Desiring to have healthy offspring, a person must understand the laws of this health, study them and follow them. Health is not an accident and not a random gift from Heaven that like a lucky lottery fell into your life, but it is conscious knowledge of God's principles and their reasonable practical implementation in our life.
Understanding that a third person had appeared in my family, who had not yet been born but already existed and needed special care for himself and his mother, I decided to study everything connected with this period. I wanted to know how to behave, how our relationship affects the intrauterine development of the child, what my wife needs to do, and what she should refrain from. It turns out that the pregnancy period is the most responsible time when the future child's character is laid, his inclinations toward sin, his physical and emotional health. We again and again understood that we could not do without God's help, and therefore every morning we began with sincere prayers for Divine guidance for both of us, for wisdom from above and for special light for our case.
My wife's appetite became so capricious, and her toxicosis so exhausting, that the time of preparing and eating food was a severe trial for her, which she decided to endure in a life-affirming spirit.
I had to work outside the home to provide the financial side of our life, and then, coming home, I tried to take upon myself that part of everyday cares that greatly depressed my spouse.
Studying the principles of nutrition during pregnancy, we decided to be guided by common sense and eat what specialists recommend, not what the flesh dictates. The fetus requires certain substances for its development, and the organism can receive and give them only from what we eat. Therefore we tried to carefully select our menu, but at the same time also refrain from overeating and snacking between meals. Exceptions were additional vitamins and school chalk, which my spouse for some reason came to love so much. I bought it by whole packages every week, which surprised the sellers who couldn't understand what I did with it. And when I answered them that I feed this to my wife, they were even more surprised. I understood that not all pregnant women need such food, but my spouse was ready to scrape plaster from the walls just to get the desired product.
In our communication we were already taught mutual love and positive attitude toward life, but frequent ailments and hormonal swings often deprived my spouse of peace and made her very capricious because of some trifles. I tried to do everything possible so that peace and joy would always be in our home, and apologized for any reason, just not to evoke an alien spirit and not allow unnecessary conflicts. We learned that such home atmosphere is transmitted to the child, and he will have inclinations toward such a spirit if we practice disagreements during pregnancy.
My wife also learned how her emotional state is transmitted to the child, and therefore did everything possible on her part to be positive, understanding my care for her too.
The closer the end of pregnancy was, the bigger our mommy's belly grew, and the more discomfort she experienced. She began to be bothered by frequent urination, but with a minimal amount of liquid. Apparently, the fetus was pressing on something in her organism and giving a signal that it was time to go to the toilet, but in essence, there was no great need for this.
A clear understanding that a living soul was inside my wife came to us when the fetus began to move inside the womb. This was always interesting and amusing. And the bigger the belly grew, the more active the baby became inside his mother. Through the belly walls one could feel his little head or other parts of the body.
Closer to birth my wife began to speak more often with her future child, stroking her little belly and humming quiet songs.
We also learned about benefits and promotions that the state and some humanitarian organizations conducted as support for families expecting addition. Somewhere we were given one-time material assistance, somewhere they gave gifts, and somewhere they made discounts on buying necessary things and goods. But we needed to find out about this ourselves, walk around and ask, since each region had its own rules. These little things, although they didn't affect our budget, brought pleasant variety to our everyday routine.
Sleep was also a special time of trial for my wife. For obvious reasons she couldn't lie on her stomach and couldn't always fall asleep when bedtime came. And sometimes during the day her organism got so tired that she would leave everything and disconnect from the world for a couple of hours. I always had to adapt to this new schedule and change many joint plans. But I understood that it wouldn't be like this forever, and this gave strength to experience everything in a positive spirit.
We also took care that my spouse's body was protected from unnecessary overcooling and from excessive overheating. Doctors forbade her to take hot baths so that miscarriage wouldn't occur, and we used a warm shower throughout the entire pregnancy.
In the matter of clothing my wife at first tried to select something that would suit her in color and taste, but closer to birth she began to put on what was comfortable, natural and practical, and she didn't care anymore how she looked.
It was also interesting to observe other people's attitude toward my spouse. Sometimes there was such an impression that angels accompanied her and opened doors for her everywhere. Many people met her with special respect, gave her their place, let her pass out of turn, helped carry bags and did much of what she didn't ask anyone for. And she stored all this in her heart and every evening told about the next blessings that she experienced during the day.
We also noticed that as many people there were, so many diverse pieces of advice there were for our case. And what we didn't hear! And the closer the person was, the more insistently he recommended to us his vision and his lifestyle during pregnancy. And we tried to listen to everyone and engage common sense, being guided by the light that we received from the books of the Spirit of Prophecy and from professionals in this matter. Knowledge of the basics of physiology and psychology of mother and child during fetal development helped us make wise decisions and protected us from many dangerous recommendations, bringing visible blessings and protection from many troubles.
But ahead were the birth, which we couldn't avoid in any way, and this event stressed us with its uncertainty and unpredictability. However, we gave this question too into God's hands and allowed Him to decide everything as was pleasing to Him. We very much needed God's peace, and the Lord gave this to us in full measure. We so wanted our child to be filled with the Holy Spirit from the mother's womb like the prophet John, and our daily prayers were about this action from God's side. Although we didn't see a direct answer to these prayers, we believed that something was happening, and the Lord would definitely answer as would be pleasing to Him.
Questions for Reflection
Please read Rom.15:1-2; 1Pet.3:7; Eph.5:25; Luke.1:15; John.3:6; Judg.13:3-4,7-8,12-14; Job.14:1; 15:14; 1Tim.5:14 in light of this lesson. What other verses from the Bible came to your mind? What did you understand from this lesson? Do you think pregnant women need special care and attention? From which month of pregnancy should one especially care for a woman? Does the pregnant mother's mood affect the formation of her future child's character? Why did the Lord put the emotional component of his mother into the development of the child's character? Does a pregnant woman's nutrition affect her child's health? Are prayers about filling the future child with the Holy Spirit appropriate? When can or should one dedicate one's children to God? Do you understand the importance of God entrusting a living soul with a clean conscience to the parents' power? Why is it accepted to consider that babies are already born egoists? Does mutual love of spouses help to have a correct understanding of what approach the child needs? Do you think loving husband and wife can transfer the model of these relationships to their offspring too?