Life's Greatest Miracle

This week in class for Human Sexuality we watched “Life’s Greatest Miracle”, narrated by John Lithgow.  His style is pleasant and easy to listen to.  He ranks up there with Morgan Freeman, Maya Angelou and James Earl Jones for mesmerizing voices.
 

The film takes the viewer through the process of birth from production of sperm and ova through the actual delivery of a child.  The featured couple was truly the average people next door type.  I really liked the computer enhanced graphics of the body’s inner workings.  I didn’t much care for the actual images of the child bursting forth from the mother’s loins.  It reminded me of the “Alien” films where the creature busts out of the victim’s chest, but without the fangs and claws.  This had plenty of juicy guts and such, but no fangs and claws. 

I haven’t seen a woman’s bits since I was married nearly thirty years ago.  As a gay man, it is not in my top thousand things to see.  I was a bit surprised that they showed that much detail and wish I had known in advance so that I didn’t eat before/during class.  Perhaps popcorn might have been more appropriate?  My guts did flip-flops though I did not hurl.  I knew about reproduction, but was hoping to not have to look at all that.  Simple art renditions would have been sufficient for me. 

I was surprised to learn that roughly half of fertilized eggs don’t survive.  I ponder that as some people seem to have litters of children though they are not capable of actually being responsible parents.  Why can most anyone become a parent, but one must have a license to drive?  Go figure?!