Her name came to heart and I decided that day to put a call across to her. She sounded a bit tired and heaved deep breaths while pausing between words as she replied my words.
I guessed the pregnancy must have taken a toll on her and I quickly encouraged her to hang in there, that this season will be over soon. I also nudged her to make sure she got enough rest. She thanked me for always checking up on her as I ended the call.
Little did I know that, at the moment we spoke, she was just about to birth her baby who was just 28-weeks old.
Her water broke and she quickly found her way to the hospital. After all necessary examination, the doctor concluded that an emergency C-section be performed to save the life of the baby.
Something she said when I met her weeks later got me thinking. She said that at that point, she asked the doctor if the babies eyes, nose and mouth and all necessary parts of her body will be present if she is brought out at this time. The doctor replied her smiling, and said that her baby will be fine.
This brings me to the question, At what point do you think a baby is fully formed? Think about it.
I have often heard stories of women who gave birth to pre-term babies, but somehow I had never met a preemie before.
A certain woman once told me about how much sacrifice and effort she put in to nurture her pre-term baby. Her daughter is all grown up now and a very confident and outspoken 7- year old.
She says each time she looks at her today, she remembers the tiny baby she birthed whose head was so big and with very little flesh covering her frame. She wondered then whether she will pull through but then, she did.
And so I got my first chance recently and stood before a pre-term baby. I stood gazing in awe of God’s creation. She was a complete being even at 28 weeks.
I marvelled at the gift of life and how God specifically chose to give women this rare privilege of carrying a life and birthing a child.
Her head was covered with hair. She had big beautiful eyes and her tiny frame cuddled close against her mother’s chest. She wiggled in her mother’s arms and opened her lips to let out a yawn. She was so little, yet so alive and adorable.
It dawned on me at that moment, not that I did not know, but I understood now that babies are fully formed in that first trimester of life.
The months that follow, only gives them the opportunity to stretch, develop, grow and add the weight that will usher them into the world, with our bodies being a safe place to nourish and hold them for that season.
But then some babies choose to show up before time, sometimes circumstances beyond our control make it so, yet nothing still compares to the joy that comes with meeting your newborn, whether it is a pre-term or full term baby.
When I met a pre-term baby, I was reminded of God’s awesomeness and how he said in his word that everyone of us is fearfully and wonderfully made.
I was reminded of this psalm that says every day of your life has been laid out in his book. And how every day of your life has been prepared before you even lived out a single day.
“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” Psalms 139:13-16 NLT
“Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.Psalm 139:13-16 MSG
So even when this preemie chose to make her grand entrance into the world, God was already aware and he guided her in safely.
I met a Preemie for the first time and I appreciated the gift of life once again.
I also appreciated once again the journey of carrying a human inside you and the inexplicable love that follows with the arrival of your new born – whether its a pre-term or full term baby.
Was your baby born pre-term or have you met a pre-term baby before?
Feel free to share your experience in the comments section.
Many Hugs,
Ufuoma
