Waiting

It's been kind of fun to walk around town the last few days and answer the question of "When is your baby due?" with "Saturday!" and then watch their jaws drop. My due date is October 24, which makes me about 39 and a 1/2 weeks pregnant. I got a free milkshake out of it the other day. Also someone at Trader Joe's took my groceries to my car and then took the cart and put it away for me. The guy at the beer distributor kind of freaked out when I came in...even though I insisted the beer was not for me. It turned out he just didn't want me to carry the case into my car and sent his stock boy out to bring it. Yeah, I know, pregnant lady buying beer...it looks bad - but I want to make sure there is at least one icy cold beer available to me after I give birth, so it's important to remain stocked.

I came down with a cold on Friday and it's mostly run its course, but I made the decision to limit my exposure to my undergrad students for the duration of this pregnancy, so I'm working from home. This ended up being fortuitous for a number of reasons, but mainly because we have some Indian Summer going on here in Pittsburgh and I've been taking long walks in the park.

So what's up with the 40 week gestational period? As a Caucasian female, the average pregnancy is actually over 41 weeks, especially in my age bracket. The formula for calculating due dates was calculated way back in 1850, long before ultrasounds and other testing were available, and is also based on the assumption that a woman has a very regular 28 day menstrual cycle. But most birth professionals agree that "normal" pregnancy lasts between 2 weeks before the due date and 2 weeks after. That's a month long window!! So hard to wait.

I am determined to not get antsy about this. I am trying to think of this time period as a gift from my child to me...a chance to take it easy and rest and reflect on the first 30 years of my life, because something tells me everything changes once I officially become somebody's mom. And frankly it's kind of fun to have the pregnancy card to play...nobody's going to criticize you for eating ice cream or taking two naps in one day. If only it didn't come with heartburn and hip pain and edema!