Bible Study

Every Baby’sFirst Book

SECOND EDITION

Sandi J. Adams

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Health & Fitness, Pregnancy & Childbirth

978-1-62024-435-7 $ 7. 9 9

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It is by no means a comprehensive medical study. It is designed to be informative and accurate but more personal than scientific. It is, after all, just a love conversation to connect you and the little Einstein within.

There is purpose and a miraculous plan of life from the very first cell division in pregnancy. Reading through these nine chapters, you’ll learn what is happening during each month of your pregnancy and the progress your child is making within your womb. As you read this aloud to your child in utero, you’ll draw a stronger connection both with your baby and its creator—God.

This one-of-a-kind book will teach you how to show love to your child before he or she is even born. As these are nine important months in the child’s life, it’s crucial to begin nurturing your child and celebrating his or her life the moment it begins.

Full of advice, reflection, and scriptures, this book will equip you as a parent, armed with the truth of God’s Word. Through BellyButton Bible Study, you are sure to grow as a parent and to learn what God has to say about His children.

Sandi Adams is a registered nursein Illinois.

Bible Study

Bible Study

Every Baby’sFirst Book

SECOND EDITION

Sandi J. Adams

BellyButton Bible Study, Second EditionCopyright © 2012 by Sandi J. Adams. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the author except as provided by USA copyright law.

The opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of Tate Publishing, LLC.

Published by Tate Publishing & Enterprises, LLC

127 E. Trade Center Terrace | Mustang, Oklahoma 73064 USA1.888.361.9473 | www.tatepublishing.com

Tate Publishing is committed to excellence in the publishing industry. The company reflects the philosophy established by the founders, based on Psalm 68:11,

“The Lord gave the word and great was the company of those who published it.”

Book design copyright © 2012 by Tate Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved.Cover design by Nicole McDaniel Interior design by Rtor Maghuyop

Published in the United States of America

ISBN: 978-1-62024-435-71. Health & Fitness / Pregnancy & Childbirth2. Family & Relationships / Child Development12.08.28

Listen, child; Hear how I love you.

Introduction ...............................................................9

Month One ...............................................................13

Month Two ................................................................19

Month Th ree ..............................................................25

Month Four ...............................................................31

Month Five ................................................................37

Month Six .................................................................43

Month Seven .............................................................49

Month Eight .............................................................55

Month Nine ...............................................................61

9B E L L Y B U T T O N B I B L E S T U D Y

Remember back in the day when we had to wait until the time of birth and the doctor to exclaim, “It’s a boy!” or “You’ve got a girl!” or even “Th ere’s another one in here!” to know the sex of our children. Th is marvelous age of MRIs and scanners gives us an electronic peek inside Mama while our children are developing. We can choose to know their sex when they are only inches in length and ounces in weight.

Magnetic imaging is fun, exciting, and even helpful. Fortunately, it does not diminish the wonder of human life. We still stop in our tracks awestruck, as this new life is placed and received tenderly into our arms. We lean our face close to that pink newborn and smell the sweet breath. We tuck the sighing or squalling infant right up next to our cheek or in the crook of our neck. It’s as if ours is the fi rst child ever, a new species to behold. In fact, each child is unique in the entire world, and this is our child, long anticipated and so very welcome.

I remember my daughter-in-law saying, moments after our Olivia was born, “She was inside all that time, and now she is outside and so perfect!”

As science has learned to follow the sights, sounds, and activity in Mama’s womb, we see that all babies smile, frown, suck their thumb, kick (well, some of us already knew that they kick), open their eyes, and even have distinct patterns of wakefulness and sleeping in the latter months when they are more fully developed and just plumping up for entry into our world. We have scientifi c proof that they can hear and respond to our voice and to the noise and activity around Mama. Th ey will startle if Mama’s tummy is bumped.

10 S A N D I J . A D A M S

Th is book off ers parents the opportunity to begin nurturing that infant with words of love while it is still in development.

Th ese days, both Mama and Papa take an active role from the very start interacting with and caring for their baby. Th is book begins a love conversation with that developing child. It fosters a love connection between the parents and the rapidly growing baby.

It’s obvious why there are nine chapters. Each one examines and celebrates what is unfolding within the baby that particular month of development. It is by no means a comprehensive medical study. It is designed to be informative and accurate but more personal than scientifi c. It is, after all, just a love conversation to connect you and the little Einstein within.

It might seem like a one-sided conversation as you begin to read aloud, but over the months, you will be surprised how your baby captures your heart. Speak love into your child, because all children respond to positive words and to the care in your voice.

Th ere is such power in the spoken word that it was important to add to each chapter the most transforming words of all: the words of God.

God, all along, has had a lot to say about His children—about our eyes and what we look upon, about what our hands touch, our feet (our walk), about life itself and how good He has meant for it to be. Th ere is a master plan for every individual. So begin nurturing and celebrating your child’s life as it unfolds in secret…no secret, however, to God who knew your little one before they were formed in Mama’s womb.

It’s a big job you’ve taken on, Mom and Dad. You can’t start too early to build that connection and establish a bond of love that will hold through the rest of your family’s life. Have you heard of the three-stranded cord that can never be broken? (Ecclesiastes 4:12)

11B E L L Y B U T T O N B I B L E S T U D Y

So you’re holding your baby’s fi rst book, and I hope it starts you on a lifetime journey of love conversations with the people you care most about.

It is a good thing to be alive!

13B E L L Y B U T T O N B I B L E S T U D Y

Little child! You are so small, microscopic but alive and growing. You have just begun to form inside Mama, yet the number of your cells, even now, can be counted. You are part of both your Mama and your Papa, but today, heaven alone knows that your life has begun. Your Father in heaven knew from the beginning of time that this would be the fi rst week of the life He had planned for you.

Conceived: that is such an interesting term. You were conceived fi rst in heaven—God’s idea. You were wanted and planned. You were conceived in my thoughts and plans for a family. I doubt though if I’m able to conceive how much I am actually going to fall in love with you, how my fi rst look at you will take my breath away, how palpable the power and connection will be when you grasp my fi nger and offi cially make me yours. A refl ex on your part will mark the beginning of a lifelong love aff air for me. I thought about having you, but I suspect it is you who will have me, have my whole heart, and have my fi erce love. It will be love at fi rst sight from your initial whimper, the fi rst time your skin touches my skin. I’m sure you’ll hold me spellbound with every yawn, stretch, and sigh that will be uniquely yours.

You’re a secret right now, but there is a family here who will gather around you month by month to anticipate your entry into our world, our lives, and our hearts. We will make the biggest fools of ourselves when you fi nally get here. We’ll examine every precious fi nger and toe, fold, and wrinkle. You can teach us how love looks when it’s dropped right down from heaven.

Shhh…keep your amazing secret a little while longer.

14 S A N D I J . A D A M S

Weeks 1-4Here are a few of the things going on in your amazing, secret life this month:

• You are a nine-cell embryo with all your forty-six chro-mosomes (an exchange of genetic material—twenty-three from Mama, twenty-three from Papa)

• Your sex, skin, and eye color are already determined.

• A yolk sack surrounds you. Your home for the next nine months is under construction.

• Your midbrain begins to form already (controls thoughts, actions, and refl exes like breathing and swallowing).

• You become more deeply imbedded in Mama’s uterus

• Already your head and tail become apparent

• Nubs appear at the sites for your arms and legs

• A heart “bulge” or “tube” forms, and this primitive heart tissue begins to pulsate and establish your circulation.

• Your nervous system begins to form, and the optic nerve becomes myelinated (wrapped in a protective sheath).

• Your forebrain takes on a prominent shape (controls sensory and motor functions—feeling hot and cold, for example).

• Development of your intestinal tract starts as a tube.

• Your lungs, liver, and kidneys are beginning to form.

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God’s Words For YouYou’re such a miracle! Your heavenly Father has a lot to say to you and about you. You are already alive with His Spirit. I want you to hear these words of life about your new life.

Lord, You created my innermost being and all my delicate parts. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the Earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your Book before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:13

Th e Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the Breath of Life and the man became a living thing.

Genesis 2:7

Th e soul of every living thing is in the hand of God; and the breath of all mankind.

Job 12:10

O God, You are the Fountain of Life. Our light is from Your Light.

Psalms 39:9

Lord, You send forth Your Spirit and new life is born to replenish the living of the Earth.

Psalms 104:30

16 S A N D I J . A D A M S

When you add another person into your life does love divide? No! Love multiplies!

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