Observations on Infancy

I am amazed that life exists.

I mean, seriously, it's a wonder we survive past infancy.

We've heard, "Well, Nathaniel's bone marrow, because he is a baby, isn't quite fully functional, so he's not making enough of his own blood at this time anyway, and then with the extreme blood loss he suffered..."

We've heard, "Well, Nathaniel's lungs are immature because he is a baby, and then to have an injury to them like he sustained, ..."

We've heard, "Well, Nathaniel's an infant, so the soft tissue around his heart and lungs isn't quite firmed up yet, so we think that..."

Throughout this whole ordeal with Nathaniel, I've lost count of how many times I've heard, "Well, first of all he's a baby so his (fill in the blank) is not fully developed/functional/firm/..."

It's no wonder the infant mortality rate up until recent history was so high. If so many of our bodily functions are not completely up to par when we're born, it's a wonder more babies aren't lost each year. And by "bodily functions," I'm talking about things that are kind of important, like, oh, breathing, heart beating, and, I don't know, making blood.

The ancient Romans would not name their children when they were born. The first born would be called "Number 1," the second born, "Number 2," and so on. They didn't expect their children to live past being toddlers, so they didn't bother naming them until they were pretty sure the child was going to live into adolescence. True story.

So, this past month (Nathaniel is now over 1 month old), I've been reflecting on how fragile human life is from the very beginning. As far as we can tell, his hemophilia was caused by a random gene mutation on the X chromosome. Weird. Something so little can cause such a response in the human body.

Life is fragile. This wonderful, amazing, undeserved gift hangs by a thread. I am filled with wonder and awe that it can even exist at all. Pretty amazing.