OW that you are nearly grown up, there are a few things I'd like to explain to you.

1. How a baby is born
We all have a body and a soul, as you know from your catechism. God Himself creates the soul of a new baby, but its body comes from the body of its mother, starting to grow from a tiny egg the size of a pin-point. But before this can begin to grow, it needs to be joined by a special liquid called 'seed' from the father, which is put into the mother when they join their bodies together.

The part the father uses to give the seed is the part from which his water comes; and the part the mother uses to receive the seed is inside the outer opening from which her water comes.

Sometimes, there is no little egg ready in the body of the mother. But if there is, and it meets this seed, God at the same moment creates a soul for the child, and sends down an angel to guard it and help it to get to heaven. We call this first moment the conception of the child. We often talk about Our Lady's Immaculate Conception, don't we?

For nine months, the baby grows inside its mother: here, in her womb. Then, when it is big enough, it is born through the same opening through which she received the seed. The birth of the baby nearly always gives its mother pain, but she puts up with it for love of her baby.

When it is born, the mother begins to feed the baby with milk from her breasts. But even while it was still inside her, she was feeding it through a sort of tube that joined its body