Can you make a BABY?   I’m not kidding, I mean a real baby.  Even if you don’t have kid you pretty much know how one is made.  Stop! No! I don’t want you to think what you are thinking.  Let’s start from where the sperm meets the ovum. (Sorry to have censored your imagination!).  From that undefined ‘defined’ time of conception in history to the time you hear that magical cry of a new born baby – can you remotely control the intricate process of baby making for 9 months – minute by minute, second by second? Your Pre-Birth Day Era. Have you ever thought about how you were formed in your mother’s womb?

We were forced to learn about this ‘ in mom ‘ phase from a hard cover book in medschool, which I still remember to date.  It started with a fertilized ovum as one cell, then a 16 cell morula, then a 3 layer ectoderm,mesoderm and endoderm, each layer transforming into very specialized group of cells to form  organs which ultimately form a tiny little human being.  What you may not know is during this process,  many structures were  formed  and destroyed  by a special process called ‘apoptosis’.  So many structures intricately moved along its vertical axis and twisted clockwise or anticlockwise  to form the pancreas and the digestive system.  At other times  cells migrated up or down in that tiny little embryo to rest in the place where it needed to rest and settle (like some of us) to function for the rest of life.  Few of the neural crest cells (from  one of the 3 layers -ectoderm) would migrate to settle on top of the kidneys to form the adrenal medulla  (the emergency hormone kit to face fight or flight reactions when the baby hops outside into the real world), others would migrate to the skin as melanocytes (deciding if the baby is going to be a white or black or brown or any of the shades in between – (no matter if you are  Native or an immigrant you hop out into the country in your original color!) while others would migrate to the face to form the facial cartilages, bones and muscles ( so that sometime in the future a  face recognition technology would pin point who you are in this whole wide world amongst billions of people!).

In fact they say “the only interesting thing about vertebrates is the neural crest”. Incidentally, I beg to differ.  We are all so unique and different that everything about us is interesting because we are handcrafted by the Creative Creator who must be a genius in making babies!  Just look around you to see the various ways He arranges these cells on each one’s face – I am talking only about the face not mentioning other special functioning organs  – such variety in the shape of our noses, the slant of our eyes, the color of our pupils, eyebrows, jawline, teeth and above all smile! (with the limited edition dimple cheeks!!).  At the time of writing this I googled it ..yeah! …“How to make a baby”?  There were 5,480,000,000 articles in 0.62 seconds search including a FAQ on ‘How to make a baby step by step’.  I wonder how many mentioned the subtle algorithm of the neural crest cells migration in those step by step articles.   There are 200 types of cell types in the human being and I just talked about one! It’s mind boggling just to think about it!!!

The Bible quotes “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1-5

It was early in the morning when I got that call. ‘Thank you’ greeted a cheerful voice, familiar but I couldn’t find that neuronal memory cell that recorded history at that very moment.  It turned out  to be a  friend from medical college, that I hadn’t a chance to catch up  with since graduation in 1996.   Why would someone call after 9 years to say thank you! Following were the minutes where two old buddies catch up with life,  with one in India and the other in the United States.  She mentioned she went on to become an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist in a small village in India.  Her medical practice was soaring as she was the only practicing physician for several miles on the geographical map of that region.  She built  her own hospital and surgical theatre,  was living her dream life  with her husband, a surgeon and two beautiful kids.  She had become a star in a short time in that region. Everything took a 180 degree turn when the popular magazine in the region touted her with this ad “Want an abortion. Its easy! Just contact Dr Mangai”.  Her life  suddenly changed into stormy waters and her reputation was at stake! On one of those rough days, as she sat on her balcony thinking, she recalled that I of all people came to her mind.  All what I had shared with her during one of our luncheon sessions on a green meadow of our mundane undergrad college  days made sense.  I had mentioned, I believe, from one of the seminars I attended as a teenager that the chopped up embryo after an abortion cries from the waste bin ‘Give me a chance to live’.  All my brain cells became alive when I heard her say that because the image from the power point screen from the seminar,  flashed in my head.  Just then and there , she decided to quit doing abortions in her practice. This alone somehow supernaturally restored the peace in her life in the next couple of months! Hence the ‘Thank you’! WOW!  One conversation during a lunch break on one  fine  day  in a 5 year courtship in medical school had made an impact.  I felt good – super good in fact! Who said words have power …this was a live relay of that quote in my life, that Saturday morning.

Next day was a usual Sunday and to my surprise it happened to be ‘Anti-Abortion day’ and the sermon was all about the topic . All through the sermon a small voice within me was prompting me to go share my friends story from India in the church pulpit.  I was the only Indian in this new American church that I have been attending for a couple of months now and I have never seen anybody talk from the audience.  It was always the Pastor.  But I could hardly hear the sermon because the small voice was not small anymore but  was loud in my ears, heart , soul, urging me to talk.  As if the pastor heard it aloud he asked at the end of his sermon “If anyone wants to share any thoughts on the subject of abortion you are welcome”.  My eyes went big and wide as I couldn’t believe my ears.  Soon  I realized I was already walking to the front of the church heart beating loudly in my chest! When  I finished sharing my story ending  ‘A seed that was dropped into my friends heart 9 years ago sprouted on her balcony during a personal crisis.  I don’t know on what grounds this short testimony falls under the sound of my voice and who this might influence within the 4 walls of this church or beyond these walls as we go out into the society after this Sunday service.  But I know I can’t keep it to myself because Words have power. Power to save lives. The Pastor came up and said ‘Her message is better than my sermon’ and the whole church drowned in thunderous clap.”   All I felt at that moment was to say “Sssshhhhh…..this is church!”

Would you watch a painter for hours, craft his work with diligence and purpose and be cruel enough to wipe it away with a bucket of water thrown at the canvas…Just take the time to savor the 9 months it took to watch the  Creator sculpt  human beings in His Image.  Forget creating  ‘dents in the universe’ if you can’t think about the brilliance of ‘dimples on cheeks’.   You will realize how special and unique YOU are even without the dimples……a Masterpiece!

P.S. Colliding with Mangai, even when I did not know that she was going to be an Obstetrician Gynaecologist, turned out to be the plan of the Creator  to use me to plant that seed in her heart.  Her call just a day before the Anti-Abortion day, with the pastor giving an open call for  to the me church for me to share to share this story is not by coincidence, I’m sure! Share this story – you might save a baby!

Psalm 139:13-16

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

Jeremiah 1:5 

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Exodus 33:17 (MSG)

GOD said to Moses: “All right. Just as you say; this also I will do, for I know you well and you are special to me. I know you by name.”

#mybodymychoice #abortionban  #ShoutYourAbortion #abortion #creator #prolife