The Most Common Miracle

Just because it's common doesn't make it any less of a miracle.

Have you ever been present at a birth- or given birth yourself? Then you probably know what I mean.

It happens every day, multiple times per day, but every single time it happens it is still a miracle. A beautiful incredible unbelievable miracle. The miracle of a new life coming into the world. This miracle takes a wife, a woman, and turns her into something more, a mother.

Motherhood is the direct result of a miracle. And motherhood itself is somewhat of a miracle.  It is constant change, constant learning, constant growing, constant forgiveness. Just as the new life that caused this thing called motherhood is constantly changing, learning, growing, and needing forgiveness.

Last week, I had the most amazing opportunity to witness the most common miracle. And I have to tell you, it did not seem the least bit common. It was just as beautiful, just as amazing, just as mind-blowing as the first time I witnessed it and as the first time I experienced it myself.

The result?

Definitely not common.  New, amazing, awe-inspiring, tiny beautiful little human.  Look at that perfectly formed face and try to tell me that is not a miracle. A unique and fascinating miracle.

I have to say, though, this miracle happens because of another miracle.

Have you ever thought of how babies happen? No, really. 2 cells. Tiny cells that are invisible without special tools.  Those 2 cells come together and make one cell, then they divide over and over again. And look at what you get from those 2 cells becoming one:

Miracles. Constantly changing miracles. And I argue that the miracle starts, not at the process of birth or even the completion of birth, but at the beginning; when 2 microscopic cells connect and become one cell that then becomes many many many cells.

I'm making such an issue of this because it's been on my mind so much lately. Hearing about the Gosnell trial and the numbers of aborted babies both in China and the U.S; then going in to witness such an awesome thing as the birth of a baby..... Oh, dear friends, what has happened to our world!? To us? That we can sit by and let other people be murdered? That we can allow the most amazing miracle to be destroyed? Just because the miracle has become so common to us we forget what is really happening?

Babies are being killed. They are! I know people who believe in "free choice" of the mother have so many reasons for it- and if that is you, please don't tune out just yet.  I've heard how horrible it would be for the mother to have a baby she can't take care of; or how can you expect a victim of rape to carry her baby to term and have to remember the horror she went through? And I know there are so many more "reasons", but let me ask you this:

Remember last Christmas season? Remember the horror of someone taking a gun and killing children at an elementary school? I do. I remember the outrage that poured out of the internet and the news at the thought that someone would kill children. I remember seeing comments like, "There should be a special place in Hell  for someone that would kill a child".

How is that any different that what is happening every day in hospitals and abortion clinics all over the world???? But there is no outrage. There is a continued outcry for "freedom of choice".

My heart is breaking even as I am rejoicing over the birth of my beautiful niece.

There are so many women without children, so many that would rejoice over the opportunity to love the children that are "unwanted" even those who have developmental issues likes Downs Syndrome, whose mothers would take the "freedom of choice".  If a mother doesn't want or feels that she can't care for her baby, so many more mothers are just waiting, praying, begging to do that for her! Adoption is a win/win alternative to abortion! And what about those that do make the choice to end their pregnancy by abortion? I have talked with some of them. They wish with all their hearts that they had not made that choice.  They know that a baby is a baby from the moment 2 cells become 1.  A woman that has felt a baby move within her knows deep in her heart that the fetus within her is a little baby, a living human. She may choose to ignore that truth, but that doesn't make it any less true.

I have 4 of the most amazing miracles. And I remember being pregnant with each one of them.  I remember feeling them move within me.  Each one did different things. Each child, from before birth expressed his/her personality.  My oldest would jump and kick- she still does. She loves Taekwondo; she asks over and over for things, just like when she was inside me and would kick the same place over and over again.  My 2nd child pushed on me, stretched out as much as possible, and played with my belly button constantly. He still pushes every limit, stretching it out as far as he can; and he still knows how to push my buttons.

I could go on and on about my kids. About how their personalities matched their movements before they were even born; about the incredible miracles they are. Have you ever watched a child grow? It is mind-boggling, even if you just break it down into scientific terms. Did you know an infant doesn't have a kneecap? Just a tiny piece of cartilage that grows and becomes a kneecap around the age of 2 or 3.  Why?? Well, think about how hard it is to crawl on your kneecaps. So amazing! Every detail falls into place at just the right time, and this

rapidly becomes this

or this

or those children that were killed in their school on December 14th, 2012.

I see no difference in the humanity of those elementary school children and the children that are killed daily while in the womb. Life is life. A child is a child, no matter how old. Conception is a miracle. Birth is a miracle. Just because it is "common" does not make it less of a miracle. We need to protect children, not destroy them.

Welcome to the world, Daria Agnieszka. I hope we can make it a safer place for others like you.