“Let everything that breathes praise the Lord. Hallelujah!” —Psalm 150:6
You are well into your second trimester, and there’s so much happening in that sweet, sacred space right now! At just under 12 inches long, your tiny image bearer weighs a little over a pound and will be steadily gaining around 3 ounces a week until the time comes for him or her to be ushered into this world.
Currently, small fat cells are filling out their tiny, still translucent wrinkles. Taste buds are forming. The inner ear is in its final developmental stages. But, the most significant developmental milestone under way this week is that of your baby’s respiratory system. The lungs are feverishly working to fill out the final branches of its tree, as well as forming the special cells which will produce surfactant, a substance which will keep tiny air sacs in the lungs called alveoli open. This will allow your sweet baby to breathe successfully outside the womb. It is for this reason that babies are, for the first time at 24 weeks, considered viable and able to survive outside the womb. A significant milestone indeed!
Father, thank You for this life You have created! I acknowledge that You are the author, creator, and sustainer of every living thing, we give You all glory and all honor for this precious gift. I ask that You would intentionally and purposefully place each doctor, nurse, and every other care giver in our path, and use them as tools in Your hands to fashion a journey for our family that is perfect, according to Your will. I ask that they would be kind, compassionate, wise, and capable. Allow our journey to speak to each of them of Your goodness and Your faithfulness. This week holds much growth and development, the most significant of which is preparing our tiny image bearer to breathe on his or her own. I am reminded of Psalm 150:6: “Let everything that breathes praise the Lord.” Let it be so of this child! May his or her life tell, in great detail, the story of Your Son who loves infinitely! I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.