Waiting for Jadon: The Truth About Being "Late"

Eleven days past the due date. And now it's September!

There hasn't been a single day in the past two weeks where I haven't been asked the question, "Is the baby here yet?" I don't mind this question at all. In fact, I feel flattered that so many people are happily anticipating Jadon's arrival.

I'm anxious about him coming because I want to meet him so bad! Yet, I'm still not worried about being "late." Being induced doesn't even cross my mind. I'm healthy, he's healthy, and he'll come when he's ready.

Like many other pregnant ladies, I pour over pregnancy books. Last night I was reading from Real Food for Mother and Baby: The Fertility Diet, Eating for Two, and Baby's First Foods, by Nina Planck. I came across a passage that reminded me why I'm not worried. Most people don't know that the whole "forty weeks" gestation period is not meant to be a number set in stone, especially for first-time mothers, like myself:

Where did we get the idea that pregnancy lasts forty weeks? In the early 1800's, a German obstetrician, Franz Carl Naegele, declared human gestation to last ten lunar months. At twenty-eight days apiece, that came to 280 days, or forty weeks. But this is only an estimate, and probably a bit short. The average first pregnancy actually lasts forty-one weeks and three days, or 290 days. Second babies tend to come a week sooner, after 283 days. Of course these numbers cannot forecast your baby's Birth Day. It must be stressed that they are averages. (page 125).

I was forty-one weeks and three days pregnant yesterday. That means I've only just passed the average length of first pregnancies! In addition, "five to 10 percent of pregnancies go to forty-two weeks, the official marker of 'post date,' and most of these babies turn out fine" (page 125). With no indications that anything is wrong, I assume that Jadon's birthday will be just right for him. It's pretty much up to him and God.

Keep checking in to see if Jadon has arrived! When he's finally here, we can celebrate his birth together and tell him that every day of waiting was totally worth it.