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It's hard to schedule the perfect time to give birth
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Published: April 2, 2009
Urologist offices are booked up during the month of March with vasectomy appointments. Why? The NCAA Basketball Tournament. A patient's recovery includes resting and avoiding extensive movement.
Many guys are doing this in an effort to watch hoops, so yes, it's hip to snip during March Madness. Grab your remote and a bag of frozen peas and you're all set.
I started thinking. When's the best time of year to schedule childbirth? Many women already attempt this. Teachers are especially good at having babies during early summer months to avoid disrupting the school year. Other couples plan sibling arrivals at specific intervals: two years apart, three years apart, etc. My friend was so good at this accomplishment that all three children were born almost exactly two years apart. The bad news is that the family now celebrates three birthdays within three weeks of each other.
My planning didn't go so well. In the ideal world my daughter would be three years younger than my son. In the real world … well, let's just say my husband and I brought home an unexpected souvenir from Disney World and bumped up our second baby plans by about six months.
So if I could schedule the perfect time of year to give birth, what month, season, holiday, or major sporting event works best?
Spring sounds appealing in a poetic kind of way. But there's too much to do. Fall bulbs to plant and a lawn to nurture. Not very convenient to spring clean in between a newborn's constant cries for food.
Halloween? Some descriptions of childbirth resemble a horror movie anyway. But how could I greet little goblins at my door in the midst of postpartum hormonal breakdowns? Trick or treaters would be pelted with candy bars by a screaming witch who hasn't bathed in days.
It might be neat to give birth around the Super Bowl. If the Steelers are playing, my family is already in a cheering mood anyway. "One, two, three, four, give birth before the offense scores! Goooooo KELLI!" Yeah, scratch that idea.
Turns out September and February worked just fine for me. And the birthdates fit each child's personality. My September-born son relishes the start of football season. And my daughter is the chocolate and flower diva who was born a week after Valentine's Day.
It appears the old saying is true: there really is no "best" time to have a baby. If you spend your life waiting for one, you may spend a lifetime waiting.
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