It’s been a full
week of feeling you bump, jump, and flip around! Last night I woke up to your flutterings
right behind the corner of my abdomen that is the most ticklish. I almost giggled it tickled so much! I tried flipping over to my other side in
bed, and eventually you moved to a new spot.
It is a marvel to me how STRONG you are, when you are still so tiny. Some of your movements have been remarkably
powerful, shockingly so from limbs just over an inch long.
Every night when we
go to bed, your Daddy and I spend time feeling you move and talking to
you. Since he can feel you now, your
Daddy is prone to talking to you for greater lengths of time. It makes me deeply happy to know you have
such a great Dad, who is already so interactive with you, and so excited to
meet you.
Last night we
watched nineteen week ultrasounds on YouTube.
We were in shock that your bones are so fully developed, every vertebra
could be identified! It was so clear. Even in the baby’s hands, each little bone
was visible. One baby we watched started
sucking in some of the amniotic fluid.
It was beyond cute to watch her little mouth open and close, and her
tiny chin move in and out as she sucked.
Then she put her fingers in her mouth and sucked on them too! I wonder, when I feel you move during the day
or night, what exactly are YOU up to?
This week, curled or folded up, you are
the size of a poblano pepper. You are between one half and three-fourths of
a pound, and around five inches from crown to rump!
If you are a girl,
your uterus, vagina, and fallopian tubes have formed. You already have about six million
microscopic eggs in your ovaries, which will decrease to about one million by
the time you are born. If you are a boy,
your exterior genitalia are recognizable in an ultrasound.
Underneath your
gums, your baby teeth buds have already formed, and your permanent teeth buds
are developing behind them.
On your scalp, hair
has sprouted and is beginning to grow.
If you will have a lot of hair when you are born, some hair may already
be visible on your head! I was born
bald, and remained that way well past my first year of life. Your Daddy was born with a bit of brown hair,
so you may be in better luck than I was.
Then again, I turned out to have TONS of hair as an adult, and your
Daddy’s is a bit thinner. Let’s hope you
get the best of both worlds.
We hope that you
will be the first of several sons and daughters in our family.
In the Old
Testament prophecy of Joel, words are spoken that are later repeated in the New
Testament book of Acts, by the disciples of Jesus.
“Surely
the Lord has done great things! Don’t be afraid, my people.
Be glad now and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things.
Then
you will know that I am among my people Israel,
that I
am the Lord your God, and there is
no other.
Never again will my people be disgraced….
“Then,
after doing all those things, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your old men will dream dreams, and
your young men will see visions.
In those days I will pour out my Spirit - even on servants - men and women
alike.
And I will cause wonders in the heavens and on the earth…
before that great and terrible day of the Lord arrives.
But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
(Joel 2:26-32) (Acts 2:16-21)
In the
second letter to the Corinthians, Paul reminds us to stay pure, since we are
sons and daughters of a Heavenly Father.
“For we are the temple of the living God. As God said:
‘I will live in them and walk among them.
I will be their God, and they will be My people…
I will be your Father, and you will be My sons and
daughters,
says the Lord
Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 2:16, 18)
On the day you are
born, you will meet your earthly father.
I pray that at a young age, you will discover the wonder that is a
friendship with your heavenly Father. He
won’t ever fail you, or make mistakes, like we, your earthly parents will! He is always good, always faithful, and keeps
His promises. You are proof enough of
that.
