Diagram of Human Spermatozoon, source: Wikipedia
The issue of sexual reproduction cannot be overemphasized, Since God admonishes us to be fruitful and multiply which literally means we should reproduce (make children).
In this article, I do not intend to dive into deep analysis on reproduction but to discuss the basic things everyone who wants to have a child (male or female) need to know.
I have seen a lot of men who accuse their wives of not being able to give them male children, which has resulted to conflicts and exchange of words. I have also seen some couples who pray and fast from year to year asking God to give them a particular sex of children (male or female). But all to no avail.
But the truth is that, child selection can be done medically if we follow the laid down principles on process of conception.
Some years back i helped a family who has been in search of a male child, they have tried every technique they know but the result is always the same (female child /children).
To an extent, the man almost divorced his wife for her inability to give him a male child and pressure coming from his parents . Since most Africans glorify male children to females.
Let's begin......
Medical scientists discovered that the cells in the human body has "cyanotype reproduction process" of information, on the underlying condition of which it was made. The information is in the 23 pairs of chromosomes, which is found in the nucleus of the cell. Now, the
chromosomes are the factors that determines the characteristics and activities of the cell, it defines the output of protein, the underlying building unit which the cell manufactures, the time it manufactures it and how it manufactures it.
The male sperm and the female ovum is an example of division of cells to make a body grow. For instance, when a cell divides to make the body grow, the pairs of chromosomes multiply before the division. It is said that the human body produces cells for sexual reproduction, the cells are divided without multiplying their chromosomes. The pairs will then separate, each of the cells has just have 1/2 information that goes into a normal cell. The man and the woman is said to contribute half of fertilized cell that is made up of 23 pairs of chromosomes.
There is a code that determines the sex of a child, whether male or female. We may have heard of the XX chromosomes and XY chromosomes isn't it?
How does it work?
What i'm trying to say in a nutshell is that, a man has X and Y usually called XY chromosomes, and the woman has X and X chromosomes usually called XX chromosomes ( that's the eggs released by the woman during ovulation).
If the both partners want a male child, all the man needs to do is to release the Y chromosome but If they want a female child all the man needs to do is to release the X chromosome.
How can this be achieved?
It is said that the Y chromosome is active than the X , and die quicker than the X chromosome. Knowing that the X chromosome are weaker and at the same time has a longer duration than the Y.
In the journey of survival, when the man releases sperm, the X and Y. chromosomes begins the journey, just as it is fondly called "the survival of the fittest ". The Y chromosomes usually die before the X. If the man meets the woman during her fertile period, the child would likely be a female child.
But when the both partners have intercourse on the most fertile day or period of the woman, which is said to be day 14 of the menstrual cycle, they are likely to have a male child.
The man is advised to meet the woman 2 days before the most ovulation day if they both want
a female child .
Note that the fertility or ovulation period of a woman is around the 10 -19 of her menstrual cycle.
Around every 28th day, from when a woman is about 12 to when she is about 47, a woman, if she is not pregnant, and has not recently had a baby, has a discharge of blood , mucus and cell fragments from her vagina.
The discharge, occurring over 2 or 8 days ( usually 4 to 6), is more likely to be liquid than clothed , and totals about 2 to 4 table spoons of blood.
The process means that she has to wear pads if she wants to stop blood flow from soiling her cloths. She can be irritable before the days of discharge and have headaches, tiredness and nausea.
All this is menstruation or period as it is fondly called, the outward sign of routine cycle of egg production and hormone change in a woman's body.
Each ovary contains groups of cells called follicles, and these in turn contain immature eggs. When the woman is about 12, these eggs begin to mature, at the rate of one every 28 days or so, usually alternating between the two ovaries. (At birth, a female child's ovaries contain perhaps 350,000 immature eggs. Between puberty and menopause, only 375 ever mature). As each egg matures, it bursts from ovary (ovulation) and passes into the Fallopian tube leading down from that ovary to the uterus.
The ovum varies a great deal in size; but despite its minuteness, it is always by far the largest cell that the body produces. The ovum is fertilized by the topmost spermatozoon. Immediately the ovum's outer wall hardens, to prevent any more from entering.
When a man and woman have sexual intercourse, the man's ejaculation deposits live sperm in the woman's vagina, perhaps 200 million of them. Many of the sperm move up into the uterus, and toward the fallopian tubes, swimming in the semen and fluid on the uterus' walls. Perhaps 100,000 will enter one fallopian tune while the rest having died or stay in the uterus, or taken the wrong tube. If ovulaturn has just occurred, and there is an egg in the tube, then perhaps 100 may reach it.
If they do not meet an egg, the sperms release enzymes to digest its outer layer. One sperm then manages to be the first to enter it and immediately the egg's surface hardens, to prevent more sperms from entering. The nuclei of the egg and sperm unite to, creating a fertilized egg, a single, unique, independent, living cell.
The cycle of ovulation and means that a woman can calculate when it is possible for her to conceive a child. About 14 days after her last menstruation, a new egg will have ovulated and about 2 days after that it will have degenerated. Allowing for the time a sperm can survive in her reproductive tract ( perhaps even up to four days in rare cases), and especially for variations in the exact date of ovulation, this gives her a period of up to 10 days, in which conception can occur, beginning on the 9th day after the last menstruation. It also gives her a " safe " period outside of that, if she does not want to conciece.
In summary, I will say the determination of a particular sex of a child is in the hands of God. However, we must play our roles as humans. The procedure discussed in this article is by probability, because it worked for some persons and for others, it didn't work.
This article is keen on the selection of sex and other basic knowledge that we need to know.
Thank you!
[1] Evolution of sexual reproduction
[2] Chromosome
[3] Chromosomes: The Functions of the Carriers of Genetic Information
[4] Sperm
[5] Pregnancy and Conception
[6] Infertility; how do men determine a baby’s sex?
[7] The Biology of Making a Baby
[8] Menstruation
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