I am going to have a daughter this summer and this afternoon I got my first real glimpse at her. It was an experience of immeasurable beauty and joy.

While it is one thing to see the whole body in its entirety, it was particularly amazing to watch the heart beat. The ultrasound camera is creates so many visual perspectives and sometimes you are viewing the exterior of the baby, and other times you are suddenly within the body, viewing the organs and the muscles.

I'll never forget one particular moment where the heart was the main focus on the screen. It's beating at around 142 bps and it looks so tiny, and yet it's so prominent. But what really struck me was the baby's whole body seemed to just be a glowing outline. In that series of moments it became clear to me that our bodies truly are just physical vessels.

<3

Oh, and I absolutely loved what the technician said to us about her job and how much she loves doing it. I just had to use that audio byte to open the video.