Almost a Mother...

This year I had an interesting and new experience-Mother's Day!  There were varied responses to my pregnancy-

"Congrats! Well, almost.  I guess you still have to wait until September."

"Happy Mother's Day, Ashleigh! Did Jake make you breakfast in bed?"

"Happy Mother's Day! Oh wait, you're not a mother yet."

Ok, so when do I officially become a mother?  In my own reflections and thoughts, I certainly don't feel like one yet.  My body is doing all the hard work involuntarily, and I just sit back and wait for the baby to arrive.  I don't have to change diapers yet, tend to a little crying one in the middle of the night, or worry about feedings.

And yet, if we, as Christians, believe that life begins from the first moment the sperm fertilizes the egg, then there is a real human baby living and growing inside my body, and it is my child, therefore I am mother.

So why is Mother's Day so ambiguous for a lot of people?  In my experience, it was actually older people who were hesitant to congratulate me on motherhood, insisting that it wasn't yet, that I had to wait to become a real mother, whatever that means. 

Next up is father's day, and Jake will experience the same rigmarole.  Let's just call a spade a spade.  We are both mother and father, even though our babe is yet unborn.  Jake protectively and lovingly cradles my belly at night while we are sleeping-just because he can't hold our child in his physical arms doesn't mean he is any less a father.  His concern and responsibility is every sense of real just as if our baby could be seen with human eyes and touched with our hands, skin to skin.

We feel the anticipation of meeting our child with a tangible excitement, and this waiting period only solidifies our amazement for the miracle of life.

Love, 

Ashleigh