This one is dedicated to the elephants.

Call me crazy, but I've been thinking about pregnancy a lot lately. And how it just drags on and onnnnnn. -at least for me.


This is not always the case.


Some women, in fact, LOVE being pregnant. Take my mom- she was one of those "glowing" ones and always talked about how much she loved it. She still does, actually. (talks about it). (well, I guess she glows too.)


Don't get me wrong, I do love BEING pregnant. I just don't LOVE being pregnant.  I love that there is life inside me, and that God created that life and so willing let me carry and grow. I am so very thankful for that. I just don't like how pregnancy makes me feel. I am certainly not glowing. -only the pale-green shade.


Well despite what most believe, a woman is pregnant for not the "9 months" or even 9.5 months that everyone says. it's actually 10! months. That's right, TEN! We've been lied to all these years, to make it not seem as bad.


Pregnancies are considered full term at 40 weeks. If you count four weeks as a month, that makes the result a ten month pregnancy. -So that's 40/4=10 months. of course, some women deliver earlier, and some later.


Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to show you a chart from wikipedia of different animals and their gestation times, compared to humans. I have deleted many, and highlighted those I think are interesting.

Mammal	Gestation period (days)
camel (Bactrian)	410
cat (domestic)	58–65
cow	279–292
dog (domestic)	58–70
elephant (Asian)	645 days     (21.5 months!!!!) ALMOST 2 YEARS!
giraffe	420–450 (14-15 months)
gorilla	257
hippopotamus	225–250 (7.5 months)
horse	330–342
human	254-294 days (8.5-10 months)
mouse (meadow)	21
opossum (American)	12–13 DAYS!!!!
otter	270–300
rhinoceros (black)	450
whale (sperm)	480–590

First of all, let's just talk about how lucky opossums are.  They only have to be pregnant for 12-13 days.  No wonder there are so many of them!  gross!

(where did this picture come from?)

He looks cuter than the opossums than I have seen in our backyard...

Then, I want to just say how amazing elephants are,  They are just 2.5 - 3 months short of being pregnant for TWO whole years!!!  UGHH.  can you imagine??  I guess it takes a lot of time to grow an elephant!  They are apparently super smart.  Maybe that has something to do with it.

(where did this picture come from?)

How cute is this little guy??

I think it's weird though, that it takes less time to make a whale than an elephant, and it takes almost two months more to make a human baby, than a hippo!  Hippos are big animals!!

(where did this picture come from?)

Hard to see how big he actually is.

Although small, humans take so long to develop because that is how the Lord made it. We are so carefully and intricately made; the bible says in Jeremiah 1:5, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."


Pretty cool how much God cares about and knows/knew each one of us so well, before we were even made. WOW. For that I am thankful.


BUT, I'm still jealous of opossums.