Children, adults get first-hand look at baby in mother’s womb

Heart of a Child Ministries travels nation spreading pro-life message via live ultrasounds

Sonographer Maci Binder, a member of the Heart of a Child Ministries team, which evangelizes youth and adults on the sacred gift of life, uses a portable ultrasound machine to show guests at a June 22 presentation at Holy Apostles in Meridian what a baby in its mother's womb looks like. Holy Apostles parishioner Rachel Thompson, on table, volunteered for the presentation. (Photo: Philip A. Janquart)

By Philip A. Janquart

ICR Editor

Rachel Thompson will never forget her first ultrasound, when she was given a glimpse of the tiny baby growing inside her womb.

For Thompson, a Holy Apostles (Meridian) parishioner, it was hard to express the feeling that came over her in that moment.

“There are no words to describe it,” she told the Idaho Catholic Register (ICR) following a June 22 Heart of a Child Ministries presentation held in Holy Apostles’ meeting hall.

Based in Omaha, Nebraska, Heart of a Child Ministries is a homegrown nonprofit organization dedicated to sharing its pro-life message at Catholic schools and parishes nationwide through in-person presentations.

Using a “4S” (science, scripture, stories and service) model developed in-house, the organization educates children and adults by giving them a first-hand look at a developing baby through live ultrasounds.

There were three sessions at Holy Apostles that day: two in the morning, following the 9 and 11 a.m. Masses, and another specifically for teens and young adults after the 6 p.m. Mass.

At about 26 weeks into her fourth pregnancy, Thompson volunteered for the early morning session after seeing an announcement in the church bulletin. Rose Nistler, a parishioner at St. Mark’s, signed up for the late-morning slot. Kallen Maher, who read the same announcement while attending Mass at Holy Apostles with her parents, made the drive from Greenleaf to participate in the evening session. The day before, on Saturday, Holy Apostles parishioner Kaley Carrion stepped in as a test subject to help calibrate the ultrasound equipment.

On Sunday, several curious kiddos left their seats and stood near the table where Thompson lay to get a better view as sonographer Maci Binder moved the probe from a portable ultrasound machine over Thompson’s belly.

 The resulting images, one of them 3-D, were projected onto a large screen, clearly revealing the sleeping baby’s features, including head, nose, mouth, ears, arms, hands, fingers and eyes.

“The only way I can describe it is . . . unbelievable,” Thompson said of her initial experience. “The first one is at eight weeks, and it’s like a little flicker at first.

The second one is at 20 weeks, and in that time, it has grown so much; it’s a little baby.”

Husband Eric was equally amazed when he saw his first child’s form appear on the monitor before him.

“You can see something that looks like a little kidney bean, and it has a head and a crown, and the little heartbeat just really goes, something like 180 beats per minute. It’s crazy,” he said.

The Thompsons’ baby, a girl, is due Sept. 9.

A call from God

Nikki Schaefer, founder and executive director of Heart of a Child Ministries, holds a master’s degree in social work and art therapy. She previously served as a pro-life counselor at Birthright and as a family counselor in the Expectant Parenting Unit at Catholic Services. She is also an author and freelance writer for Aquinas Press.

Heart of a Child Ministries was breathed into life in 2012 during a Holy Hour for Life at her parish, St. Robert Bellarmine, in Omaha, Nebraska.

“We were at a Holy Hour for Life, on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and at the beginning of the hour, I experienced a profound presence of our Lady,” Schaefer told the ICR. “I felt her all around me, and I heard very clearly in my heart, ‘I want you to do something in the community again for pro-life.’ I said, ‘Mary, if there is something you want my family or me to do, tell me what it is.’”

Mary’s response became almost immediately clear.

“At the end of the hour, I looked at my kids and my seven-year-old daughter Grace had a tear in her eye,” Schaefer recalled. “I got right in front of her and asked her what was wrong. She said, ‘I just don’t know why anyone would do this to a precious baby, mom. Those babies may be small, but they are people, too.’”

Shown above is a view of Zane and Isabelle Pulver's baby at eight weeks. Baby Pulver is about the size of a raspberry. Isabelle is the daughter of Diocese of Boise Human Resources Coordinator and ICR Advertising Manager Sheri Boicourt. The image was captured during a July 23, 2025 ultrasound session. (Photo courtesy of Zane and Isabelle Pulver.) 

Schaefer told Grace she once counseled women considering abortion.

“You have to explain it from a child’s perspective, so I told her that they aren’t doing it to be mean, that many of them are poor and are scared they won’t be able to buy diapers and things like that, and that we are called to help them,” she said.

“So, she (Grace) says, ‘Well, I want to help them. I want to make something, and I want to sell it. I want to give the money to mommies so they can buy diapers and not have abortions.’ And this whole conversation happened right in front of the Blessed Sacrament.”

Grace was specific about what she wanted: a stuffed cross, a baby and a heart with rays emanating from it. When Schaefer heard her daughter’s vision, it immediately triggered a memory.

“When she said that, the Holy Spirit gave me this image of her (Grace),” she explained. “When I would check in on her at night, she would be holding a pillow in one hand and a rosary in another. That image immediately came to mind, and I felt the Lord was showing me that this stuffed cross was meant to be a pillow and that the call to prayer of the rosary was meant to be incorporated.”

That night, Schaefer and Grace began sketching out their vision, which resulted in two distinctive designs – one with a baby on a Cross, Grace’s original idea, and one with Mary holding a baby in the palm of her hand. Both of these designs can be purchased at heartofachildministries.org/store/.

Nikki Schaefer, founder and executive director of Heart of a Child Ministries, explains to a group of children, youth and adults what it means to be made in the image of God during her June 22 presentation at Holy Apostles in Meridian. (Photo: Philip A. Janquart)  

The seamstress

“We had a seamstress scheduled to come into our house to teach my kids how to sew the very next day, after the Holy Hour for Life,” Schaefer continued. “I took the risk and told her what happened. Then I showed her the drawings, and she started to sob. She told me, ‘Nikki, I had an abortion when I was 16. My parents made me do it; I didn’t want to. When I finally healed at a Project Rachel retreat in my forties, that is the exact image I saw in prayer.

(You can learn about Project Rachel here: https://hopeafterabortion.com)

The seamstress continued with her story, telling Schaefer that she saw a vision of Mary in her heart, holding her baby in the palm of her hand and heard her say, “His name is Michael.”

Schaefer and the unnamed seamstress came to an agreement.

“I agreed to devote this ministry to Michael, and she taught me how to sew, along with my daughters,” Schaefer said. “So, that’s how it all began. If you think about it, who does our Lady come to? The little children. What does she tell them to do? To spread the call to the Rosary and Prayer.”

Ministry expands

Schaefer and Grace raised $40,000 over three years by selling the pillows, and in 2015, they received their first invitation to make a presentation to school children.

“We were featured in different articles and then we started getting invited to go into schools to teach kids how to make a difference, too,” she said. “So, I prayed on it: ‘Lord, what do you want me to do and say?’ Well, he wanted me to use the three things that Grace said: ‘They are small, but they’re people, too,’ and I knew that I wanted to educate kids on why they are people.

“And then, the older kids . . . well, I wanted to talk about the issue of abortion, talk about how it hurts not only babies, but women. And then, the third thing, the heart with rays of light: I knew I wanted to educate them on who we are as children of God.”

Nikki Schaefer shows the ICR one of the designs she and daughter Grace came up with when they decided to sew pillows and sell them to benefit mothers considering abortion. (Photo: Philip A. Janquart) 

Schaefer has since added numerous components to her presentation, including guest speakers, songs and storytelling to spread God’s message of life.

Perhaps Schaefer’s greatest tool in disseminating that unambiguous message is the live ultrasounds.

At Holy Apostles, Schaefer highlighted an ultrasound image clearly showing a cross-shaped structure. But what was it and where did it come from?

She explained that the image represented the human heart in its earliest stages of development.

“This was your heart when you were being created in your mother’s womb, when all four chambers were present; the tissue in the middle makes a perfect cross,” she explained, as children gaped at the monitor with wide-eyed fascination.

Schaefer said she has also developed a model for public schools that provides information on pre-birth development, incorporating live ultrasound, which can be a moving experience for many.

“When a person has never seen an ultrasound and then sees one for the first time, that’s profound,” she said. “It changes hearts.”

Measuring the impact

Heart of a Child Ministries gauges the impact of its message through guest assessment forms completed after parish, middle school and high school presentations.

“We want to know if you are fully pro-life, partially pro-life or fully or partially in support of abortion and whether that changed following the presentation,” Schaefer explained. “Well, we have a 56% conversion rate in kids who identified themselves as pro-abortion in some way.

“For the older kids, it’s the testimony,” she added. “You know . . . social media tells them that abortion is easy for women, that it’s no problem. But when you hear a speaker that talks about how it affected their life, how they turned to drugs or alcohol or whatever, that changes their hearts, so that part of our ministry, the personal testimony, is really important, too.”

Above, physical representations of a baby at different stages of development. (Photo: Philip A. Janquart) 

Michael Vanek, a campus minister and theology teacher at Archbishop Bergan Catholic School in Fremont, Nebraska, was deeply moved by the impact and depth of the presentation.

In a testimonial featured on the Heart of a Child Ministries website, Vanek wrote:

“Heart of a Child Ministries gave the most positive and life-affirming presentation of the pro-life message I’ve ever seen. There was no condemning or judging of people—only compassion and a desire for all to be loved and supported as God wills. With joy and passion, Nikki … shared the reality that life begins at conception and emphasized the inherent value and dignity of every person.”

To date, Heart of a Child Ministries has sold 2,207 pillows, traveled 27,582 miles to give presentations and reached 30,103 students.

More presentations in Idaho

Cindy Lange is a Holy Apostles parishioner, member of the parish’s Legion of Mary, ministry coordinator for Holy Apostles’ Respect Life ministry, and president of Choose Life Idaho. (Think of the pro-life license plate available to Idahoans through this successful campaign.) She was the primary force behind the effort to bring Heart of a Child Ministries to the state.

“I found Nikki through EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network), with their Pro-Life Weekly special,” she told the ICR. “It took two years and a lot of hard work, and it almost didn’t happen, but, you know, the Holy Spirit works in marvelous ways.”

Lange expressed an urgent need to convey the truth to all, especially children.

“We need to change the hearts of our youth, so they know the dignity of life; that from conception, that spark of life, is a human being created by God,” she said, articulating the critical value of education.

Claire Gauthier, also a member of Holy Apostles Respect Life, played an essential role in the effort to bring Heart of a Child Ministries to Idaho. She, too, emphasized the importance of conveying the pro-life message to younger generations.

“I really think the idea is to encourage children, who are innately pro-life,” she said. “Little kids love babies, and they love knowing there is a baby in mom’s belly. It’s important to solidify that, to keep that in their minds, so that when they get older, the culture doesn’t take over and tell them that it’s not a baby; it’s not a life; it’s not important. So, it’s to encourage that in children, to have them then go to their families and friends and nurture that culture of life.”

She noted that many volunteers made the June 22 presentations possible and expressed joy over their contributions.

Though it was the first in the Diocese of Boise, it won’t be the last.

Gauthier said that about five people within the diocese, including herself and Lange, have been busy training to deliver the presentations and arrange for live ultrasounds on their own.

“We have already done training via Zoom and have read all the materials, so this is really our hands-on training, to watch how these presentations go,” she said. “We will be certified educators and will be able to take this program to other parishes, churches of different denominations, youth groups or anyone who wants to have this, to spread the word of life while making it fun, accessible and easy.”

Gauthier said she has already received phone calls from other parishes, including St. Edward the Confessor in Twin Falls.

“They might be our first presentation; they are very, very excited to host us,” she said, adding that the burgeoning pro-life message in the United States has given her hope for the future while inspiring her to continue helping to spread that critical message of life.

For more information or to request a presentation at your parish or school, email Cindy or Claire at RespectLifeHA@gmail.com.

FUN BABY FACTS:

*Editor’s note: Development stages listed below are based on general timelines and can vary from pregnancy to pregnancy. Information is provided, in part, by babyolivia.liveaction.org.

·         At fertilization – Baby’s gender, ethnicity, hair color and eye color and other traits are already determined.

·         Baby starts out as an embryo, but at 22 days, a heartbeat can be detected.

·         7 days – Baby is implanting in mother’s uterus.

·         4 weeks – Buds of arms and legs appear.

·         5-6 weeks – Baby begins to move, with spontaneous and reflexive movements.

·         6 weeks – Baby’s brain activity can be recorded, and bone formation begins.

·         7.5 weeks – Baby can bring hands together, and separate fingers and toes emerge. Baby can also begin to hiccup.

·         9 weeks – Baby will have grown from a single cell into almost 1 billion cells and is now called a fetus.

·         10 weeks – Baby can suck thumb, swallow, grasp objects, sigh and stretch out in mother’s womb.

·         11 weeks – Baby is playing in womb, moving body and exploring environment.

·         12 weeks – Baby’s taste bud cells have matured, but are still scattered throughout mouth.

·         14-18 weeks – Mother first senses baby’s movements, an event called “quickening.”

·         18 weeks – Ultrasounds show speaking movements in voice box.

·         20 weeks – With a lot of help, babies have survived outside the womb.

·         27 weeks – Baby’s eyes respond to light and can recognize parents’ voices and even recognize lullabies and stories.

·         38 weeks – Baby will signal to mother that it’s time for delivery.