned and is head down, getting ready to move out. All systems are go, go, go! Week forty and baby is ready to be pushed into the world! Happy Birth Day! Baby’s lungs will continue to develop after birth– as does the brain. Goodness! One would hope our brains continue growing in knowledge and wisdom and don’t stop until the day we pass from this earth!
Life is amazing! We are each, indeed, fearfully, and wonderfully made. Every life is planned by God, uniquely gifted and has purpose. Every life is a miracle meant to be cherished and celebrated.