 Hey everybody, Dr. O here. Welcome to the female reproductive system. So we just got done covering the male system, similarities and then differences. Similarities, both the male and female systems are primarily designed to produce gametes, our sex cells, and reproductive hormones. So in the man, the gamete is a spermatozoa and the primary sex hormone or reproductive hormone is the androgen testosterone. In females here, we have the female gamete, which is the oocyte or the egg. And then we have our female reproductive hormones, which are going to be primarily the estrogen and progesterone. So you see there's more hormones and the balance and timing of those two is critically important. Time is going to be something that's a very big deal with the female reproductive system. But then on top of that, the female system also has to support the developing fetus, deliver it to the outside world and feed it. So there's going to be a lot more going on here. So you've got multiple systems that we'll cover. But if you look at it just structurally, let's go a little closer here. Structurally, the female reproductive tract is less complicated than the male tract. So the system getting sperm from the seminiferous tubules and the testes out of the body is longer with more steps in between with the male system, with the female system, the actual tract itself. You've got the ovaries here, which will produce the gamete, the oocyte, as well as the female reproductive hormones. And then you have the uterine or fallopian tubes. So the uterine tube is going to be the primary term now, but they were always called fallopian tubes. And I actually had to look this up, but they're called that because they were first described by an Italian anatomist, Gabriello Fallopio, I believe, in the 1500s. So fallopian doesn't really mean anything. But so uterine tubes are fallopian tubes. And that's actually going to be where the oocyte or egg is fertilized. We'll cover all that later. Then we have the uterus. The most interesting fact about the uterus is that it can stretch to 500 times its pre-pregnancy size. It goes from weighing a few ounces to two pounds. And it can obviously, it grows huge. So it's very, very elastic as the baby gets larger and larger. And then the uterus will contract to deliver the baby out into the world. Then we have the cervix. So the cervix is the portion of the uterus that projects into the vagina. We have the vagina, which is used for sexual intercourse, but also delivery of the baby. And then we'll cover the external genitalia. So those are going to be the anatomical structures that we'll talk about here. I just wanted to show you the side view, because one thing we talked about is the urinary system. One thing you notice is that the uterus will actually kind of rest on the bladder. So this is why anyone who's ever been pregnant knows that the bladder can't feel fully, so you have the urge to urinate all the time as the uterus grows and grows. And then, so once we've had the hormones and the gametes that we need to produce an offspring, the offspring's been developed and nourished and then ejected from the body, whatever term you want to use. Then you need to nourish the baby. And that's where a whole nother accessory structure we'll talk about are the mammary glands in the breast. So we're going to cover all that here. So it's just a quick introduction to what makes the femur reproductive system more complicated than the male system. And then I really, really want to hone in on the timing and why, when things happen and when certain hormones are elevated is critically important as well. Okay, so let's dive into this system. I hope this helps. Have a wonderful day. Be blessed.