There’s something in our culture that seeps into our thought process, without us being aware that it’s happening. It’s this notion that children are an inconvenience. An unwanted burden. It pervades our society and even when we don’t want to buy into it, even when we know better, somehow we still let it soak in.

So, when it dawned on me–how I was actually thinking about this new little life–I stopped myself in my tracks. Then I did something a little weird, perhaps even outlandish, but something that healed my thoughts and bonded me to this precious one.

I put my hand on the bottom of my tummy, right about where you can hear the heartbeat when you first go to the doctor, and I blessed my babe.

I said things like this, “Right now, precious little one, I just want you to know that you are loved and accepted and wanted. I’m sorry for letting my disappointment in myself carry over to you. I’ll stretch and carry you and do what it takes to be a safe place for you to grow, because this is what a momma does. I bless you now with hope, and peace, and life and nourishment and all that you need to become. I love you, little heart. I will be your home.”

This is how I am blessing my child, long before I know his or her name.

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
    you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
    Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
    I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
    you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
    how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
    all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
    before I’d even lived one day. (Psalm 139:13-16) (The Message)