Preparing for the birth of a child, we didn't sit idly by, but studied everything that would add to our knowledge and help in raising the child whom the Lord would give us. We very much wanted to know who we would have, a boy or a girl, but we were advised not to do ultrasound unnecessarily, since these waves can negatively affect the embryo, and the doctor can't always see the child's gender. We learned that through a special blood test one can unfailingly determine whom we are expecting, and we decided to take this test. It turned out to be not cheap, but we were given the result. It will be a girl. What did this change? Absolutely nothing.
We also understood that the birth of a new person would be connected with large expenses, and decided to make an appeal among our friends, relatives and fellow believers that they share with us children's things if they have such, and they don't need them. To our surprise, we were given so much that it seemed to us that this would be enough until the teenage period. My wife carefully looked through everything, washed it again and put it in the bedroom closet. Besides this, she looked at all kinds of sales of children's accessories and sometimes acquired quality things at low prices.
Studying intrauterine development and fetal physiology, we learned that hearing in a baby develops by the 21st week, and by his heartbeat doctors were able to determine that from this time he begins to react positively to familiar voices that sound in a calm rhythm, and the mother's voice is transmitted to the child also through the internal vibration of her body. We also learned that all discoveries about the development of children's intellect during intrauterine development are presumptive, since these little beings cannot tell us what they experience and feel, what they understand and what affects them. The books of the Spirit of Prophecy in this sense carry more assertions, since this knowledge was given to the author from above, and we decided to trust God and accept all His advice and recommendations, watching ourselves in what we do and say.
Our pregnancy changed a lot in our daily schedule and in our relationship. We became even closer to each other and decided to agree about everything. And this turned out to be quite uncomplicated when you have mutual love in relationships.
A real person will be born to us, albeit very small and helpless, but alive and promising. And everything that we put into her will either gladden or grieve us. We decided to rejoice.
Since many new knowledge had practical foundation, sometimes we conducted experiments in which I or my spouse played the role of daughter. A certain situation was created in which we acted out our reaction to this or that event, and then together discussed how to act correctly and how to behave.
For example, I "came from kindergarten" and asked mom about the meaning of many obscene words that I "heard from other children." Mom was horrified by such vocabulary, but patiently listened to me, and then began to explain to me that these are very bad words that shouldn't be repeated, and then found a better replacement for vulgar expressions and taught me polite words. Not everything worked out for us on the first try. Sometimes my spouse simply didn't want to hear something that hurt her ears, but we understood that life could present us with all kinds of surprises, and it's better to go through all this in theory to be ready for any unexpected situations.
When there was opportunity, my wife would sit on our favorite couch with armrests, and I would lie nearby, put my head on her legs so that the baby could hear me better, and so we communicated. They say that children have very good memory, and they absorb everything they hear, so we decided to introduce our offspring to our society as early as possible.
During general prayer, when my wife and I knelt down, I always chose a place to be closer to her belly, and tried to pronounce my requests to Heaven louder. I don't know how correct this was, but we wanted to start putting as many good things as possible into our still unborn daughter.
Regarding our phones we decided to use them as little as possible near the belly and mother's ear, since we didn't fully understand what influence the electromagnetic radiation of this device has on fetal development. And if we needed to talk, my wife would put on headphones and hold the smartphone as far from herself as possible.
At some point in our pregnancy we decided to refrain from any kinds of intimate relations and gave this question to God, asking Him for the gift of abstinence, and behaved so as not to be a temptation for each other. We didn't understand how correct and necessary this was, since we didn't know the exact answer and heard different contradictory opinions. Therefore we decided not to risk and calmed down. And my wife's difficult condition distracted us from this, and we had very fun time without unnecessary entertainment.
We also sang many Christian hymns together and listened to spiritual songs in calm rhythm. We made the decision to avoid, when possible, noisy events where one could experience unnecessary stress or very loud sounds, and we began to politely decline many offers, referring to our special situation. People related to us with understanding and always accommodated us.
We weren't ashamed to turn to our family and multi-child friends for advice and attentively listened to all those experiences and instructions that they gave us. And we wrote down the most important moments of this communication, and then discussed them together, trying to understand what awaited us in the future. Judging by the stories, a merry life with many discoveries and blessings awaited us. Sometimes fears came - what if something would be wrong, what if it wouldn't work out as needed... But thanks to sincere prayer all these fears quickly left us, and peace came.
Our parents always supported us and were glad to help as they could, understanding us without unnecessary words.
There was a case when my spouse was getting something from the upper shelf of the closet, and then decided out of habit to jump from the chair to the floor. She had such pains in her belly that we began to fear that there would be a miscarriage. We made a prayer appeal among friends, and through our prayers everything came to normal, and we decided not to engage in such acrobatics anymore and take care of ourselves as much as possible.
It was decided to give birth together, so that I would also be present at the birth. We began to inquire whether such a thing was possible, and having learned that this is widely practiced, we found a suitable maternity hospital and agreed that we would be together at the birth.
Closer to the birth date my spouse's toxicosis began to pass, but other specific problems appeared in the lower part of the body, which are uncomfortable to write about, and we decided to go out to nature more often, admiring the beauties of God's creation.
We understood that the Lord was giving us a new friend in the family, with whom our life until the last minute would be connected by the strongest bonds of love, and we were very interested in how this new little person would fit into our life, who he would be, what would come of him. But we were also gladdened by the fact that everything is in our hands, and the Lord will apply His hand, and together we will accomplish something.
Questions for Reflection
Please read Ps.91:5-7; 138:13-17; Prov.1:5,8-9,23; 3:13; 4:7; 8:11-12; 12:1; 14:8; Is.65:22-24; Jer.29:5-7; Eccl.3:1-2; 8:1 in light of this lesson. What other verses from the Bible came to your mind? What did you understand from this lesson? Should one prepare for significant events before they happen? Should one apply acquired knowledge in practice? Do practical exercises reinforce the theory that we learn from wise people? What benefit will the acquired knowledge and skills that I gain before I need it bring? Is the appearance of a person in the world something ordinary that doesn't require preparation, or is it something special that needs proper attention? What should someone do who has so many important things that there's no time for his pregnant wife? Will knowledge about how the fetus develops help make correct decisions and lead an appropriate lifestyle? Does God want to be glorified through your wife's pregnancy? How does the pregnancy of a knowing and understanding family differ from one that doesn't want to know anything? Does the Lord grant His blessings to those who want to know everything and understand everything? What should those do who want to know everything but don't have the opportunity to get necessary information from somewhere?