due dates

So it's June 11 and according to our little Widget from 3dpregnancy, I am 7 days overdue. Not so according to our midwife. Our Widget takes it cues from the so-called Naegele's rule for how to calculate due dates. According to the German obstetrician Dr. Naegele (1778-1851), pregnancy lasts 10 moon months, that is, 10 months of 4 weeks each, or 40 weeks total (apparently, this was the common understanding among most obstetricians at that time, as it had been from the time of ancient Rome). Though Dr. Naegele's rule has since been disputed by Drs. Mittendorf and Williams (with a study released in 1990), Dr. Naegele's rule remains the standard by which most U.S. obstetricians (and online pregnancy calendars like the one we've been using from 3dpregnancy) predict due dates. As a result, many women (me included!) get very antsy as the 'due date' they've been given passes. Even more troublesome, the norm of 40 weeks gestations results in more inductions and in turn complications than necessary. For as Drs. Mittendorf and Williams have found, most white middle-class first-time moms gestate for 41 weeks and 1 days, while women who have given birth before gestate for 40 weeks and 3 days. If I conceived 9 calendar months ago, on September 11, as we think I did, I am at 41 weeks and 1 day today. I'm due, but not overdue.

p.s. While our midwife gave us June 11 as our due date, one week later than the June 4 due date given to us by our ob.gyn., the ultrasound technician we saw back in January gave us May 31 as the due date. However, studies show that due dates predicted as a result of ultrasounds after the first trimester have an even higher error margin than Dr. Naegele's rule or first trimester ultrasounds.

operating instructions

We are four days past our due date and getting just a teeny bit antsy, waiting for our baby's arrival. To help make the time pass, Leighton gave me another book gift the other day, to the soon-to-be-mama; Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year by Anne Lamott. The book is far from a set of operating instructions (those are what Lamott asks God to give her), rather it's an honest account of the roller coaster emotional ride Lamott experienced as a first-time-mom to an infant at thirty-five. Though single, Lamott is not alone; her story is as much about the friends, family, and community that she relies on for support (in taking care of her baby and herself) as it is about her own ups and downs. So, while I have a wonderful husband to support me, I understand I'm in for quite the ride myself.

Here I am one day past my due date.

what do you think of the name Isak?

With just three days left before the due date, we thought we'd get your opinions on a new option in the boys category. Maiken is our favorite girl name, and we think we have a good alternative with Ingrid.

Isak is a name with many meanings for us. For Anne, she likes that it means son of joy or he who laughs (as in the divine joke); and she wrote her dissertation on Scandinavian authors Isak Dinesen and Knut Hamsun. I associate the name with Isak, the first man who walked a path through the commons, in Knut Hamsun's Markens Grøde (Growth of the Soil), a new favorite of mine.

Although the name might sound old or old fashioned, we think the name has a lot of spirit and could fit a spunky, active, energetic little boy—which accurately describes the personality of the baby as we imagines it, how it feels to Anne in her belly.

Please leave a comment.