 The stage is set for an explosion because that's what ovulation is. We now have this mature follicle. The granulosa cells are madly producing fluid that's filling the antrum. The antrum is getting bigger and the pressure is building. So there are two things that we need to keep track of. First of all, we need to keep track of this secondary oocyte. There's a billion pens around here. We need to keep track of the secondary oocyte because only unless it gets fertilized is it going to finish meiosis and actually be an ovum. Only if it's fertilized. So we've got to keep track of that and whether or not we get fertilized. But we also have to keep track of this mature follicle. The mature follicle is going to become something else. So let's follow it through. Let's say ovulation occurs. And when ovulation occurs, the explosion happens. And what comes out is actually my secondary oocyte and the zona pollucida, which is around the outer edge. That's not a bad view. And corona radiata. All that stuff comes out with the egg, with the secondary oocyte. So now it's out. Where is it? That's a question we need to answer right now. What happens to my follicle? It's another question we need to answer right now. First of all, you can imagine with all that fluid gone, it exploded. What happens to a balloon when it pops? It totally turns into like a deflated balloon. And that's what this ends up looking like. It ends up looking like this is all my deflated balloon part. And these are all the granulosa cells that kind of deflated around it. But you also have the fecal cells that are all deflated around it. And you end up with this thing that actually turns into a glandular structure called the corpus luteum. I drew it as big as my mature follicle and I'm regretting that right now because it's smaller, it popped. But I tried to draw it looking kind of floppy and moppy. That's my corpus luteum. The corpus luteum is a player. It's going to continue to produce hormones that will keep the baby alive should we make one. I'm very interested in making one. Well, uh, I mean, okay. I don't even want to know the answer to that question. So pretend like I didn't even ask it. But now what we have to do is go find out what happens to this egg, this secondary oocyte that has now been exploded where? Well, the plot thickens because check it out. This is my ovary. This is a corpus luteum right there. These are like little follicles that are growing. When explosion happens, the secondary oocyte gets exploded out into your peritoneal cavity. Seriously? Look, there is a space right here. This is your fallopian tube. The fallopian tube, the end of the fallopian tube has all these little fringes on it called fimbriae. And the fimbriae are covered with cells that have cilia on them. And the fimbriae literally, and these cells literally create waves in the fluid of the peritoneal cavity saying, come this way, they create like currents so that the ovulated egg gets caught in the currents and travels in through the fimbriae into the uterine tube or the fallopian tube. And now the egg is no longer in the secondary oocyte is no longer in your peritoneal cavity. That would be a disaster. And that's in the fallopian tube. Look at who the fallopian tube is connected to. Run-a-na-na-na-na-na. This is the uterus. The uterus, let's just take a minute to say a little something about the uterus because that thing, I mean, I've never seen my own uterus but I've seen a cadaver uterus, one in my life too maybe. And I'm not kidding you, the uterus is this big. It's like the size of a walnut which is absolutely mind blowing. Like, come on. Every month you think about the drama that happens because of our uterus, like the cramping and the pain and from something that's this big. And then you think, I mean, I know when I was pregnant with my little humans, I felt like my uterus must have been the size of like 32 basketballs. Like, I was gigantic. I mean, let me just say that again. I was gigantic. And yet the uterus is this size. It definitely stretches when you have a parasite living in there but it's kind of mind blowing. So our secondary oocyte is now chilling in the fallopian tubes and takes a couple days for something to bounce, the oocyte to bounce down the fallopian tubes. I have to tell you something else that's absolutely shocking and this will lead us into the next section. A secondary oocyte that got exploded into the fallopian tube will live for 24 hours. That's it. So if our friends, the sperm army, the herd, the 200 to 500 million spermorama, the team who's swimming through, if they don't get up there in 24 hours, the ovum, the secondary oocyte dies, done. Game over, no baby this month. Everybody ever get pregnant? Well, the fellow sperm team has some strategies to assist in this process so let's talk about that next because we now have a secondary oocyte waiting for sperm. So we better go back to the fellas and figure out how their sperm get out.