New Life: Mothers and Mothers to-Be!

Pregnancy Prayers

The news that a new life is coming into the world, is very elating for expectant parents, their family and friends. You think of baby names, a nursery and cute baby clothes when you’re out shopping. All these things really bring the dream to a reality and fill you with so much joy and anticipation over the next 9 months.

Announcing your pregnancy

Most pregnant mums like to wait for their pregnancy to reach the first trimester before making an announcement to the extended family.

This is because the first 12 weeks of pregnancy are the period when the embryonic cells are dividing.

It is the time when cells that will become the baby’s vital organs in the formation process. It is also the period when a miscarriage can take place.

Bringing a new life into the world is one of the most beautiful experiences for couples, also shared by their family and friends.

Some Issues With Early Pregnancy

Ectopic Pregnancy

When the fertilised egg, making its way from the fallopian tube to the uterus, encounters tissue scaring within the area. This could obstruct movement and cause the egg to implant outside the uterus, within the lining of the fallopian tube. This is called an ectopic pregnancy, which is harmful for both mother and the unborn child, but can be surgically treated to help the egg move along to the uterus.

The Body Rejects the Embryo

The female human body is designed to carry a pregnancy to full term, but also recognises the growing embryo as alien to the body of its mother. This recognition triggers the mother’s immune system to send warning signals it is being invaded. Other signals counter this in the mother’s body that enables the embryo to keep developing.

Sometimes the counter signal fails, resulting in a halting in the development process, and a miscarriage follows. Some mothers may experience this malfunctioning several times. There is help available with this, so please see your doctor or gynaecologist if this has been your experience.

Click here if you’re experiencing recurrent miscarriages and would like more information.

There is also the power of prayers

Besides medical help, praying for your unborn child even before conception is a powerful thing to do and there is nothing stopping you from taking a posture of prayer continually, no matter how much pain you’ve been through in the past.

Some of us have to do a bit more prayers, perseverance and standing strong in the strength of the Lord and in faith.

“Weeping may endure for a night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning.”

Psalm 30:5

Enlist Close family and trusted friends To pray

In 1 Samuel Chapter 1, we see the agony that Hannah faced year after year when she could not conceive.  She was mocked by her husband’s second wife, which probably made her feel less than a woman, depressed, angry, helpless, and you can fill in the blanks.

But she kept her hope and dream alive and I don’t think the day she prayed in the temple at Shiloh, where Eli the priest thought she was drunk, was the first time she had prayed about this situation.

1 Samuel 1:14-6.

I believe her anguish drove her to her knees in prayer to God, who wanted to bless Hannah all along. Samuel, later born to Hannah, was destined to play a very important role in Israel’s history at a point when the winds of change were shifting them from a period of Judges to Kings.

Hannah had to persist in faith through invisible barriers in order to partner with God to birth her dream, both physically and spiritually.

When Eli saw she was not drunk, but was a woman agonising in prayers, he also agreed with her in prayers.

Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

1 Samuel 1:17

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You can get your husband to agree with you in prayers as well or your local pastor or Church prayer team. Never give up!

Joanne Sojinu, Author,

A Mother’s Prayers, Week By Week Devotional For Your Unborn Child