Happy November!

For Hubby and I, no other month in the year was as highly anticipated as this one. Albeit a quiet celebration, we are enjoying this tiny milestone.

There are days when November 17 seems so very far away. However, this morning at work there was more discussion about having the Christmas party before I go on maternity leave. I was as taken aback as everyone here to realize that there are only two weekends (including the approaching one) which can be considered. After that, there are no guarantees of our availability.

I realize that those due dates are basically a doctor's best guess. He pulls out this little chart thingy at your first prenatal appointment and based on various pieces of information, he turns the wheel and mutters this date that becomes permanently tatooed on your brain. He doesn't say you will have a baby on that day. He doesn't say you will have a baby that week. He doesn't even say you will have a baby BY that date. But for some reason you plan the rest of your life based upon that circle on your calendar.

I've tried to be realistic about this due date thingy. I realize it is not a promise of a baby on that day. My doctor joked that if he could predict with that kind of accuracy he would get a disease named after him. I have made a habit of responding to the "when are you due" question with "sometime around November 17". That benefitted my mental and emotional health as much as anything. I fully understand that there are many many women who go over their due date. I was two weeks late and mom said she cried everyday I wasn't there. I get it, mom.

But nonetheless, given that this illusive due date falls in the middle of the month, we are guaranteed to have our baby this month. For some reason, that makes me feel better. So I welcome this day, November 1, with eager anticipation.


As a side note, I would like to encourage you all to read the Banner this month. Here's a link, just in case you don't have it available to you. http://www.thebanner.org/magazine/article.cfm?article_id=733 The article entitled "Losses of the Heart" by Nathan Sneller is hands down the best article on miscarriage that I have ever read in my life. Hubby and I were both deeply touched by this young man's honest account of the loss he and his wife experienced and the reaction of others to it. Its so good, I would encourage you to cut it out, copy it, or print it off the internet and keep it in your Bible for years to come.