Secondly, It is my deepest prayer right now that we all take a small bit off advice from the ever lovable Horton the Elephant:
"A person's a person no matter how small."
Ahh. So good. So yesterday I was asked to sit in on an early term ultrasound at the Lifecare Center where I work. Let me tell you, when my executive director asked me it took nearly everything I had not to burst into tears of excitement. I probably had the dumbest grin on my face, but I managed to maintain my composure - or so I hope!
So there I was, awkwardly walking in on this huge moment in this girl's life who I don't even know, and I'm all like Hey I'm going to watch this go down. No big deal and looking all professional while all of this excitement bubbles up inside me like a frothy rootbeer float and then the nurse finds the baby. And I stop thinking about anything, really. Because it was just WOW. It was 1 cm long but you could see where its head was, even it's brain being formed. It is only 5 weeks old, but I saw it's little heart beating at 145 beats per minute, clear as day on the screen. WOW!
Do we realize how fantastic we were, even before we were born? It's almost scary, it truly is fearful and wonderful! For example, before you actually had a formed heart, the muscle cells where your heart would come to be began to contract, or beat. This started because one single cell spontaneously twitched when you were 22 days old, setting off a chain reaction among all of those next to it until they all were. In video it looks something like somebody gently tapped it. Think about this. You didn't have a functioning nervous system at that point but the cells all began beating together with the same rhythm. We have been gently nudged by the finger of God and we can't even remember it. My my, he has a sense of humor!
It gets even more brilliant! A baby accidentally hit by a needle during an ultrasound was observed to have twisted away in fear, but not only that! She repeatedly hit at it and kicked it. This was around 20 weeks gestation!!! Also, guess what I learned recently? Human twins in utero play with each other. They have been seen nuzzling cheeks and even waking each other up. Even more amazing, they are known for something in particular - playing games. They have been seen in many scans cheek to cheek or touching each other on either side of their own dividing chorions (the membranes that separates them in the womb.) When these guys are at one year of age their favorite game is standing on either side of a curtain and touching hands. How amazing.
I guess I'm not actually sure where I'm going with this, except that I wish we all had the wonder of a small child who is told by their parents that there is a new baby in mommy's tummy.
Because it's actually truly beautiful whether we see it happening or not, and a child sees this. If you get one thing out of the time that may or may not have been wasted reading this, I hope that it is that you are SOOO incredibly loved and beautifully put together. And that was as true right now as it was when you were in the safety of your mother's womb, as it was before you were even a thought - For before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Jer 1:5
AMEN!
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