Twelve weeks.
We have a new doctor. Actually, a group of them: Midwife nurses (http://www.vanderbiltnursemidwives.org/). Things are the exact opposite as they were at the other place. It’s so important to know that the people taking care of us actually care about us. Friendly, informative, patient people there to help us. Last week for our visit, we got to hear the heartbeat for the fist time, thanks to a Doppler device.
Whoot-whoot. Whoot-whoot. Like listening to the sound effects of an Atari game played in a submarine. A bit eerie, a bit awesome.
Our baby’s heartbeat is 150. Supposedly, that’s typically the speed of a female heartbeat.
In addition to trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I am responsible for causing another human’s heart to beat, creating physical life, I am also fathoming the thought that I am responsible for causing a soul to exist as well.
It’s just a theory, and not even an important theological one at that, but I believe that the soul is passed on through the man, not the woman. Jesus’s father was the Holy Spirit, not Joseph. While his mother Mary was completely human. And Jesus didn’t have a sin nature like his half-brothers and sisters born after him.
I take a certain verse quite literally, Romans 5:12, that says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned”.
Humankind wasn’t cursed when Eve ate the Forbidden Fruit. It wasn’t until she offered it to Adam and he ate it that God kicked them out of Paradise, took away their eternal life, caused women to have labor pains, and forced men to have to work hard for their food.
From that point on, the human soul (complete with a natural tendency to do wrong) has been passed on through all generations through the man, with the exception of Jesus who was fathered by the Holy Spirit.
So if that theory is indeed correct (and no one in this lifetime can know for sure), then I accept the gravity of it, as best as I physically can: Another human being with an eternal, spiritual soul, will take its first breath this coming November because of me. (Of course, Lord willing.)
The word “legacy” is an understatement here.
All pictures with the “JHP” logo were taken by Joe Hendricks Photography:
Blog- www.photojoeblog.com
Website- www.joehendricks.com