It's been a heavy day for me. I spent too much time reading online about what's wrong in the country at large, and talking on the phone about what's wrong a little closer to home. And all my potential blog topics for today seemed so serious. So I'll share something happy.
I think fetal development is fascinating, so I paid 69 cents for a magazine called "As Your Baby Grows" at the thrift store this winter. The cover says its from the publishers of American Baby, which sounds like a movie but is apparently a branch of Parents magazine. It's written in second person (maybe I should have guessed that from the title) but I'm going to change quotes so they don't all say "your baby" and "you" and stuff.
I'm skipping the first month, probably because I don't super like the word "sperm." In fourth grade, I cried when my group was assigned to research the sperm whale, partly for embarrassment at having to be publicly associated with sperm, partly because I was also embarrassed at the thought of having to explain why I didn't want to be in that group. My teacher was cool about it and let me switch discreetly, but I'm pretty sure I was then in the humpback group, a cold comfort. Whatever happened to orcas? Anyway, all the genetics of a baby are already determined at the moment of conception, stuff like eye color and sex. Because of genetic material contained in the egg and a little thing I will leave unnamed.
The second month "is probably the most important for a baby's growth. At the beginning of the month... each cell has begun to perform a distinct and indispensable role. Despite all the advances in biology and genetics, no one can explain how every cell in the embryo knows what to do and what part of the body to become; that remains one of the many mysteries of how human life develops." That is SO COOL! And they don't even have email or Slack or Facebook or texting. I've worked at places where the intelligent adult humans don't all know what to do or understand their role in the organization, despite chains of command, job descriptions, you name it... and these are incredibly tiny little specks that just start going about their crazy-specific business without having been commanded (except... well, I think God is directing this process ;)
"By the time the mother is six weeks pregnant, the head end of the embryo already looks different from the bottom, and a pair of bumps near either end mark the beginnings of arms and legs... In the fifth or sixth week, two parts of the heart develop separately, then fuse to form a minuscule organ that begins to beat rapidly--almost twice as fast as the mother's." A beating heart implies that there's blood. I think I had realized that "At no time during pregnancy does the mother's blood mix with the baby's." Reading the description of how that affects nutrient exchange, etc. reminds me of putting healthy boundaries in place even from a young age. The little one is still always its own person, not an extension of the mother. Even at the age of -7 months! If only codependent mothers would remember that for the next 18 years (just kidding! maybe).
And there are already eyes forming in the second month! It says, "although the lids will close next month, a baby in the womb can still discern light." Wow. "By the end of the second month, the embryo looks more familiar. The tiny buds that hinted at arms and legs now show little weblike ridges where the fingers and toes will be... Most of the baby's internal organs--lungs, liver, kidneys, and intestines--are in place, but they are not yet fully formed and they do not yet function fully."
I am so amazed at creation and especially the way this process happens silently and in the dark and yet each little part somehow knows its role in the dance. How is it that the dividing cells of an embryo form a tighter and more cohesive task force than a collection of intentional, educated adults? I feel like there's something deep I should learn from that fact, but for now I'll just admire it.
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