So last night I was watching CSI, as I usually do on a Thursday night. One part of the episode involved Grissom trying to disprove an allegation, which he did by explaining the science behind the gestation and growth of a blow fly. Without fail, the adult female blow fly lays her eggs, the eggs turn into larvae, and then they go through a growth cycle until they become adult blow flies who can then continue the cycle by laying eggs of their own. Without fail, this process takes 11 days.
I think pregnancy – the end of it, I mean, the last half of the third trimester – would be much less frustrating and wouldn’t be such an incredible effort in demonstrating patience if we were like that. If the due date wasn’t just a random crapshoot, and we knew when we were going to actually give birth, it wouldn’t be such a big deal. The unfortunate truth is that a due date is just a somewhat educated guess. Very few women give birth on their actual due date unless they have a scheduled c-section. One method tells me that I’m due on the 21st, and my ultrasound says the 20th. In reality, I could give birth before today is over, or I could find myself being induced because I’m approaching 42 weeks and nothing is happening.
I know that with 16 days left before my so-called due date, I shouldn’t be this impatient, but it’s not necessarily because I want the baby out RIGHT NOW RIGHT THIS SECOND GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT (though that would be fine by me if my water exploded all over the floor right after I hit “post”). The impatience is because I can’t go to my calendar and circle any one day in red as being the real day. I have my due date written down on the calendar (and I should really add the ultrasound’s prediction too, since it’s even more optimistic being one day sooner), but it doesn’t mean anything and that drives me crazy.
It only recently occurred to me how much my calendar means to my life. Plans can sometimes change, but generally once I’ve scribbled something down on the calendar hanging on the kitchen wall, that’s it. If I write down that I have an appointment on such-and-such a date, I know that’s pretty much true. If I’ve written down that a particular date is someone’s birthday, it’s the truth. And then I have this due date written down and means zip, zero, zilch.
I know this sounds like I’m whining and complaining, but I’m not, really. Once I’m 40 weeks and one day, I’ll be whining and complaining, but this is more like just getting stuff out of my head.
Too bad we aren’t like the blow flies though. It would make life much more structured.
My rats have their babies exactly at the same time too (if nothing is wrong). Counting from day of conception as zero and next day as day 1 my rats have their babies on day 22 at the same time in so many hours from conception (they conceive at 11 pm on zero day they give birth at 5 pm on day 22) as most of the other rats. The good thing about this is if they go even a few hours over, I know what to do. Its pretty cool.
Not so much with you I see. She will of course get here. And I so totally watched CSI last night too. What a great episode. I thought that the tape was going to be what was screwed with. I was impressed with the outcome.
I’m right there with you! However, my calculated due date is exactly the same as my ultrasound prediction. I too love my calender and knowing what is happening when, though now I’m looking at it and thinking hmm maybe I won’t be making that appointmnet. I almost feel like making big plans just to jinx myself into labour 😛
Well, here’s my thought: You’re an anxiety-ridden person on a good day (from what I gather), and when you throw uncertainty into the mix it, uh, throws you for a loop. Not meaning that you’re having anxiety attacks over there over this, but just meaning that it makes you even more unsettled than everyday concerns might. A little certainty goes a long way with people who have anxiety issues.
Without fail, this process takes 15 days.
Didn’t Grissom show it’s actually 11 days? 😉
-gets shot- Anyway, best of luck with not going nuts ’til the baby’s born; may the wait go by comfortably and quickly!
…sorry for screwing my HTML up. ^_^;; Oops.
Morgan – DOH. You’re right! It was that jackass who was claiming it was 15 days and messing up the experiment, Grissom showed it actually only took 11 days. Good eye. 🙂
And of course, now I have to go fix my post because otherwise it will bug me!
The only reason we have “due dates” is because some doctor over a hundred years ago decided the whole process needed to become more scientific. So, based on not much evidence, he declared that pregnancies take 40 weeks to the day. I’d smack him if I could.
But if we were blowflies, life would be awful short. 🙂 (And icky. Ew.)
My due dates were always wrong. Way wrong. I was almost always horribly overdue.
My due dates were 3 weeks (late) wrong! 🙁 I thought I was going to be pregnant forever. The last ten days were probably the worst. All I could do was busy my brain so I wouldn’t think about it. (That, and climb flights of stairs repeatedly in hopes of getting things going).