This Is Your Baby: Beautiful Hands

The Genetic Development of a Baby’s Hands

This is your baby, and these instruments that they will use throughout their entire life to interact with the world around them are their hands. At the time of their development in the womb, the genetic code present at the moment of conception communicates to the system of your body all of the many intricacies of the hands, including at what speed they take shape and the specificity of where they're to be located on your baby's body so they end up in just the right place.

At only eight weeks, the progression from webbed palms to 10 fingers takes place rapidly. These chubby digits contain some of the most sensitive receptors in the human body, sending messages to your baby's brain with a single touch.

And don't forget the unique and one-of-a-kind biological signature known as the fingerprint, which comes about a week later, ensuring that there will never be, nor has there ever been, an individual who is just like your baby.

What a Baby’s Hands Can Do in the Womb and Through Life

At 16 weeks of development, your baby will be able to grasp, make a fist, and even suck their own thumb. Throughout the rest of their life in the womb and without, they will use these hands to reach for your comforting touch.

They're the tools that they will use to feed themselves, create works of art, keep their counting straight, have moments of triumph, reach those whom others can't reach, communicate words that inspire nations, construct things that advance the beauty of God in the world, care for the sick, exchange vows of lifelong commitment, and even hold the miracle of life for themselves.

The Legacy of Hands That Love and Truth Leave Behind

And when they one day leave this earth, others will remember those same hands as the ones that left an undying legacy of love and truth for generations to come. These are the hands they have now, the very same hands that they will have and use for the rest of their life.