Guess the Baby’s Due Date, Win a Prize!

11/30/2009

So, I’m officially 37 weeks now & that means I may be cuddling a new baby anytime now! For those of you who aren’t aware of how this works, once a woman hits 37 weeks gestation they consider her to be “full term” and then allow her to go into labor after then. However, some women will go as late as 42 weeks. This means that I could go into labor anytime in the next 5 weeks. That’s a pretty big expanse of anticipation.
To help me stay positive about this and for a bit of fun, let’s try to guess! So, in the comments (either on my blog or on my Facebook comments) under this post, please guess the DATE and TIME OF DAY you think this baby will come.
Rules

1. In the comments, list the DATE (ex. December 12th) and the TIME OF DAY (ex. 7:42 a.m.) along with a.m./p.m. you think the baby will be born. I recommend choosing a date sometime between now and January 6th. If I go over my due date, they would induce me on January 5th.
2. Make sure an identifying name is attached so I know who to give the prize to.
3. Whoever has the closest date to the baby’s actual birth date/time will win a prize.
4. I’m not sure what the prize is at this point. Maybe a giftcard. Maybe some of my awesome salsa. Maybe a… hmmmm. Working on it.
5. The winner will be the closest date/time, it doesn’t matter if the guesser “goes over” like on the Price is Right. I don’t care if you “go over” as long as you’re closest.
6. Each person may guess once. Once your date/time has passed you’re done playing. You can wait to enter later at your own risk of missing a sooner due date.

To help you make a decision, here’s some info that I know that may help you decide:
Why I May Go Sooner

1. I’ve had a few scares of my blood pressure getting too high and my liver has been slowly getting worse. If it gets much worse they will need to induce me. As of today, it has been stable, but the doctor said I could literally wake up tomorrow and have it in failure mode. This would be called preeclampsia, a condition I also had with Caleb.
2. If my hips and pelvic bone spread too far they will also need to induce me to avoid a big surgery on me after the child is born. I have been going to the chiropractor for the last two months and, as of this moment, they have stabilized and have been causing me no pain or problems. I personally don’t think they will be a problem anymore, but who knows.
3. At my doctor’s visit today I was dilated to a 3, the baby’s head is in station -2, and I have lost 2 cm off of my belly size, which says he’s really mashed down in my hips. The doctor said that when he does start coming, he will most likely come very fast with stats like that.
4. I chase Caleb around all day, which puts extra pressure on everything to get moving along.
5. Caleb was induced at 38 weeks, 2 days.
6. This is my 2nd full-term pregnancy. They tend to go sooner.
7. I’ve been having contractions for well over a month. This is apparently normal for some pregnancies, but I never had them with Caleb’s pregnancy.
8. Last week my cervix wasn’t even pointing downward. One week later, I’m dilated to a 3, that’s some serious progress.

Why I May Go Later

1. The doctor said that, even given the above conditions, a woman can still carry her baby well past her due date. My debated due dates have been either December 18th or December 22nd, depending on how you’re counting.
2. Because it would really tick off Josh to have this child born in a new tax year.
3. Because Josh is going to be in Eddie’s wedding on January 2nd, complete with the festivities of bachelor party and grooms dinner during the days before then. Wouldn’t it be fun to throw the birth of a child in there?
4. Because having this baby born around Christmas would really make things interesting and confuse Caleb about the difference between our new baby and Jesus.
5. Because all of our bags our packed and literally everything to prepare for the baby’s arrival is ready. That means there’s nothing left to do so of course the baby is going to thwart us in every way and take forever to come.
6. Because I walk funny. And it just gets funnier the longer this baby takes.
7. Statistically, the average pregnancy goes to 40 weeks, followed by 41 weeks, followed by 39 weeks. So, if you like math, go with these dates.

To leave a comment, go to my direct link to this article on my blog. Scroll down & post your guess in there. Remember, you need your NAME, the DATE you think the baby will be born, and the TIME along with AM/PM you think the baby will be born. Happy guessing!