Embryology Sean Racicot-Psaledakis 26 September 2013 Its interesting to think that every person Ive ever met, every

historical figure Ive heard of, and every person that will ever be started or will start as two cells beating the odds and merging. The odds against life being formed are myriad, relying on adequate sperm count and strength, proper egg maturation, correct binding of the zygote to the uterine wall, lack of negative environmental factors, so many things can bring a burgeoning life to an abrupt halt. However time and time again we bring living, screaming, pooping life into this world. My parents did this just as they had given up, and I was the product. I will explore the process of my gestation, a time during which not only was I developing, but my parents were also starting to form their future, and the world changed just as much. January 1994: my parents have just returned to Massachusetts from my fathers military training in Biloxi, Mississippi, and are living in temporary housing on the Otis Military Reservation as they wait for their housing to be completed (T. Psaledakis, personal communication, September 23, 2013). The last week of the month, my maternal great-grandfather dies, and is buried just around the corner from their house. That same week, I am conceived (C. Racicot, personal communication, September 23, 2013). Its an interesting trend that in my mothers family a death also happens to align with a birth or new conception, as was the case between my cousin and uncle, and between my greatgrandfather and me. It was another three weeks before my parents found out they were expecting, and in fact, they had adoption papers on the table and were getting ready to go

to a meeting when my mother decided to check one last time (T. Psaledakis, personal communication, September 23, 2013). For the last 5 years they had had difficulty conceiving and carrying a child to term, mostly because they had been living in the Philippines at the time, and they were poorly equipped to deal with the problem of contrasting blood types between mother and child. Back in the states, they were still wary, and thus would wait a while before letting anyone know they were expecting. In the first 8 weeks between the end of January and the beginning of March, a great number of changes occurred concerning my development. While my basic template was set-up by my genetic code, those characteristics still needed to be expressed and a human body needed to be built. By the first week of February, my multi-celled self had rolled into the hot-dog shape that would become my brain and spinal cord (In the Womb). A week later my cardiac muscle cells began to twitch (In the Womb), and by the time Nelson Mandela was elected in South Africa (G. Berkely, 1994), all my organs were present, if not fully formed, thanks to the organogenesis of the past five weeks (Santrock, 2014). As I began to rely on my mother for sustenance via the placenta (In the Womb) Mandelas election signaled an end to Apartheid. The man had been imprisoned for years for trying to gain democracy and equality for his country, and finally it would appear they had it (G. Berkely, 1994). My mother says that she and other people in the northern US watched the elections closely and with great support, but she perceived an outcry from other parts of the US (C. Racicot, personal communication, September 23, 2013). Over the new few weeks, I had more major developments, as I increased in size, my head still remained massive in proportion to my body, my nervous system continued developing at about 2.5 million neurons per minute, and I began to twitch (In the Womb).

My heart also topped the highest rate it would ever beat at, approximately 150 BPM, after which my brain influence would slow it down and regulate it as necessary (In the Womb). At 11 weeks old, about the week of April 5, I began to utilize my stepping reflex (In the Womb), which also indicates the beginning of proprioception development, finding out where I was and what the space I occupied was like. It is ironic that even as such life was developing, other lives were being extinguished. April saw the beginning of the 3 month long Rwandan Genocide, over which hundreds of thousands would be butchered for an ethnic revolution (Genocide in Rwanda) while the world stood by either ignorant (C. Racicot, personal communication, September 23, 2013) or too caught up in deliberation to help (H.J. Buckhalter, 1994). Although, if my parents had known, they wouldnt have had much thought to spare for it. Since moving back up north, they had been working hard to establish their business, mostly by training in other businesses. My father toiled away downstairs working to learn the metalsmithing skills (T. Psaledakis, personal communication, September 23, 2013), while my mother took a retail job at a Co-op in Falmouth (C. Racicot, personal communication, September 23, 2013). My mother also had to manage gestational diabetes and maintaining her health for both of us (C. Racicot, personal communication, September 23, 2013). In a way, this period was as important for my parents development as it was for me, because there experiences during this time would set the stage for how they would provide for our family for the next decade and a half. The next few months progressed in a similar fashion as before for my parents, and I continued my maturation. As I entered the second trimester, my hair began to grow, my weight increased, and I started to open my eyes (Santrock, 2014). My digestive system

also activated during this time, and my fingers and toes finished separating from each other (In the Womb). Rounding out six months, most fetuses are capable of surviving outside of the womb, however are at risk due to underdeveloped lungs and low birth weights (In the Womb), something I was at risk for more than others. My mother, while managing the gestational diabetes, still lost weight for the first 7 months, and I was very small as a result; there was concern about there being enough amniotic fluid, as well as me being big enough to survive at that time (C. Racicot, personal communication, September 23 2013). In the beginning of September, about 36 weeks through the pregnancy, my fathers career took another blow. The Clinton administration was a proponent of reducing our military, and the Russians finally withdrawing from Germany, Latvia, and Estonia (Mary Williams Walsh, 1994) said that we didnt need to maintain a large force, a hit for my father who was still active at the time (C. Racicot, personal communication, September 23, 2013). The last two months of pregnancy, September and October, saw weight increases for both me and my mother, enough that the doctors were finally confident in letting her carry me to term (C. Racicot, personal communication, September 23, 2013). My due date was for the first week of November, but it was late night on October 29 that my mother went into labor. Poor timing on my part, since on the morning of the 30th they were turning back clocks for daylight savings. Ive been told many a time about how at 3 or 4 in the morning my mother looked up at the clock and began to panic, thinking that the past hour hadnt passed. The nurses had to reassure her that it was okay, they usually didnt change the clocks in the maternity ward, and that no, the time hadnt dragged out.

My birth, Im told, was quite easy, due to my small size, which could have been cause for some concern, but I was all there and healthy. So, after having all but given up hope of having their own child, my parents brought me into the world. I was wanted, but unexpected, and joyously received. My family was a growing and developing one, much in the same way I was. My parents were still figuring their path out, building more upon the foundation they had begun to lay when expecting me. A year later they would move us north to New Hampshire, where Id spend the next 17 years, growing up in a store that, in a way, was conceived the same time I was. All three of us grew during those 9 months, and as a family we would keep growing for many years to come.

References

Berkely, G. (1994, May 11, 1994). Nelson mandela assumes power. Oakland Post, pp. 1.

Bukhalter, H. J. (1994). The question of genocide: The clinton administration and rwanda. World Policy Journal, 11(4), 44.

Genocide in rwanda.(1994, May 21, 1994). The Economist, 331, 45.

MARY WILLIAMS WALSH. (1994, Sep 1, 1994). Russian army bids farewell to germany; moscow pulls troops from latvia, estonia. The Gazette, pp. B.1.BREB1/BREAK.

Santrock, J.W. (2014). Essentials of Life-Span Development. New York, New York: McGraw-Hill.