You went from breathing liquid to air at birth. Why did you not die? Answer: Your heart's plumbing

significantly

changed with your first breath.

Awesome

, huh?

This educational topic was inspired by the recent birth of my son. But don't worry, we didn't bring a high speed video camera in the delivery room.

Instead I talked to Dr. Schuster, an OB-GYN at Huntsville Hospital, to make sense out of it. In the video below, he gives a simplified explanation.

"As the baby's coming out and gets squeezed as it's coming through the birth canal, all that fluid that's been in the lungs comes out, and that baby takes that very first gasp of oxygen," Dr. Schuster said. "That triggers huge changes in the circulation of the baby."

Dr. Schuster likened the change to a switch that's flipped. "There's something called the foramen ovale, which is just a big flap that sits between the right and left atrium," he said. "It closes once that baby gets that first little bit of oxygen, that first breath."

Have you ever heard of someone "with a hole in their heart?" It happens when the foramen ovale doesn't seal completely causing improper flow.

Several people who've watched the video have noted problems with Dr. Schuster's explanation. I would remind you that he's a doctor and is qualified to make these statements. We made that cut several times, and I asked him to simplify his summary very greatly. When doing so he didn't include descriptions of meconium, pulmonary pressure differentials, etc. These were discussed in detail, but I chose to leave them out and only focus on the foramen ovale and ductus arteriosis. We also used the term "breathe" loosely when the baby is inside the womb because there isn't an oxygen exchange in the baby's lungs with amniotic fluid.

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." Psalms 139:13

.