Week 2

Week 2
April 21,2014

The creation of life is an amazing process.  It seems unbelievable how something that is so small and cannot be seen with the human eye can become a little person.  Even though, we have technologies that allow us to see, research and better understand the process of how a human being develops, there are still some mysteries to how we are created.  This week’s chapters two and three covered a lot of information.  I have studied this information for over 26 years; college past, college present and even having my own child it is still fascinating.

 We are all created in the same way and yet we can be so very different.   A sperm penetrates an egg and two independent sets of 23 chromosomes (threadlike structures in the nuclei of cells that contain genetic material) are interchanged and a new life begins.  The process of how we grow and develop from conception to birth is such a short time when you think of the transformation that takes place.  I think that we as human beings take for granted how amazing we really are.  A little bean size image on an ultra sound machine to a picture perfect “birth” day picture with ten little fingers and ten little toes.  The concept of how we develop, and the forty or so weeks that it takes to get there is truly amazing.  Being pregnant with my daughter I followed every stage of development that I could.  I was on bed rest for my entire pregnancy which was a blessing in a way.  I was part of a study at the University of Washington Medical Center for high risk pregnancies. The study was dealing with the complexity of obstetric hypertension.  I had many complication so was seen every two weeks and then put into the hospital to be monitored 65 days prior to giving birth.  I was consistently monitored and was able to see the progression of my daughters’ development almost weekly that was my blessing.  She was born premature at almost 35 weeks.  I had two-amniocentesis and  have a copy of her chromosomes (the pairs are really interesting to look at).  Every time I read or the subject comes up about how we as human beings are created I am reminded of just what a miracle we really are.

 Our brain, we know so much about it and yet it too is still a mystery in a lot of ways.  It is how we exist, function, it too goes back to nature-nurture.  I think of the brain as well organized storage box.  It is full of what you need.  Open the main box and inside there are smaller boxes.  Each smaller box has information that can be used when needed.  As we grow and learn we may want to add to a box or maybe we can discard from a box because the information is no longer needed.  This to me is how our brain works. The amazing thing is the brain has a mind of its own, and does this all without us thinking about it.   From the reading material it seems like the brain is in charge.  There are genetic, biological and environmental factors that interact and affect the brain, but what a marvel it is.