Body Worlds

Last night we had the opportunity of going to Body Worlds (a traveling exhibition of preserved human bodies, from donors, that reveal inner anatomical structures). They were having a private tour for family and friends of employees. Dave was able to score 3 free tickets. The only down part was that Dave had to teach last night. The girls and I met Dave at Body Worlds at about 9:15 when he finished. Yeah, the exhibition closed at 10. Needless to say we kind of had to rush through. But hey, I'm not complaining, after all it was free.

It was AMAZING!!! Emma especially loved going. She was so animated and excited at every display. She received a lot of smiles from passersby. It was really fun watching Dave teach Emma all about the body. He was so good at teaching her complex things in a developmentally appropriate way.

Emma's favorite part of body worlds....."the bones, the eyeballs and the camel".

Dave's favorite part was the cross section display of an obese body.

My Favorite part(s) of the exhibition

• The fetus room. Which surprised me because I was a little nervous to see this specific room. I was sad (fighting back tears at times) as I looked at the little ones and thought of their aching mother's hearts, but I was also filled with awe. There were fetus' from almost every stage of pregnancy. I was absolutely AMAZED. Like most pregnant moms, I followed my babies development weekly online or in a prenatal book, but still, this display was an absolute eye opener. It was amazing to see how a baby starts out so tiny with no form and slowly grows into a sweet little person. At nine weeks the fetus was smaller then my thumb but had arms, legs, fully developed fingers, a nose, eyes, mouth.....it was perfect. The fetal display was Ali's favorite part of the night too, she wanted to hold the babies :) *I thought I should add there was a disclaimer as you entered the room stating all of the babies were from the 1920's and were not the result of active abortion.*
• The heart chamber. Did you know the heart pumps 1800 gallons of blood a day? Crazy!!! We walked into a dark room with a loud thumping noise and there were stacks and stacks of barrels, showing exactly how much 1800 gallons is. The heart itself was so small. Simply amazing.
• The lung display. They had two sets of lungs, a set from a non-smoker and a set from a smoker's body. The smoker's lungs were simply disgusting. They were black, not kidding, black.
• The intestinal display. The digestive tract is 30 feet feet long. It was amazing seeing how long that really is and how it all compacts inside the body.

There were so many other cool displays. I won't bore you with more details. But seriously, if you are interested, you should go. Its only in town for another month or so.