You and I made it through the first 9 months of life because of one giant cell in our mothers.

When the single cell of a new life divides into two, one cell becomes the baby, and the other becomes that wonderful organ called the placenta. It is not part of the mother or part of the baby but one giant cell to mediate between the two. Normally such an object is expelled by the mother’s immune system. But the placenta is not only welcomed for the full nine months of need but it actually works at keeping the mother’s immune system from rejecting the baby, a process that is still a mystery today.
The placenta develops a network of blood vessels branching from about 20 trunks and reaching 100 ft2 in surface area. The baby’s blood flows inside these vessels whereas the mother’s blood flows all around the outside, “like air blowing through a small grove of trees.” The branches are so tiny that all the chemicals in the mother’s blood can pass through its walls into the baby’s bloodstream, and the baby’s wastes pass to the mother without a single cell from either passing to the other.
During the 9 months the baby develops organs that, with the exception of the heart, do not as yet function. Instead, the 2-3 pound placenta must act as the baby’s lungs, kidneys, digestive system, liver, and immune system.
After birth, the placenta is no longer needed and is expelled from the mother. “This results in severing about 20 large uterine arteries which, if unchecked, would involve the loss of blood at a rate of about one pint per minute. Since fewer than five quarts of blood are in the adult female body, all the blood would be lost in less than 10 minutes. It is also important to note that the blood-clotting mechanism is suppressed in the placenta and uterine blood vessels during pregnancy, creating a situation comparable to a hemophiliac with 20 severed arteries. These factors result in a wound that no one would expect to survive! How does a woman survive childbirth with such a wound? Here is another example of the awe-inspiring work of God, the Creator and Sustainer of life. You see, each of the severed uterine arteries has a precisely placed muscular sphincter that acts like a purse string, or a surgeon’s hemostat, to immediately close off the loss of blood. As a result, a normal birth involves the loss of only about a pint of blood. Simply amazing!” (Dr. David Menton, AnswersinGenesis.org)
Sinners also have a Mediator, Jesus Christ who gave Himself as our payment for sin (1 Timothy 2:5-6). Today He is our Advocate, or Lawyer (1 John 2:1) who ever lives to make intercession for us (Heb. 7:25). But unlike the placenta, discarded as ‘afterbirth’, He will be glorified throughout eternity!

Thought question: How were the works of John the Baptist and of the placenta similar?