Ok, I read a blog post in December about the apparent arbitrariness of due dates. I'll wait if you want to read it, but the author complains about how due dates are meaningless and you can't tell when a baby will come.
I know, not a news flash. But he suggested that doctors could keep track of the spread of actual births versus due dates and maybe put together data showing the likelihood that a baby will be born on its due date (is it a bell curve?). I have no idea if such a study actually exists, but I thought it would be fun to poll people to see if your babies were early, late or right on time. And, if late or early, how late or early?
Wil was born 3 days early, but via c-section, so I have no idea when he would have been ready. Sam was 8 days early. How about yours?
Carter was born on his due date (so much for meaningless!). Both Lauren and Hayden were 11 days early - went in for induction both times, but was already in labor!
ReplyDeleteHey Meagan, you've got some great blog posts here about a variety of topics!
ReplyDeleteLilly was born five days early, she came naturally.
Gabe was born four days late, I went in for induction, but only needed my water broke. I'm positive his due date was meaningless. I had no idea when my LMP was because my pregnancies were back-to-back!However, the doctors thought he was getting too big. I think the discrepancy around determining any woman's LMP is not enough to calculate due dates, which leads to misrepresentation of other data, like size of the baby, stress, and fluid levels, causing unnecessary medical interventions like BP drugs, pitocin, and some C-sections.