LIFE CHAIN: This Sunday

This Sunday marks the 24th annual National Life Chain in more than 1,800 locations throughout the United States.  Most Life Chains occur from 2 to 3 p.m.

(Need to find a location or a time in Georgia: See http://LifeChain.net)

National Life Chain is a silent witness of the Christian community standing in honor of 54 million babies whose lives have been lost to abortion.”  Everyone of all ages can participate in their local Life Chain.

Pro-life advocates will line the streets and sidewalks with signs like, “Abortion Kills Children”,” Pray to End Abortion” and “Abortion Hurts Women.” The National Life chain serves to remind people of all faiths that abortion destroys the lives of the unborn – and forever scars their mother.

More information can be found at http://NationalLifeChain.org.

Here in Georgia, there are stories that reflect the positive effect of the life chain.  The most memorable is what happened in Savannah about 10 years ago.

A young woman who drove past the Life Chain in Savannah saw the prayerful participants and their signs.  She decided not to have an abortion. Visiting with Life Chain coordinators last year, she said, “This is who I would have aborted ten years ago if you hadn’t been here.”

40 Days for Life comes to a neighborhood near you.

You can help save a life.

YOU can help save lives!

This fall, from September 28 – November 6, our community will be one of many cities joining together for the largest and longest coordinated pro-life mobilization in history — the 40 Days for Life campaign.

40 Days for Life is a focused pro-life effort that consists of:

• 40 days of prayer and fasting
• 40 days of peaceful vigil
• 40 days of community outreach

We are praying that, with God’s help, this groundbreaking effort will mark the beginning of the end of abortion in our city — and throughout America.

Take a stand for life

While all aspects of 40 Days for Life are crucial in our effort to end abortion, the most visible component is the peaceful prayer vigil outside the local abortion (or Planned Parenthood) facility.

Go to 40 Days for Life to read more about previous campaigns and to sign up for a vigil near you.

Yes On 26 Celebrates Victory at Mississippi Supreme Court

Our State’s High Court Allows Personhood to Remain on the November 8 Ballot

Contact: Greg Sanders, 662-523-6722

TUPELO, Miss., Sept. 8, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ — The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled today that Measure No. 26, the Personhood Amendment, did not violate the state constitutional rules governing citizen initiatives, and so the citizens of Mississippi will have the chance to vote on it in November. The Court thus rejected a challenge by the ACLU, Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights to keep the Personhood Amendment off the ballot, claiming that it was an improper attempt to modify the Bill of Rights.

For over two years, scores of men and women, sons and daughters across our fair state patiently and prayerfully labored to successfully bring forth the Mississippi Personhood Amendment, Measure No. 26, to its rightful place on the November 8, 2011, general election ballot. With over 106,000 certified signatures, the first hurdle to secure a constitutionally defensible means of protecting the unborn from the earliest stages of life was achieved.

Recognizing the grave threat a favorable Mississippi vote in November posed to the interstate abortion trade, the ACLU and Planned Parenthood imposed a second hurdle, by filing suit to strip this initiative off the ballot, and as a result, deny Mississippians their right to declare on November 8 that in Mississippi, under God, the unborn are persons, possessed of those “unalienable rights” to life as our Founders opined in the Declaration of Independence.

Thankfully, the Hinds County Circuit Court and now our Supreme Court rejected the arguments of these bastions of liberal, anti-Christian activism and affirmed the right of Mississippians to cast a vote for life — to say “yes” on 26 on Election Day. We applaud the Court’s common sense and correct ruling.

“With the first two hurdles overcome, only the third hurdle of Election Day remains for us to claim victory in our state’s personhood movement. We need Mississippi’s prolife public officials, pastors, and patriots to stand up and be counted in the days ahead as we seek to become the first state in the nation to grant civil rights to the unborn,” said Brad Prewitt, Executive Director of Yes on 26.

“There have been nationwide attempts to silence the personhood message, so we are very pleased that a high court has ruled against the ACLU and Planned Parenthood yet again. The nation is watching Amendment 26, and it is time now to move forward and pass this crucial prolife amendment to defend human life,” said Keith Mason, President of Personhood USA.

“Today we rejoice and celebrate this hard-won victory, but tomorrow we roll up our sleeves and return to work. Our opponents are discouraged, but not yet ultimately defeated. They will be back, spreading fear, confusion, and dire ‘sky-is-falling’ warnings about this simple Amendment, and we must be ready to rebut their baseless charges and set the record straight,” said Stephen Crampton, Liberty Counsel’s lead attorney for Personhood Mississippi in the case.

When passed, the Mississippi Personhood Amendment will recognize what science and medicine have long established — namely that every human being is fully human and fully alive from the moment of fertilization — and will grant the unborn the full and equal protection of the law as the rest of us possess. In the days ahead, we pray that our work to protect the unborn might be successful and that our State of Mississippi might take that first step nationwide to stop abortion and to choose life over death.

www.yeson26.net

Chris is “bulking” up!

September 4th:  Week 24

I have fine hair all over my body that is there to protect my skin.  I will lose this before being born.  I’m a little thin at this point but am putting on more baby fat.  My eyes are formed, but my iris has no color.  I think I want brown eyes.  I weigh over a pound and am about a foot long.  If I was born today, I’d have a fighting chance to survive. (about 50%)

September 11:  Week 25

I’m really beginning to bulk up.  I gained 6 ounces this week!  I think most of it was muscle but also some bone mass and some organ development.  My taste buds allow me to distinguish between bitter, sweet and sour.  My lungs have developed so well, I’m now officially considered viable.  I could live outside my mom.  My parents have each contributed 15,000 genes that determined not only what I look like, but how I taste stuff, how athletic I will be, any allergies I might have and so much more.  Ain’t genes great!!  Especially if my dad is an athlete.  Tee-hee-hee.

September 18:  Week 26

Thousands and thousands of brain cells are growing in my head every day.  That’s very cool.  I’ll soon have billions of them.  I can make a fist and grasp things.  My spine is beginning to form to protect my spinal cord.  I’m covered by a white cheesy substance that protects my skin.  But, don’t worry, Mom, it comes off right after birth.  Mom can also tell when I have the hiccups.

September 25:  Week 27

My taste buds continue to form.  I can taste sweet things now.  My mom likes chocolate and so do I!  A bright light can be seen by me through my mommy’s tummy.  I have eyelashes and eyebrows, now.  My fingerprints are fully formed and they are growing.  I might need them clipped when I’m born.  Mom’s womb is about the size of a soccer ball.  Can I call her my “Soccer Mom?”

We need some sowers!

Georgia Right to Life is surprisingly like the farmer in Jesus’ parable.  Like him, we sow seeds of truth—God’s truth about His gift of life.  In our case, it is His truth about the preciousness of physical life, while the parable is about eternal life.

Like the biblical farmer, we sow broadly, and our planting has similar results: Some seeds land on inhospitable ground and fail to grow to maturity.  But other seeds fall on good soil.  They grow well.  They multiply into an abundant harvest.

We at Georgia Right to Life sow the message of the sanctity of life.  We sow it in the fields of public opinion and in the fields of broken lives.  We scatter our seed far and wide and then we cultivate it…and we pray.

In the short-term, we enjoy a bountiful harvest.  A harvest of changed hearts and minds.  A harvest of saved unborn lives, saved one at a time.  A harvest of mothers spared damage and regret.  It is demanding work that must be done day after day, every day.  As we work, we put our trust in the Lord of the harvest.

Imagine holding in your hand, a single stalk of wheat.  In your hand is the fruit of the harvest.

“To be honest, when I found out I was pregnant, I Googled ‘abortion’ and your site popped up.  When I called the help-line, I was encouraged and realized that I was not alone.  This help-line played a big role in me deciding to keep my baby.  Thanks so much!”

Georgia Right to Life keeps planting the truth and cultivating it for the coming harvests.  The ultimate harvest we all want is justice—justice restored to all persons, born and unborn, in our state and in our country.

And you and I can already see many signs of that future harvest sprouting.  You can see more and more states, like Georgia, adopting Personhood as their pro-life message for the 21^st Century.  You can see more and more young people getting involved as pro-life apologists through our Campus Outreach.  We trust you will see more and more abortion clinics closing and Planned Parenthoods going out of business as they lose state and federal tax dollars.  We trust you will see more and more politicians closing the loophole of rape and incest in abortion laws.

For the coming harvests, the seeds of God’s truth are available, but the truth is not enough.  The seeds of truth must be planted broadly, and the workers are few.  We must continue to get the seeds into the needy fields of individual lives and of culture.  So this is where you come in.

We need “seed” money to equip young people to winsomely advocate for Personhood on college campuses all over Georgia through our displays and our training.

We need “seed” money to develop and refine our websites so that we are the premier source of 21^st Century pro-life educational and reference materials in Georgia.

We need “seed” money so that we can buy more billboard space to connect young women in unplanned pregnancies to the help they need.

We need “seed” money so that we will continue to be leaders in the Personhood movement that is starting to sweep the country.

Clearly, some of us are still going through tough times.  But it is precisely at times like these that we need to till and to plant.

I am praying earnestly that this letter will generate much needed seed money.  Can I count on your generous gift?  Can you send a check for $15?  Or, perhaps you could send $25, $50, or even $100.  I’m also praying that some of you may consider a tax-deductible gift of $500 or $1,000.

We are preparing the soil, and we are ready to plant.  Come, sow seeds with us.

Together for Life,

Daniel C. Becker

Please mark October 27th, 2011 on your calendar.  It is our annual REACH dinner at the Cobb Galleria.  Jennifer Lahl will be our speaker.  More information will be available soon.

 Visit our Virtual Holocaust Memorial Wall at www.personhood.net. The Personhood website is filled with valuable information on 21^st Century life issues.

 Also, we have a secure server for your donations at Donations for GRTL. 

 

Remember:  If you would like to receive a tax deduction for your donation, please make your check out to GRTL Educational Trust Fund.

Heh, there. Look at me. I’m getting to be a big boy!

August 7th, Week 20:  If you were to shine a very bright light on my mother’s abdomen, I might slowly move my hand in front of my eyes.  If you make a very loud noise, I just might cover my ears.  But I can also her my mom’s voice and when she sings a lullaby, it soothes me and helps me sleep.  My private parts are clearly visible now, but NO peeking; after all, I’m naked.  And I have a right to privacy, too.  I hope mom is feeling me kick and remembering her prenatal vitamins.

August 14, Week 21:  Hair is starting to grow on my head.  I wonder if I’ll have my dad’s color.  He’s a cool red-head.  I am 20 weeks old now and in another 20 weeks I will be born.  Half-way there.  Yeh!  My legs are getting stronger.  I sleep in the same position now.  I’m over 6 inches tall when I stretch out, and I weigh over 10 ounces.  If mom lies quietly on her back, locates her own heartbeat by finding her pulse, then lays her hand on her belly, she can distinguish her heartbeat from mine.  My heart pumps about 6 gallons of blood every day.

August 21, Week 22:  My tongue is fully formed now.  I’m practicing making noise so I can give people raspberries.  I can hear noises from outside.  Some loud ones scare me.  I know mom’s voice, though, and really like the music she listens to.  I now have fingernails and fingerprints.  I’m not as little as I used to be.  If I could stand up straight, I would be 10 inches long.  Mommy doesn’t know that I’m a boy yet!  She’s waiting to find out.

August 28, Week 23:  I can hear mom’s conversations more clearly now.  I can hear her read, sing, and talk.  I like to kick back, suck my thumb, and listen to her read to me.  My eyelids and eyebrows are fully formed.  My fingernails have grown to the end of my fingers.  I’m going to be very smart because my brain is growing very fast.  I weigh almost a pound.  And, dad, talk to me, too.  I can here you even better than mom.

Two Days (and a Night) at a Your Local Pregnancy Center

What follows is a rather typical experience in the life of a peer counselor, or patient care advocate, at a local pregnancy center.  Lovingly penned to share a particular encounter, it reflects the impact that your local center has in your own community…

 

You never know when someone will touch your heart and how God will guide your hand…

It was a regular Tuesday afternoon.  I had just come in for my four hours as a Patient Care Advocate, or PCA, at my local pregnancy center.  A young lady was waiting in the reception area.  I asked her if she had signed in and then told her someone would be with her in a moment. I privately did not think it would be me since I had just arrived and hadn’t gotten up to speed as of yet. But as God would have it, everyone else was busy  so I came out and introduced myself to Ashley (not her real name) and took her back to a counseling room.

During the initial paperwork I found out that Ashley was 19 years old and in a serious tw0-year relationship with the potential father of the baby.  He knew that she might be pregnant and was happy about it.  Ashley was a full-time college student and stated that she didn’t feel as if she had any major financial or emotional stresses except that her divorced parents might be disappointed and angry with her.  However, when asked about her  intentions should she be pregnant, she stated that either she would parent or have an abortion and that she was 50/50 about the decision at that time.

Adoption was definitively not an option. Ashley asked me if we performed abortions.  I told her that we neither performed or referred for abortion, but that I could give her abortion education. She said no.  The pregnancy test was positive and it was estimated that Ashley was seven weeks into her pregnancy.  She insisted that this could not be right, that she could not be that far along. The medical staff  offered her an ultrasound to help clarify the issue.  The medical director could not see her that day so we scheduled her for the next day at 1:30pm.  She left with the brochure “Before You Decide” and my assurances that we were there for her, whatever she decided.

I worried through the rest of the afternoon that Ashley would not come back the next day and that she might indeed schedule an abortion.  The nagging concern continued into the evening and I went to bed saying a prayer for Ashley and her baby before I fell asleep.  That night I had a very real dream of meeting Ashley the next day and of holding her hand and talking with her during the ultrasound. Ashley was smiling in the dream. I felt calm and comforted during the dream and awakened from it that way but with the clear command that I did indeed need to come in that day, even though it was not my regularly scheduled time.

I often have vivid dreams that are very real but never have I had such a clear feeling that I must do something specific upon awakening.  I admit that my own selfishness, and perhaps the Devil, kept me thinking throughout the morning that maybe I didn’t really need to go.  After all, I had lots to do and all of the counselors were wonderful and dedicated and maybe even Ashley would be better off talking with one of them. As the time neared for Ashley’s appointment, I even called the receptionist to see if she had shown up.

Finally, I got in the car and drove to the center.  Everyone was happy but surprised to see me. I told them why I was there. They, too, were amazed at the dream.  I was thrilled when Ashley showed up.  I told her how happy I was that she was there and asked if I might accompany her during the ultrasound and she said yes. She seemed much happier that day.  Our wonderful medical director worked her magic and there was Ashley’s baby on the screen – so very tiny and yet so very alive with a strong beating heart. The medical director explained that Ashley was more like 6 weeks into her pregnancy and pointed out the yolk sac and the tiny baby and how the image on the ultrasound at this point in the pregnancy resembled a diamond ring with the sac being the band and the baby  the diamond on the band – what a beautiful analogy!

Ashley smiled and asked good questions throughout the procedure and looked happily at the photos that the medical director so wisely placed in a card with the caption “An Image of Life’ on it.  It was then that I noticed and commented on the beautiful engagement ring Ashley wore on her left ring finger.  Ashley and I went back to the counseling room and I asked her how she felt. She said she was still undecided but that she was looking forward to showing baby’s father the photos.  I commented that she now had a beautiful diamond ring on her finger and a beautiful living  ring inside her.  She smiled at the analogy and laughed and looked at the photos again. I asked her how she felt about the baby and she said she still was undecided as to what she was going to do.

Then, I told her that I had dreamed about her the night before. She laughed a little and said, “Now, you’re scaring me!” I told her how it was a happy and comforting dream and that she had truly touched my heart.  I was so very happy to be there with her, grateful that she had talked with me and allowed me to be with her during the ultrasound. Beyond that I didn’t know what to say – my intellect said “use your training and say more” but my heart said “just leave it at that, your being here is what was asked.”  When I hugged Ashley goodbye, I told her I loved her and that I hoped to hear from her.  And then I cried a little as I am now telling this story.     As of this writing I do not know what Ashley’s decision is but I thank the Lord who gave me the dream I had and the opportunity to fulfill it.  I pray that my dream for Ashley and her baby come true.

Let Georgia Right to Life help YOU get plugged in to local prolife activities through your local Georgia Right to Life Chapter.  YOU can make a difference!   Contact Suzanne Ward, Public Relations, at suzanneward@grtl.org.

A Chance to Live

Day 0, conception Day 20, a heartbeat.  Day 43, electrical brainwaves sensed.  Week 9, baby has unique fingerprints.  Week 12, all body systems functioning.  These are some of the earliest signs of life for a human being, new life that begins the moment the first single cell is formed on day 0.  The Alan Guttmacher Institute states that 1 baby is aborted every 25 seconds.  By the time I finish this message, more than 16 of these new lives will have been eradicated.  The cruel reality of abortion today.  How can we let this go on?  Why are so many innocent lives so thoughtlessly discarded by the very people who caused their existence?

When I first heard of the concept of abortion, I was utterly flabbergasted.  What kind of woman would willingly give up the greatest privilege, the highest honour that only half of mankind has been blessed with – the honour of bringing life into the world?  What sort of man would turn down an offer to have tenderness, purity, and innocence born once again in this now troubled, taxing world?  And what possibility of a bright future would a society that supported this absurd decision expect to have, when the very building blocks that will one day produce great nations are being denied the right to see the light of day?  As I sat in my bedroom, pondering this tragedy that scars our daily lives, I found truly deplorable answers.

Whereas pregnancy was once exalted an a commendable contribution to society, it is regarded today as in the words of Armstrong Williams, a ‘burden on our individuality and lifestyle.’  Modern feminism has indeed devalued motherhood, as is made evident by the women who cry out for liberation from this slavery, from the swelling in their stomachs, that weighs them down like shackles.  And we, as a society, undeniably foster this notion, planting the bitter seeds in every mind that a woman with child is far less likely to succeed in the workplace, and in life.  Well, after spending seventeen years with the woman who brought me into this world and enriched my life with love and moral values, who single-handedly worked with determination to fulfill my every need and more, after so many fortifying and enlightening years with the woman I call ‘my ma’, I can confidently debunk this myth.  A mother can indeed be self-sufficient and successful in today’s world.

I understand that bringing up a child is no easy task, not for married couples, and certainly not for single mothers – which I might add, has become a popular trend of modern civilization, arising from our casual ‘modern’ attitudes to sex and the quick, guaranteed, publically accepted Plan B-  ABORTION.  My mom tackled the same challenges that so many lone mums face.  She did not have a trust fund to fall back on;  she did not have a partner to cut her some slack when shee was exhausted or ill….Yet not once did she wish to be free of me to be able to go back and undo my birth which would have spared her the toil, “THE IRKSOME RESPONSIBILITY”.  For her, I was the purpose, the motivation, the reward.  And I stand here today, proud and in awe of her for the individual that she has raised, and grateful that she believed that I was worth the sacrifice.  Because of her I believe that giving every child his/her right to LIFE is worth the sacrifice and it is definitely NOT ours to decide whether to extinguish or exterminate this right.

Unfortunately, deciding whether to carry the child to term is often further complicated, as 2008 statistics show.  Out of the 98% of abortions conducted in this country due to ‘personal choice’, 32% were done because the mother was too young or unprepared for the responsibility, and 30% due to the economic reasons.  Can you envision the countless lives, the valuable futures that would have been saved, had these women considered adoption?  I truly cannot imagine having to leave my baby in the hands of a stranger, however, entrusting him to a family than can care and provide for him as I cannot is a sacrifice that a mother’s selfless love makes possible.  But the rest of us should be ashamed for turning a blind eye on the 40 trillion dollars spent annually on abortion, ashamed of even being the self-righteous parent or ‘friend’ who pressured a woman into extinguishing that flame of life within her, ashamed of trivialising the nature of sex to begin with.  Wouldn’t you agree that it is our duty as human beings to instead, face the consequences and support those struggling parents, or at least take in these poor children if we are in a better position to do so, than to callously discard them, as mere products of carelessness?

Ultimately, it comes down to you and the value you place on life.  I stand before you to remind you of the incredible power you yield in determining the future of our world – it is up to you.  Is it even possible to forget, laws and politics, egos and ambition, the dreamy TV romances we seek in our own lives….Well, I am asking you, whatever your race or religion may be, to forget the rest of the world, just for a moment and strip it down to just you and the unborn child.  Could you really exploit such innocence, such helplessness and feel no piercing of your heart?  Could you end a life that might not have been created in the most desirable circumstances, but nevertheless is an extension of your own life – could you really do this and bear to look at yourself in the mirror?

We touch other people’s lives simply by existing – J. K. Rowling.  Let us make a conscious decision today to be life-giving and just in our daily existences, essentially, to be HUMANE, and let us honour every new life with the opportunity to do the same.

Amanda Figeredo
Dunwoody, GA

First Place Winner – 2011 Georgia Right to Life Oratory Contest

2011 National Right to Life Finalist

A Crowning Worth Writing About

A crowning worth writing about…
by Ashley Wiktorek on Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 11:09pm

To look back two years ago, I could have never imagined that moment when God blessed me and I was crowned Miss Right to Life of Georgia 2010 last July. I have never participated in a pageant before and I never considered myself the stereotypical ‘pageant type’. However, if ever there was a pageant for me to be a part of then Miss Right to Life was exactly the pageant. It is a scholarship and benefit pageant that stands up for its beliefs and we practice what we teach. With all the profits of the pageant going to Georgia Right to Life and the mission statement, “Mentoring and fostering a respect for human life while touching hearts, changing minds, and saving lives.” It is a pageant that was created and established by a small board of young women with the purpose of being proactive and allowing their voices to be heard for the Pro-life community. I wanted to be a part of this purpose. Forget what the media’s stereotype is of pageants. I may walk on a stage with a pretty dress and smile, but as Miss Right to Life of Georgia that is only two minutes of my year reign.

A year of reigning to make others smile through community service from baking cookies and singing to the patients at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home to walking in the together for life march in Atlanta, Ga. To top it all off, the highlight of my year when we signed pictures while dancing with the Olympians of the Cobb County’s special Olympics. No matter where I go, I attempt to always wear my title of Miss Right to Life of Georgia 2010 held high. I brought that title with me to Liberty University where I was able to share about the purpose of our pageant to many on my hall and my professors. I even got to meet Ms. Lila Rose, the president of liveaction.org. Overall this year, I reigned to the best of my ability and I would have not had a year reign without God guiding me every step.

I look back on my year as Miss Right to Life and I see a pageant that is creating young girls to be proud women of God. As I told the judges around this time a year ago…It is not about me having confidence in myself but in my Savior. My goal as Miss Right to Life of Georgia was not to be a role model but to be the best woman of God that I could be. In the process of this transformation, I have noticed that maybe I do want to be a woman a girl can look up too. In society today, the word ‘normal’ for us has become young women assuming something is wrong with them if they do not look like a girl in a magazine to MTV marketing teen moms and making their show one of the most popular among the nation. If you ask a middle school girl in today’s society, she will most likely say the norm is sex and drinking. Well if my beliefs seem to be radical because I refuse to let this be my ‘norm’, then call me radical. Miss Right to life is not about molding girls into something they are not and piling extreme amount of makeup on their faces. Our pageant is about showing the world every individual’s natural God given beauty.

God has transformed me into who I am. Why be what society calls normal when we were created to be set apart from the ‘world’. I am nowhere near perfect, but as it is written in Songs of Solomon, “All beautiful you are, my darling; there is no flaw in you” (4:7). So no matter what anyone thinks about me or the words they try to use to bring me down, I as Miss Right to Life and as Ashley Elizabeth Wiktorek stand strong to my beliefs. With my feet planted firmly, I praise the love God has for me because in the end, the only crowning worth writing about is Him, Jesus Christ.

What’s Chris doing this month?

July 3rd – Week 15

Chris’ taste buds are working!  Chris drinks more amniotic fluid and it tastes sweet.  Chris’ pain sensory system is developing, but who would want to hurt Chris?  Chris may be small, but he is growing fast.  Mother enjoys the fireworks and celebrates the birth of our nation, but Chris doesn’t hear anything yet.

July 10th – Week 16

“Soon I will be able to grasp with my hands.  What will I grasp?  My other hand.  Did you know that I have my own unique fingerprints, now?  My fingernails and toenails are growing.  I also have an adult’s taste buds.  My eyebrows and hair on my head are sprouting.  But it will probably change color and texture after birth.  I’m kicking, twisting, and flailing really hard.  But, mom can’t feel me moving, yet.”

July 17th – Week 17

“I’m getting a little baby fat under my skin.  My heart is pumping as much as 6 gallons a day at a rate about double my mom’s.  I can swim and kick and do somersaults!  I’m the same size as my placenta now.  I’m not a lightweight anymore – I weigh almost six ounces and I am about three inches long.  I will keep growing until I’m 23 years old.  I wonder how big I’m going to be?”

Mom might be able to hear tiny thumps of Chris’ heartbeat with an external monitor now.

July 24th – Week 18

“When I am sleeping, I have REM which means I am dreaming, but I can’t remember my dreams.  My vocal cords have formed but I don’t make a sound–must be because there is no air in here.  Isn’t it amazing that I’m able to breathe ‘underwater,’ inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid?  I’m working on developing great lungs.”

Mother may begin to feel Chris flutter in her lower abdomen.

July 31st – Week 19

Chris can hear his mother’s heartbeat and some other funny noises that she makes.  He is beginning to know her voice.  His umbilical cord is an engineering marvel.  It transports 300 quarts of fluid per day and completes a round trip of fluids every 30 seconds.

“Wow.  I really like sucking my thumb!  I wonder if mom is starting to ‘show’ me now.”