Let the predicting begin....

So for those of you who want to know, my official due date is October 23rd. I don't like to give out my due date because of past experiences people I know and myself have had when people lock in on a certain day you are going to have your baby. I.E. I've heard of people getting called on the day of their due date to be asked where the baby is...what a discouraging thing. My experience with my previous pregnancies have been the opposite. I have my babies early, almost too early in my opinion. When we called people to let them know it was time they responded by saying "It isn't your due date yet." Try telling that to a baby that's ready to come.

With William, my due date was February 23rd. After an unsuccessful version we scheduled a C-section for my due date. That was at my 38 week appointment on the 11th. That evening I went into labor and we went into the hospital and had him early in the morning on the 12th.

With Bennett, he was not breech and we were all set for a VBAC delivery. My last appointment was my 37 week appointment on a Thursday I think. I went scrapbooking that weekend, didn't sleep well and was very uncomfortable...especially because I had PUPPS. The next week I labored some Monday evening which once we called the hospital the labor stopped. So I was back in waiting mode. Then on Wednesday morning I lost my mucus plug and was excited to be ready to have the baby. I went shopping with my neighbors while having contractions. Thanks to Jenny who helped me time them. :) Labor continued through Wednesday evening and Thursday during the day. We finally decided to go to the hospital Thursday afternoon. When the doctor checked me I had not progressed much. Without going into all the details we were able to asses the situation and after an epidural and breaking my water I had Bennett within a matter of hours. I can't exactly remember Bennett's due date (possibly the 28th-30th of November) but I know that I had him probably a full 2 weeks early when I was 38 weeks along.

Now for this baby. I have no idea what to expect. Right now I am 37 weeks, 5 days along. That is after early on in my pregnancy the doctor adjusted my due date by a week. That means in my mind I am a week ahead of what the doctor thinks. I'm measuring a lot smaller than I did with the boys. Everyone keeps commenting when I tell them how much longer I possibly have about how tiny I am. Well, it's all baby in there and let me tell you that it hurts when it moves. I am progressing in dilating. At my appointment the doctor said that I was about a 2 1/2 and that the head had moved down a bit. I've had contractions here and there but in my opinion I would still call them Braxton Hicks contractions and not true contractions yet. I've had other signs that my body is getting ready for labor; not sleeping well, not hungry, loosening hips, and other things I won't mention. :)

With all that being said, I am giving my blog readers the opportunity to voice what you think is going to happen. On the right side I put two polls. One where you can predict the gender and one where you can predict when I will have this baby. If you's like to comment and give me more specific predictions you may. I may just have a little prize for the person who predicts gender and birth date the closest! Happy guessing!