Known and Sanctified

My pregnancy has gone well so far. I've had little complications aside from a couple leg cramps and daily backaches. I go in for check-ups every two weeks and it is the same ritual. They ask if I've been out of country or in contact with Ebola, check my weight, take a urine sample, ask the same questions that always have the same answers, ask if I have any questions, measure, and then check the baby's heartbeat and send me on my way.

So at my last appointment, you can imagine my concern when they sent me to the hospital for a non-stress test since the baby's heartbeat was abnormally fast. I was worried. The practitioner told me everything was fine and it was just for extra measure, but I didn't believe her. She wanted to keep me from panicking. I was certain something was wrong. Why? Well because, it's still hard to believe there's a baby inside of me, and I'm still shocked that my body is doing something so phenomenal, and it doesn't seem possible to be so involved in creating life. It made sense to me that something was wrong. Besides, things had been going way too smooth.

I went to the hospital and they monitored heart rate and uterine activity for an hour. I lay there listening to our daughter's heartbeat while feeling the little bulges protruding on my tummy and receding again. While she makes it very evident that she's in there, it doesn't seem possible that in a few short weeks my husband and I will embark on an incredible journey, a journey I had always imagined but one that seemed far from reality. After an hour, it was determined that our baby was doing great, and that her earlier heartrate must've been a fluke.

Of course, I shouldn't have been worried. While driving to the hospital, Jeremiah 1:5 came to mind. "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee..." What profound words. God knowing us on such a personal level after birth is humbling and astounding, yet to imagine that He knows us before being formed is beautiful. I know that God is protecting her, and He's creating her, and He knows her and loves her more than I ever will.

I look forward to raising His daughter with my husband, and I'm thankful to be a small part of this beauty.