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- Um, no.
From what I can surmise, nobody knows exactly what causes a woman to go into labor when she does, but there is one thing that is proven not to cause labor: The due date.
Today is five days after my due date.
“Where’s that baby?!” people keep asking me. It’s okay; I get it. At times I ask me.
But the fact is that due dates aren’t due dates, they’re just estimates made up by a German doctor from the 1800s.
My experience is like this: Last night I was up half the night with contractions. Again. They start, they stop, it’s no big thing*—except that it might be a big thing, so there’s adrenaline. Last night, I walked the stairs of my house for two hours in the dead dark, toting the phone as my flashlight.
I saw the shadows of all kinds of things I now like better for having seen their shadows. You should try walking through your own house like a prowler sometime. Everything is a little new when the sun comes up.
*There’s a name for this: prodromal labor. If you’re going through it, too, here’s some helpful info.
