The miracle that is birth
The following words come through Les Dyer and can be found in his book, Pennies from Heaven*. They are shared with permission.
…every birth is miraculous! Every female starts life with well over a million eggs in her ovaries. By the time she’s ready for babies she’s already shed three quarters of them.
It’s like being in a city of a quarter of a million souls all eagerly waiting to be called up for duty!
They mature in little sacks called follicles and when one egg matures the follicle releases it and it’s swept into the fallopian tube. It travels down the tube, pushed by tiny hairs – and awaits the arrival of a teaspoon of sperm. That teaspoon contains some 300 million sperm, all eager to mate with the egg!
Well, less than one third or 1% pass the first test and get to join the race down the cervix to the egg – just 15 cm away!
The other 99% fail this first hurdle.
That short 15cm trip down the cervix can take half an hour for Speedy Sam but 12 hours for Sleepy Simon!
The sperm’s long tails push them along – but still more than 99% of those still in the race get lost and die on the way…and often only 200 sperm (out of 300 million starters) successfully make it all the way to the egg!
[You make it sound like the Olympics!]
It is! The greatest challenge ever!! When they reach the egg they then have to penetrate its surface and burrow into it.
They’re racing against both the clock – and against their competitors who are trying to beat them to the punch!!
Then the Winner combines their own genetic material – all 23 chromosomes – with the 23 chromosomes of the egg.
And voila! – the egg is fertilised and the race is won! Another life is on its way into physical expression!
Spare a thought for the egg. Within 24 hours the egg divides into two cells…then 12 hours later into 4 cells…and 12 hours later into 8 cells…then 16 cells…then 32…then 64….
As it slowly makes its way into the uterus it continues to double until it arrives as a proud 512 cell egg!
Is this not a miracle?
Yes, it’s an everyday event – but it’s also an everyday miracle.
When that ball of cells eventually reaches the uterus it burrows into the uterine wall. It’s been a 7-day adventure for it already.
But that’s just the start…it’s already produced a hormone to tell the ovaries to stop releasing eggs…now the cells on the inside of the egg form the embryo whilst those on the outside form the placenta (which will deliver vital nutrients and oxygen as well as take away the waste).
The miracle continues to unfold and by the 4th week that new life is the size of a poppy seed…and by the fifth week it’s just the size of a sesame seed!
And by the 10th week its webbing has gone, its nails and fingerprints are developing, the baby can open and close its fists, move its limbs and curl its toes!
Let me repeat that…curl its toes in just 10 weeks! Try creating that from scratch in your laboratories.
The baby’s brain is rapidly developing – and its teeth are connected to its jaw-bone… A face that by just the 10th week has well defined features!
By now the baby has grown to the size of a kumquat and its head measures half the length of its body. Its eyes fuse shut and will stay that way for seventeen weeks ….
Shortly, that baby will be able to squint, frown, grimace and start seriously communicating with its mum….
Life is a miracle.
It is indeed a miracle. A miraculous process that has followed the same steps since the very first human baby was conceived. Now, many thousands of years later, in the 21st Century where life is lived in a very different environment, the process of life creation remains the same albeit surrounded by different challenges.
These challenges are outlined in the early chapters of my book, How to Have a Healthy Baby. Further chapters explain how to manage and overcome the modern challenges impacting fertility and birth outcomes.
Get your copy today on Amazon – available in paperback or e-book.
Recent comment on the book:
“Thank you and you’re absolutely right. So much begins before the baby arrives. Most people don’t realize how much toxicity and mineral imbalance we carry into pregnancy. It’s not just about avoiding harm it’s about building a strong foundation. I love that you’re bringing attention to this in your book. Parents need to know they have more power than they’ve been told.” Anna Hatch, Toxins in Children.
* Pennies from Heaven is also available on Amazon