PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
Growth Patterns
The physical traits of the child during Gestation are well documented in words and photographs. However, a few additional but vital points need to be addressed here. First, consider the period when the child moves from the embryo to the fetus stage. This is marked by obvious physical changes, true, but that may be an indication of something else happening "behind" the physical form. Consider this: if there is purpose as well as design working out in one's lifetime, when does that purpose begin? Perhaps this is just the moment -- the point when the physical form is "human" enough to be imbued with purpose. Let us call this, then, the time of incarnation. This is not to be confused with the idea of reincarnation, which involves a certain amount of belief. Rather, the time of incarnation would be the point at which a rather mechanical uterine process becomes the container for the spirit of a human being to begin a natural process of unfolding purpose.
Another point in the Gestation period to note is that sensory awareness begins about midway between the beginning of the fetal stage and birth. Up to this point, all "messages" received by the child have been through the mother's placenta (blood supply and exchange) or through more subtle communication devices. Now there is sensitivity to sound, light, motion, etc., outside the womb, the importance of which will be discussed below.
Nutrition
Expectant mothers often say, "Now I'm eating for two!" In many ways this is true. She must provide nutrients for both herself and her child. Body-building at this stage is the same as when the child is out of the womb: there is a need for high-quality protein and an ample supply of vitamins and minerals (especially calcium and iron). Supplementation is often recommended by physicians, knowing that the mother's body demands high nutrition that would normally require enormous amounts of food to supply. Natural (rather than synthetic) food supplements can help the mother prepare her body for the long-term strain of pregnancy and later lactation while helping the child get critical nutrients. In this way she can get a dietary boost without having to consume more calories than necessary.
PSYCHO-SOCIAL & CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
Developmental Urges & Tasks
While in utero, the child experiences the wisdom of the Womb. In deep, automatic, subconscious processes, the mandates of life are being carried out. As gestation unfolds, two processes are at work: accommodation and assimilation. At first, these are largely physical, as the child accommodates its environment and assimilates nourishment. Later, these processes expand. The child actually begins to sense and learn from the environment outside the womb, both directly through budding sense organs and indirectly through internal messages in the mother. (Piaget used these two terms to describe early childhood processes. He was right, but he had no idea the child had been doing them before birth as well.)
Sense Development
As was mentioned above, sensory awareness begins about midway through the fetal period. With the sudden increase of stimulation from outside the womb, the child is more vulnerable and in need of a new kind of protection. But the child is also more "teachable" as well. This is the time when parents would do well to speak in tones they want their baby to recognize and introduce music and other sounds that they want as part of the child's sensory "vocabulary."
At the invisible or subconscious level, the pre-parents can influence the child's sense development through a relaxed control of the external womb -- their home atmosphere. The work of Thomas Verney ("The Secret Life of the Unborn Child") sheds some light on this. He reports that while the fetus is quite receptive to stimuli through placental interchange and the primitive sense organs, there is also evidence that the child reacts to more subtle stimuli, such as mood changes in the mother and the environment. So there is a delicate sensing going on, and a repertoire of sense possibilities is being learned. Pre-parents who are aware of this are careful to let their own senses filter the emotional stimuli in the environment.
Character Development
Pre-parents would continue to maintain a relaxed and orderly atmosphere that will help the infant experience trust and security. This will be the first step in the development of strong character. The focus now is on the mother-to-be. The depth of her trust and relaxation in her husband and in the Creative Process will have a profound effect on the atmosphere of home.
Educational Approach
Couples anticipating a child would benefit from formal training in birthing procedure and atmosphere, proper care for mother and infant during and following gestation, childhood behavior patterns and proper parental response, etc. This kind of training is attainable in many locations (although subtle themes may not get addressed).
SOCIALIZATION & GUIDANCE PROCESSES
Parenting Patterns
During Gestation, pre-parents find themselves needing to exhibit single-mindedness (the Single Eye experience). There are so many distractions that appear during pregnancy that it is easy to forget the primary task: to prepare the way for a special being to come into the world in the most easy and welcoming atmosphere possible. This certainly does not mean that expectant parents should be fearful and shut out the world, for the fear itself would destroy the atmosphere. However, it does mean that a focus must be maintained through mental and emotional stability.
Responsibility
The pre-parents continue to have primary responsibility. Whoever might be offering guidance or attunement shares in this to a degree, helping the couple stay "on track" with their priorities of physical and emotional preparation.
Society and Community Involvement
During this period, family and friends best give the majority of their support from a distance. Unless called upon, they may inadvertently interfere with delicate cycles going on in the home. The pre-parents are concerned with atmosphere and with keeping a stability present in their lives. This is proper, and they should not have to deal with more stimuli than necessary. At this time, the assistance of midwives and/or physicians can be invaluable, as long as they respect the atmosphere of attunement that is being nurtured. One way to think about this is to consider that the womb is not just in the mother; it actually surrounds the entire situation. No one would intentionally disrupt the processes going on in the mother's womb, nor would anyone disrupt the larger womb if they recognized it was there. The couple knows it is there, and they can make it more obvious to all as they intensify their own sense of attunement with it.