THE MIRACLE OF MOTHERHOOD
=Sublime miracle of motherhood.=--My talks to you would not be complete
without a study of the sublime miracle of motherhood, the creation of a
new life. It is no wonder that motherhood, in all ages and by the great
of all nations, has been treated with due respect and reverence.
=Ovulation.=--In this talk we shall begin with the beginning of life and
trace life’s development up to birth. The formation of an egg, or ovum,
by one of the ovaries once every twenty-eight days is called ovulation.
When the ovum matures it breaks through the membrane of the ovary and
the little muscular fingers of the oviduct, on that side, take up the
ovum and convey it to the womb. This usually takes place during
menstruation and the egg enters the womb near the cessation of the flow.
Sometimes the egg may reach the womb before menstruation begins. It is
possible for an egg to form at any time between periods of menstruation,
but this is of unusual occurrence.
=Impregnation.=--If, in either of these events, the husband and wife,
being both of matured age, vigorous,
[Illustration: A HAPPY MOTHER.]
healthy and strong, engage in the reproductive act, the wife will
conceive. When one of the sperm cells of the husband unites with the
germ cell or egg of the wife, conception or impregnation takes place.
This is the beginning of life, the creative moment of a new life, a new
being. It is at this creative moment that an immortal soul is started
upon its eternal voyage, nine months before it makes its visible
appearance in the world.
=All life begins with a cell.=--Every living being begins life as a single
cell of protoplasm. The cell from which a child is formed is produced by
the union of two cells, the germ cell of the mother and the sperm cell
of the father. The germ cell is much larger than the sperm cell. At the
point where the sperm cell enters the ovum a new cell is formed. This
new cell is the beginning of a new life and is called the embryo. The
embryo receives its nourishment for several days from the food material
stored up in the ovum.
When the sperm cell fuses with this minute ovum, 1-120th of an inch in
diameter, the ovum becomes attached to the velvety inner surface of the
womb. At this point of the womb the mucous membrane begins a rapid
growth and in a very few hours has enveloped the ovum.
=What takes place the first twenty-four hours.=--In the rapidly growing
ovum marvelous processes are going on. In part the physical processes
have been studied. The vital and psychical processes that are taking
place, far more wonderful than the physical, cannot be understood or
comprehended by mortal man. So rapidly has the embryonic cell divided
itself into two cells, these two into four cells, and these into eight,
then into sixteen, until many thousand cells have been produced in the
first twenty-four hours.
=The first thirty days.=--During the next thirty days this multiplication
of cells by division goes on rapidly. The embryo is now receiving life,
air, water and nourishment from the mother through the rudimentary
beginning of the placenta. The placenta when developed is a membrane
composed largely of blood vessels, entirely surrounding the embryo and
is attached to the womb near the top. At this point the umbilical cord,
which connects with the child at a point called the navel, merges into
and becomes a part of the placenta. These thousands of cells, under the
control of some invisible agency or law within the mother and the
embryo, begin to arrange themselves in layers and groups. In this way
the rudimentary organs one by one, step by step, begin to form. At the
end of the first thirty days the embryo is about one inch long and
one-fourth of an inch in diameter. At this time it has no resemblance to
a human being. Separate from all connection with the mother, no
scientist could tell whether it is the embryo of a rat, a rabbit, a dog
or a human being. It is this resident physical, mental and soul-life
received from its parents that will determine for it a human body.
=The second thirty days.=--During the next thirty days, new cells will be
produced rapidly, new organs will be started, other organs will take on
more definite form and the embryo will be many times larger and will
have a very distinct resemblance to a human being. During the latter
part of the second month this human embryo will possess a very distinct
appendage resembling a tail; the neck will be nearly as large around as
the body; the arms and legs, fingers and toes, ears, eyes, nose and
mouth will all be quite distinct, and the head will appear overgrown.
The embryo at the close of the second month will be about four inches in
length and one and one-half inches in diameter.
=The relations between the mother and the embryo.=--The little embryo has
projecting from its body, at the point called the navel, a large cord,
larger around than one of its legs. This cord is called the umbilical
cord and connects the embryo with the upper part of the womb. Here the
cord seems to branch out and to form a rather thick membrane which
entirely surrounds the embryo. Where the umbilical cord connects with
the womb there are thousands of small blood vessels. Here the blood of
the mother bathes the blood vessels of the umbilical cord. In this way
the embryo absorbs from the mother’s blood the materials from which its
bones, muscles, brain, nerves and spinal cord are built. In this way the
blood of the mother furnishes her forming child pure oxygen. In this way
also the mother is furnishing the embryo with life--physical, mental and
spirit life. Here, too, she gives it joyous or sorrowful thoughts, a
good or bad disposition, a frail or strong constitution, mental
brilliancy or mental dullness, and influences its character in many ways
before it sees the light of day.
=The order of special maternal attention.=--During the first three and
four months the mother should breathe the purest air, drink the purest
water and eat plenty of wholesome, nutritious food. The physical health,
strength and perfect development of the child’s body are largely
determined during these months. During the fifth and sixth months the
nervous system, including the brain centers, is being organized and
developed. Attention to mental exercise during these months and the
months following will influence the child favorably in after-life. The
moral nature of the child is more largely influenced by the mother
during the eighth and ninth months than during the previous months. This
indicates roughly the order of special attention that should be given
by the mother to her forming child.
=Symptoms of impregnation.=--After impregnation has taken place and the
days and months pass by, certain signs appear which tell her that she is
to become a mother. The menses stop, the breasts enlarge, a dark color
appears about the nipples, the abdomen enlarges and about the fourth
month she feels the distinct movements of the fetus. This movement is
called fetal life. However, life existed in the embryo from the
beginning. Feeling the movements of the fetus only indicates that the
fetus has grown to where it has strength enough to make its presence
known.
=Birth.=--At the end of two hundred and eighty long days, nine full
months, three-fourths of a year, the strong muscles of the womb
contract, and all the muscles of the abdominal and pelvic cavities are
called into action to expel the child from its maternal cradle or home.
All of nature’s maternal processes, from the initial of life in the tiny
egg, through all the mysterious and interesting changes of embryonic and
fetal development, until the babe is easily and quickly conveyed by
muscular energy from its warm, cozy, maternal abode and introduced to a
world of independent life and activity, are a sublime miracle--the
miracle of motherhood.
=The maternal instinct.=--The maternal instinct is inherent in every
normal girl. It is this maternal nature that prompts little girls to
play with their dolls and with childish glee and innocent sincerity to
organize their doll families into beautiful imitation of real life. The
natural desire of every girl, as she matures during the years of
adolescence, is that she may one day become a mother.
=A perfect body essential to ideal motherhood.=--The beautiful ideals of
wifehood and the sacred ideals of motherhood can come in their fullness
only to those who make themselves worthy. The broad-minded, sensible
girl will not bind her young growing figure with a corset, pinch her
undeveloped feet by wearing tight, high-heeled shoes, ruin her neck with
high, stiff collars, expose her shoulders and bosom to the varying
changes of temperature by wearing low-necked dresses, ruin her health
and throttle her mind and soul in a cradle of ignorance.
=The independent girl.=--All girls should qualify themselves for some
vocation, aside from marriage. The girl who stays at home and has
nothing to do but dress and primp and wait for some man to come along
and marry her is likely to develop into a flippant, extravagant social
nonentity. The girl who qualifies herself for some vocation will not be
a burden to her parents. She will learn the value of money, will
acquire self-confidence and personal dignity, will multiply the red
corpuscles in her blood, and thus be able to give her hand and heart to
her coming prince with the knowledge that she is quite capable of
entering upon the new duties of home-building.
=All girls should have training for motherhood.=--But whatever be the
place or position to which you may aspire, you should also seek the
training necessary to ideal motherhood. Your mother instinct calls for
plenty of roomy quarters for the fetus. It is the mother instinct that
demands open-air athletics, free chest expansion and a correct poise and
carriage of body. It is the mother love that calls for books and
magazines that give special articles on courtship, marriage and the
sacred mission of motherhood.