The fetus: 12-weeks old
Last week, RD and I went for another scan to check on the progress of her pregnancy. Her gynaecologist scheduled scans every four weeks with different tests at each stage.
This time, the Ultrasound scan was performed on the surface of her stomach and the fetus was not hard to locate. It was really active and we made out the details of the vertebrae, limbs and the head. The eye sockets were discernible and so was the mouth. All this in a 5.8 cm long sac.
Other than that, the gynae said that all the signs seemed to be normal.
We decided that we would not want to know the gender of the baby. I suppose we felt that we can find out the old-fashioned way - at birth. We felt didn’t really matter too much now because we were months away from the delivery. Let nature take its course.
We also shared the same view for the advanced tests that promised future parents the possibility of determining if the child was afflicted with any number of defects. We decided that we should accept a child as it were given to us. Foreknowledge might erode our belief in the sanctity of life from the moment of conception because it would tempt us to consider choices that we would not have done otherwise.
Yet even with a resolve to accept the course of nature, we still pray for a safe pregnancy and a healthy child.