Waiting to be born
I had a lot of growing to do before I would be ready to be born. The egg
and the sperm which had joined to make my life found a waiting place in
which to grow. The waiting place was the uterus in my mother’s body. I
was safe and warm there, and I was fed through a cord that joined me to
my mother.
Soon the cell that was to become me began to divide. It divided into two
cells. The two cells divided into four. The four cells divided into
eight. The eight cells divided into sixteen cells. The tiny jelly- like
cells stayed close together, and the dividing went on and on.
At first all of the cells seemed to be alike. But after a while each
cell began to do a special job. Some cells became skin cells. Others
became bone cells, heart cells, brain cells.
That is the way I grew before I was born. I grew and changed shape and
grew and changed shape. As I grew, my mother’s uterus became larger to
make room for me.
The egg cell and the sperm became one cell. Soon the cell divided. It
I began to move about. I waved my arms. I kicked my legs. My mother
could feel me moving and growing larger, and she and my father were very
happy.
became two cells. The dividing went on. At the end of a week there were
many cells, all together in a little ball.
For nine months I grew and changed shape.
After about four and a half months, the ball of cells had
changed into a perfect baby. The baby grew in its mother’s body until it
was time to be born.
