Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Place your bets!

In less than 4 hours, I will officially reach the 37 week mark of this pregnancy, which is the starting point for home birth potential. Before 37 weeks (even 36 weeks and 6 days), the baby is considered too pre-term and risky to have at home or even in hospital with a midwife, and the mother would be transferred to a gynocologist (whom she's never before seen or even met) at the hospital and left to labor in a hospital room with a monitor and occasional checks from a nurse until go-time. Sounds awfully impersonal and medical to me, especially since at 37 weeks I can at least keep my midwife even if I go to the hospital...so this is the mark we've been waiting for in recent days. Why do I even bring this up? Baby 2 has dropped WAY DOWN. My belly resembles a ski slope. Kiddo is in position and ready for take-off. Of course, the midwife pointed out last week that this doesn't mean the baby will come early. Second babies tend to get into position faster because the body knows where to stuff them. That being said, she eyeballed me and said she didn't think it would come that week. Uh-huh. Then, our prenatal class teacher last night repeated the same info to the group (as I'm the only second-time mom in there and they were all eyeing me with trepidation lest I give birth before the coffee break)...but then she remarked later in the class that she isn't sure I'll be there next week. The professionals won't say it directly, but they clearly think I'm going early.
Early on in the pregnancy, I had a dream that the baby would come at 37 weeks. My mom recently had the same dream. As did a girlfriend of mine. This particular girlfriend is convinced I'm going to go into labor sometime tomorrow. She thinks my body is just waiting out that 37 week mark, and then it will just go wild. She's so convinced that when I called her to ask a quick question, she picked up the phone breathless and asked if I was in labor already. I think she's more prepared for this than we are. I feel like she should win a prize if she's correct, which brings us to the subject line of this post: place your bets.
For those of you who are pregnancy rookies, the typical pregnancy lasts between 38 and 42 weeks. 40 weeks is the "due date" (for us, that's Feb 27), but statistically few people actually deliver on that date. Every Wednesday rolls over another week (37, 38, 39...). When do you think this baby will come? If you guess correctly (gotta have a date, but don't bother with a time unless you're feeling very Type A), you win a prize! I promise it won't be anything gross. Enter your guess in the comment section (only those with names visible to all will count, so no email guesses) and we'll see who's right. Bonus prize if you guess the gender too (though you must have the date to win). For now, only baby knows for sure.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmm.... I can't remember the "official" due date, but I'm placing my bet exactly a week before that. I want to say it was like the 21st or something? So whatever that date is. Was it the 21st? I know it was in the 20's. So not not quite a Valentine's Baby, but could be close. (P.S. If I'm forced to provide an actual date, I would need to know what the due date is. :)

Too bad you couldn't have a Mardi Gras baby. Happy Fat Tuesday by the way. (For those non-Mardi Gras types, don't worry, it's not an insult.)

Any word on how the parade went Friday? Just wondering....

Gail Weaver said...

The 15th! Can I have the 15th? I claim the 15th!

(For the record, my first instinct was to claim the 12th .. but the 15th just feels too good to say no to.)

Jennifer said...

Yes, Azure, you are forced to provide an actual date. I did update the post with the due date and a bonus prize for guessing gender. Since the due date is the 27th, one week beforehand would be the 20th. Is that your guess or do you guess the 13th, which is closer to Valentine's? Let us know!

Gail, you can have the 15th! You can have the 12th instead if you like, but I'll mark you down for the 15th.

Karly said...

Ok, I'm on Gail's wavelength here...my first instinct was to claim the 12th too, but I think I'm going to go with the 18th, it feels good to me. Oh, and I'm guessing that we will be welcoming a baby boy :)

quinn said...

So is this game 1) like "price is right" where you can't go over, or 2) is it the closest to the actual date regardless of whether you are high or low? :-)

Anonymous said...

Well now, Jennifer you know it's too much like right for me to go back and actually check these things. ;) Okay I'll take the 20th because that was my first thought, even though now I remember a conversation that you and I had that makes me want to change, but I'm a woman of my word. So here's my guess....
MY OFFICIAL GUESS: Feb 20th (Hey GW was born on a 20th, how fun would that be?
MY UNOFFICIAL SECOND GUESS: Feb. 22nd because I now remember that you and I had a conversation about how interesting it would be to have a leap year baby.

Gail, of course the 15th is an excellent date. :)

Personally I think BK2 is faking everybody out. That's why I'm going with a later date.... Now I'm not getting a sense as to gender... Hmm... I have a 50/50 chance... I'll say Baby Boy Klingbeil makes a great addition to the family.

Jennifer said...

No, Quinn, no leeway. You have to have the date spot on. Leave it to you to try to negotiate. ;)

quinn said...

My guess will have to be the 19th then, which is a Tuesday. And I will go out on a limb and say it'll be before noon. (GMT) :-)

Gail Weaver said...

I'm sticking with the 15th ... and I think that Ellie will have a little sister.

Anonymous said...

Ok, my initial gut feeling was Monday because I don't even know what today is... lucky for Eric huh!?! My other initial gut feeling was a baby girl. But my official guess is:

Tuesday February 21, baby boy!

Anonymous said...

Baby girl on the 18th,

Anonymous said...

I say the stork will bring a boy, wearing wooden baby booties, on 2/29.

-BECKY