Survey Says...

I asked you all for your best guesses as to when Claire would make her appearance, and here's what the survey said:

Soon: Oct. 20 or before	4 (16%)
1 week early: Oct. 21-24	11 (45%)
A few days early: Oct. 25-28	7 (29%)
Right on time: Oct. 29-31	1 (4%)
A little late: Nov. 1-4	1 (4%)
Induced: Nov. 5 or later	0 (0%)

Since it is currently the evening of Oct. 20 and I haven't gone in to labor yet, I'd say four of you have officially lost. The most popular response seemed to be going on my doctor's comment that I might be "cutting it close" on the 21st being my last day at work, with 45% saying I'd go "1 week early." Most of the rest said "a few days early," which was my vote too, mainly because I don't really want to have a whole week of "me time," just a few days. So next Wednesday or so would be just perfect. But because I think about silly things like this, I actually prefer the "sound" of the dates Oct. 30 and 31, and Nov. 1 and 2, but I think I'll be getting pretty antsy by that time.

As to the actual doctor's report from this week, no new light has really been shed on the issue. My doctor is at Disney World this week, so I saw someone else yesterday and was eager for a second opinion. She was genuinely shocked at how low Claire's head is (and when you can surprise someone who does this all day long, that's saying something) and that my cervix is "definitely thin." So, she said that given how low she is and that it's my second child, "probably soon." But she also made certain to emphasize that she never makes predictions because you really never can tell. She told us about two women she saw at 36 weeks—one who seemed to have a bowling ball between her legs and one whose cervix was still  "hard as a rock." The rock-woman went into labor that night, and bowling-ball-lady ended up having to be induced. So, my fear might be grounded that, for all this talk about being early, Claire might be a November baby after all.