With today being Mother's Day I have been thinking back to when I first became a mother, and the extraordinary journey that each baby makes from conception to birth.
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:13-14
When you hold a baby in your arms it is hard not to feel wonder for our awesome creator.
Even the most powerful and influential people in history all started off life as a single cell. That moment a child is conceived a new life with endless possibilities has began. It is already a unique being, with a different genetic make up to its mother. Already what colour of eyes, hair, blood type & sex are already set.
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:16
I wanted to share a few snapshots of the amazing way our children develop.
At just five weeks, measuring only 1cm, this new creation already has a beating heart pumping blood to the liver, a rudimentary brain & eyes. Only a week later arms and legs are visible & muscles are forming.
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart... Jeremiah 1:5
Just 2 weeks later, all the organs are formed and you can clearly see the human form.
10 weeks old this tiny baby is already flexing its arms and legs and even getting hiccups! All this before a lot of women have even announced their pregnancy.
A recent study shows that from only around 12 weeks a baby can feel pain. At this time its hand can grasp and foot kick. A couple of weeks later it begins to react to sound. Two weeks after that fingerprints have formed.
The baby's eyes can see light from about 16 weeks, with their eyes opening between 26 and 28 weeks.
The last few months in the womb the baby is growing gaining weight and its organs are maturing. About 93% will be born at full term, that is, from 37 weeks. Howevever, babies born at just 22 weeks have survived. It is miraculous God has given us the intelligence, curiosity and yearning for knowledge that made the medical advances to allow babies so young to survive. That operations can be performed in utero to correct problems before a baby is born.
Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward for him. Psalm 127:3
There is just so much to praise and thank God for. I will never cease to be amazed thinking about the development of a baby. How perfectly God planned it. How he knew and loved each and every one of us even before we were born.
Whether we birthed our children ourselves, have stepchildren, adopted or fostered children we can thank God for each and every one. And rejoice in the privilege it is to be a mother.