No, I don't specifically read to this baby, but anyone in the room when I read to Gabriel gets to hear the story. For all I know, he or she is learning new words along with Gabriel. I don't do anything specifically for this pregnancy yet, though, because I don't feel pregnant. I just feel fat. If I ever get a craving or feel a movement, then I'll feel pregnant.
In the later stages of my pregnancy with Gabriel, I was working at a Northern Tool call center. During my lunch, before it got too cold, I would sit in my car, eat my lunch, and read to the baby I hadn't yet met. Someone gave me a book called "Oh, Baby, the Places You'll Go". It is, as it says on the cover, "a book to be read in utero", adapted by Tish Rabe from the works of Dr. Seuss. It introduces the child to all of the characters in Dr. Seuss' books that he or she will meet when they get out and can see the world. It starts out pretty quick talking about Horton Hears a Who, saying, "He saved their whole town, for he knows, after all, a person's a person, no matter how small." Being a prolife person, that makes me emotional at any time in my life. Under the influence of pregnancy hormones, I start crying and have trouble reading this book aloud so my baby can hear it. I have to take a few deep breaths, then I go on to the next parts that describe other Dr. Seuss books that I love. I can read this part with excitement, thinking about my child loving the rhymes and crazy plots like I do. Then I get to the last page and the first line is enough to make me cry:
That page sends me into uncontrollable sobs. Then I dial up my mother's cell phone. Sometimes I get her, and sometimes I get her voicemail. Either way I tell her what I am doing and that I feel like an idiot for crying. No matter how many times it happens, I continue to read the book and call my mother.
Now, given my reaction to that, do you think I could get through the first line of Psalm 139 without a tear? I would have trouble reading it outloud. That doesn't mean I won't. It just means that the poor child might not understand what I am saying. That's ok. Maybe God will translate.
In the later stages of my pregnancy with Gabriel, I was working at a Northern Tool call center. During my lunch, before it got too cold, I would sit in my car, eat my lunch, and read to the baby I hadn't yet met. Someone gave me a book called "Oh, Baby, the Places You'll Go". It is, as it says on the cover, "a book to be read in utero", adapted by Tish Rabe from the works of Dr. Seuss. It introduces the child to all of the characters in Dr. Seuss' books that he or she will meet when they get out and can see the world. It starts out pretty quick talking about Horton Hears a Who, saying, "He saved their whole town, for he knows, after all, a person's a person, no matter how small." Being a prolife person, that makes me emotional at any time in my life. Under the influence of pregnancy hormones, I start crying and have trouble reading this book aloud so my baby can hear it. I have to take a few deep breaths, then I go on to the next parts that describe other Dr. Seuss books that I love. I can read this part with excitement, thinking about my child loving the rhymes and crazy plots like I do. Then I get to the last page and the first line is enough to make me cry:
So now, as my voice
burble-urps in your ear --
with a bump-thumpy sound
that is not very clear --
the words that I am saying
you hear in my heart,
and
know that I wish you
the very best
start.
It's a scrumptulous world
and it's ready to greet you.
And as for myself...
well...
I can't wait to meet you!
That page sends me into uncontrollable sobs. Then I dial up my mother's cell phone. Sometimes I get her, and sometimes I get her voicemail. Either way I tell her what I am doing and that I feel like an idiot for crying. No matter how many times it happens, I continue to read the book and call my mother.
Now, given my reaction to that, do you think I could get through the first line of Psalm 139 without a tear? I would have trouble reading it outloud. That doesn't mean I won't. It just means that the poor child might not understand what I am saying. That's ok. Maybe God will translate.
Posts
