ABSTRACT
It is so easy for us to take pride in our selves and our achievements, often without a thought for where we came from. Yes, there are parents and grandparents and the family tree and all of that, but what about the specific process which created us, you and me? The single egg and sperm that led to us? Romantic conception at its best. But this is a mere fairy-tale version of what happened. The reality is that we are all fortunate survivors of conception and birth processes. The notion that either of these might be difficult to accomplish seems inappropriate when we are living through a technological revolution. Egocentric selfperception assumes that those processes, which led to our conception, must be perfect too. Human reproduction, like reproduction observed elsewhere in nature, is excessive and often imperfect. For every normal conception there are many attempts that fail. We know that it takes only one egg, only one sperm, but what of these attempts, how do they fare in the cold world of science, statistics, and fertility treatments?
