Jamie Jeffries and husband, Shawn (via Facebook)
I’m a musician and pro-life advocate, and I’m now 24 weeks pregnant with our daughter, whom we’ve decided to name Grace-Lynn. Recently, we went in for my 20-week ultrasound, but we weren’t getting a clear picture of Grace-Lynn’s face so we attempted to convince her to move around by poking and shaking my belly a little. It didn’t really work – she just punched the ultrasound wand!
Then my husband Shawn suggested that we play some music to see if that would get her to move a bit. He took out his iPhone, held it to my belly, and played some Alison Krauss over the speaker.
As soon as he hit play, Grace-Lynn started ‘dancing’! It was so cute to see her wiggling around in response to what was playing. And the best part was that she was tapping her foot! It was no coincidence that she didn’t do this until the music started – and she didn’t stop until the music stopped.
Little Grace-Lynn’s dancing legs
Even our doctor was excited to see and point out that, yes indeed, my 20-week-old baby girl was tapping her foot along to the music. The doctor said she sees all sorts of funny reactions from babies during ultrasounds, but this one was particularly amazing.
My younger sister was with us and was seeing an ultrasound for the first time. She was excited and, frankly, blown away to see her niece keeping rhythm from inside the womb. My husband Shawn just smiled ear to ear and watched as his baby danced on the screen.
For me… it was all I could do not to cry. It was incredible to see this little preborn baby respond of her own free will. It melted all of our hearts – and it’s practically all I can think about since then.
A few days after my ultrasound, I spent some time with family and my mom wanted to feel Grace-Lynn kick. So, of course, we turned up some music and my mom sang in the direction of my belly. Once again, Grace-Lynn started kicking like crazy. We’ve tested the theory many times now, and every time we play music near my belly I feel movement. The louder the music, the more rapid and intense the response. How incredible!
via Facebook
As a musician myself, it’s exciting to know that my daughter seems to love music as much as I do. As a pro-life advocate, it’s exciting to know first hand that preborn children truly are alive and aware of the world around them. I wasn’t dancing to the music. I wasn’t tapping my foot or moving my body. That was all Grace-Lynn – our crazy, precious little dancing queen!
There is no way to really describe how it feels when your baby moves inside of you. But I not only felt Grace-Lynn respond – I saw her respond, as did the other three people in the room that day during my ultrasound.
Nobody will ever be able to convince me that preborn babies aren’t human and aren’t alive before birth – because my Grace-Lynn has proved them all wrong.
