Baking babies

Can I vent for a moment here? (oh ya, of course I can... 'tis my blog and no one cares a lick about what I say anyways...)

When I want to bake a batch of peanut butter cookies of which I know are my hubby's favorite, I know a few things are certain- I know what ingredients to include such as peanut butter, flour, sugar, butter, etc. I know what setting to place the oven on and how long to bake those cookies to make them come out absolutely perfect, moist and chewy. Yum!

However... those are cookies, and though I may have to adjust things slightly, say if I am using a different oven or trying out a completely different recipe, otherwise the equation remains the same. Why is it that people assume our babies are like cookies??

Babies are not bake-sale goods, people.

Once upon a time there was this doctor. And like all doctors, he was nosey and decided to graph down when a group of about 500 women spontaneously went into labor. He thus concluded that the average timeframe was 40 weeks. Wow, exciting. What did that mean?? Well, nothing really. I could have a group of ten women in the room and state that the average age of said women is 30, but have none of those women actually be 30. That's the funny thing about averages and assumptions. Going forward, future physicians took this number and ran with it. And here we have our magical number, our baking babies at 350 for 40 weeks, whether or not they may be done.

I frequently hear women make statements such as "I *had* to be induced", "I couldn't go into labor on my own", "Little Davey just wouldn't come out on his own", etc. Let's be honest here, people.. it makes me want to knock them upside their heads. When did it become "normal" to assume that women's bodies won't or can't go into labor on their own? When did it become "normal" to assume that this average that was came up via a small sample of women needs to apply to everyone... that 40 weeks is our magic cookie done time?? (Let's not even get into the discussion about the likelihood of increased possibility of c-section which poses it's own set of risks-increasing the rate of primary c-sections which in itself drives the c-section rate up for subsequent pregnancies with the lack of careproviders supporting VBACs..another subject, another day).

Let me tell you an ancient secret... listen up, as it is pretty profound. Babies come. They really actually do. Whether or not you eat an entire pineapple or dance on your head. Babies come whether you ate that eggplant parmesean and douched it down with basil and oregano. Babies come regardless of the magical date *YOU* circled on the calendar. They come. They really, honestly do. Placentas, as well, do not have a magical expiration date on them. That's right! At 40 weeks or 41 weeks or even 42 weeks they do not spontaneously combust.

Now, let me place a disclaimer on this... this is not to say there are not circumstances where a chemical induction is valid... pre-eclampsia or IUGR, for example... those are some situations where there may be a valid necessity to get the baby out, rather than wait for the timer to go off on it's own. However, this should be our exception.. and definitely not the rule.

Put your timers and calendars away, Mamas... let your babies bake.