Due Date

At Christmastime we think of Jesus. This year, it has been a joy to teach my children about the baby Jesus. In their young minds that are actually quite large they saw Christmas trees, Christmas presents, and it was always a delight to see them point out the baby Jesus in a yard nativity or at a store. In my delicate condition, slowly moving around over the Christmas days, I kept thinking about Mary being hauled around on a stinky donkey through the wastelands of Israel to represent themselves for the Roman census. God in His infinite plan, had them get to the place where He wanted Jesus to be born on a specific day and He chose the stinky barn too.

God in His infinite plan has been blessing me with peace during my own pregnancy. A little bit of a debate for everyone has been, "Well, how far along is Erin? When is your due date? When are you expecting?" Anyone that knows me well enough, should know that these queries really aggravate me!! I understand and appreciate the concern and the questions on when "my time" will be to be in labor with this child. However, this baby has been a serious faith leap for Husband and I. We have been overwhelmed by God's blessing in our lives! As crazy and unconventional as we may seem, we have been in prayer and understanding from God over the past 21 months.

Almost 21 months ago, Fiona Lynn was born, and through her birth experience, Husband and I gained a new trust for each other and a new trust and faith in God. We realized that we missed some serious cues from the Holy Spirit, and when we ignored signals of peace and understanding from God, we had to live with answers from man and technology. OK that seems a bit deep even as I read it. The point is that with this baby blessing number three, we are allowing God to be in control. Period. So since we don't know the day of conception, we won't know the exact date of delivery. I have an idea on when the baby might come, but I am leaving the day up to God. "Well, yes Erin! We all know the baby will come when God chooses, but what date has the doctor given you?" Ummm yeah, that is not the point. How can the doctor, midwife, or ultrasound know better than God? And why do we need to have a date to go by? If the baby comes before that magical date, then it was early, and if it comes after the magical date, then it is late. Whether it is psychotic or not, it seriously troubled me before Fiona's birth that she was considered a post term baby by 10 days. Let me give you the quick version:

• I, the mother, knew the day that I conceived. Yeah, it's not gross, I just knew. So shoot me! I am the egg carrier, and I did happen to know the day that the sperm got involved.
• The midwife didn't trust that I knew the day that I conceived, so she sent me for an ultrasound, because the medical community thinks that they can measure a squirming little baby and tell us how big their bones are, or when they are really tiny and resemble a shrimp shape, they try to measure the opening between the head and toes. Wow! Sounds like they could be really accurate, right?
• OK, so back up to that part about me knowing the date of conception...40 weeks from that point, which is the gestation period for a full term baby and also the number of testing in the Bible, would have had Fiona arriving on April 2nd. Now back up to those ultrasound people, they told me March 26. Eight days difference.
  
• So when you have technology involved, and a bunch of know-it-alls, you have to have a baby by a certain day. This is how it works with the hospitals, doctors and midwives that deliver at the hospital.
• The Mama is sometimes sitting around with an incorrect due date, with the pressure to perform and pop out a baby in a certain amount of time, by a certain day. It is crappy.
• Everyone that this Mama comes in contact with, is used to the due date propaganda, and it really just stems from our human way of wanting to be in control of every situation so that we can plan, plan, plan everything.
  

If you have seen Seven Brides for Seven Brothers you might remember the bit when Millie tells all of the fighting, kidnapped girls that she is expecting. The lines go, "Millie, when's the baby gonna come?" Millie says, "Well you have to be patient." The girl whines, "But when!" Millie says in plain English, "In the spring." Now this seems to be a good enough answer for all of these wilderness people. "In the spring" should give us a good point of reference for what time of year the baby is expected. Babies were just part of life then, and they would come whenever they were ready, and they didn't worry about getting the right color clothing for the baby, painting the room the right color, and having all types of pre-baby showers. These wilderness farmers, were most likely used to their animals just having their babies, and being done with it: the farmers were there in case they needed to get involved, but the mama animals could just handle things on their own. I've never heard of a cow totally disappointed that she had painted her stall baby pink and was presented with a baby bull. She would never have to explain to the farmer that the hat he had knitted wasn't the right color.

Yes, I am crazy. So shoot me.

I am not hoping to compare myself to an animal having a baby, but why on earth can't we all just be left alone to do our thing and have a baby? When is it coming? What are you having? What about your work schedule? What about my travel schedule? I might not be around...OK! Fine! To all that I love, I mean this in the nicest way...I really don't care where you are or what you are doing. For the third time, I am the one having the baby, and I am the one that will have to deal with it when it comes. I love and appreciate everyone wanting to be around for the phone call, and to help out when they can, but it is so much harder getting my brain ready for the task that I need to perform when everyone is watching me like a pot of boiling water. The reality is that babies don't come like they do on television. My most modern example is when Charlotte is confronting Big on a sidewalk in New York and her water breaks...movie version. Another older example is in Cheaper By the Dozen when the mother is planning number 12 at the hospital and she is packing her bags, most likely getting ready for a twilight sleep type of delivery. Well, maybe since she had already had 11 babies they would have just backed away and said, "Do your thing" at least that is what I would hope

Back to this faith process...the Lord has been teaching me patience with my new role as a mother. I tried explaining this gently to a friend who is trying to have another baby, and is frustrated with waiting to conceive. I will never be able to comprehend the pain and agitation of wanting to conceive, because I have the opposite problem! But I do know that if Husband and I were waiting to start our family, I could have waited forever! In that rather controversial post I made this past spring, I was addicted to my pay check and the thrill of working and being profitable. God has worked on me in other ways! He had to take all of those things away from me in order to teach me patience and to trust in Him to lead and direct my life. Each time we discover that we are pregnant, Husband is excited, and I am terrified. I am regretful each time I know that I have another child growing inside of me. How will I handle this? Why on earth are we doing this now? I told my friend that God may be teaching her patience by waiting to have another baby, but I know He is teaching my patience by having babies. God is teaching me through my daily tasks as a mother to have patience with my children, be waiting on Him for direction for my life and to be the vessel through which He will teach them about Jesus. My cup has been overflowing with joy and blessings far exceeding any bank account or stock portfolio for almost three years.

This next step for Husband and I to trust in God completely for the safety of this new baby, the safety of my health, and knowing that God knows the day and the hour that he or she will enter our lives has been challenging. We are anticipating great rewards and blessings, and we are planning to fly under the radar. With all of the intervention, drama, fear, and feeling that we were out of control with Fiona's birth, we feel so much more secure by allowing God to stand at the helm to direct us through any amount of turbulence. By not allowing fear from anyone in the medical community, fear from our parents, family and friends, we are at peace. This baby will not bring the excitement that Iain brought in being the first, nor will there be excitement that it was a girl with Fiona. But this baby will be the first stress free and performance free pregnancy and birth. This baby will be so exciting for I & F to see and they are already excite to see and feel baby move. And Husband and I are truly Spirit led which hopefully sounds crazy, irresponsible, unconventional and loony to everyone. We will boast in our Lord and praise Him for this miracle of birth that He has designed.

I love this article!

The 7 Feasts of the Lord
The Making of a Baby
By J. R. Church

Zola Levitt discovered an amazing correlation between the Seven Feasts of the Lord and the gestation of a human baby, from conception to birth. While preparing for writing a book for new parents, Zola contacted a gynecologist for some help in understanding gestation.

During that session, the gynecologist showed him a series of pictures, pointed to the first one (an egg and a sperm) and said, "On the fourteenth day of the first month, the egg appears." The statement struck a chord in his Jewish mind because that was the date of Passover. He remembered the roasted egg on his family table every Passover. Now, for the first time, he knew what it meant! Not wanting to lead the gynecologist off from the subject at hand, but he didn't say anything, but continued to listen.

The gynecologist continued: "The egg must be fertilized within 24 hours, or it will pass on." This reminded Zola of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the seed or grain that "fell into the ground and died" in order to produce a harvest, the first fruits of which was presented to God.

Next, the gynecologist said, "Within two to six days, the fertilized egg attaches itself to the wall of the womb and begins to grow." And, sure enough, the Jewish evangelist thought, "The Feast of First fruits is observed anywhere from two to six days after Passover!"

Next, he was shown a photo of an embryo showing arms, hands, fingers, legs, feet, toes, a head, eyes, etc. The caption said, "Fifty days." The gynecologist continued, "Around the fiftieth day, the embryo takes on the form of a human being. Until then, we don't know if we have a duck or a tadpole." Zola thought, "That Pentecost!"

The next picture showed the embryo at seven months. The gynecologist said, "On the first day of the seventh month, the baby's hearing is developed. For the first time, it can hear and distinguish sounds outside the womb." Zola knew that was the date for the Jewish Festival of Trumpets.

The gynecologist continued, "On the tenth day of the seventh month, the hemoglobin of the blood changes from that of the mother, to a self-sustaining baby." Zola thought, "That's the Day of Atonement, when the blood was taken into the Holy of holies!"

Next, the gynecologist said, "On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the lungs become fully developed. If born before then, the baby would have had very difficult time breathing." And Zola thought, "That's the festival of Tabernacles, a time of celebrating the Temple , home of the Shekinah glory or Spirit of God." In the New Testament, the Greek term pneuma, normally translated as "breath," is applied to the "Holy Spirit."

Birth takes place on the tenth day of the ninth month. Eight days after birth, in Jewish families, a son is circumcised. Zola noted that the eight days of Hanukkah are celebrated right on schedule, nine months and ten days after Passover.

No human being could have understood the gestation period 3,500 years ago. The establishment of the Seven Feasts of the Lord was given to Moses by the Lord Himself. Its correlation with the human gestation period is not only remarkable; it proves "Intelligent Design." It proves that there is a Creator God that guides the affairs of man