to have a baby? :)

We've been TTC since May, and I've had this ideal window to have a baby as spring - mid-Feb to mid-July. :crazy: We've been unsuccessful at this point, and now that window is totally closed until next year.
We're NOT going to stop TTC until next May because of my stupid idea.....but I need to come to terms with a different season. What makes this doubly stoopid is that my son was born in October!! I LOVE that he has a Halloween birthday, so I don't know why I'm SO hung up on this.

Deb and Andrea have brought up the ideal of having a fall birthday, and I have a RL friend who REALLY wanted a fall baby (and she's due in March). So....if you all could tell me what your ideal baby season is, that would help my brain settle down a bit. :lol: If you have more than one child born in different seasons, that would be some great input!!

Here's my reasons for spring -
- not older than/younger than all the other kids in their class
- not too cold and not too hot
- not conflicting with holidays, like Christmas
- not HUGE in the heat of the summer
- it's a season of rebirth, so there's just a nice feeling in the air of everything being new

Thanks, girlos!!! :hug99:

I'll give you my perspective as a fall (Sept) baby:
1) one of the oldest in my class, therefore one of the first to be able to drive / turn 21. Slight downfalls to both (friends expect you to drive them everywhere, and not many people to take you out for your 21st birthday)
2) School was back in session, so easy to have classmates attend a party (like I had lots of birthday parties with classmates anyway :lol: )
3) Weather not too hot, not too cold. From my parents perspective, no heavy winter coats / snowy boots collecting around the house
4) No risk of birthday party guests cancelling due to bad weather.

Any season is good to welcome a new baby :love:

I had 2 babies in spring (April) because I think that's the perfect time, so I'm no help :lol:

For me I have a May baby and a December baby. I am a September baby. I hate that I have a december baby. It is to close to christmas and so hard on people and us. There is so much going on it is hard to get people together and it is also flu season so that makes life hard.

I will say that Tylor's birthday in May is great. The pg was perfect and I don't know why but I think it is easy to get together. Also, My birthday is great. I am a labor day baby. Everyone loves to get together for one last thing before fall sets in, we were back in school so I had lots of friends to come over..From my mom's point..the summer sucked being pg :lol:

Jayne

Here's my reasons for spring -
- not older than/younger than all the other kids in their class
- not too cold and not too hot
- not conflicting with holidays, like Christmas
- not HUGE in the heat of the summer
- it's a season of rebirth, so there's just a nice feeling in the air of everything being new

Thanks, girlos!!! :hug99:

I can tell you when is a BAD time :lol: For me the ideal time is anytime from March-October I think every month has it's pluses and minuses. Although I'm hard pressed to find pluses for winter :lol:

Winter
-too close to Christmas (particularly Dec/Jan)
-too cold
-chance of snow
-cold/flu season
-no outdoor birthday parties EVER (OK rarely :lol: )
+ummm, pretty birthstones :lol:

Spring
-end of flu season (March/April)
+weather is nice
+not PG in the heat
+not oldest/youngest in school
+nice weather for out door parties

Summer
-PG in the heat (but that's only for one year)
-no parties in school
-hard to contact school friends for parties
+/- youngest in class
+fun outdoor parties
+always off for your birthday (until they hit the real world)

Fall
-PG in the heat
-just getting to know new friends to invite to parties
-/+ oldest in class
+gorgeous weather
+can still often do outdoor parties

Gosh some of those seem so petty :blush1: I just know I'd rathernot have a baby close to Chistmas again. The biggest reason is that I feel the kid gets cheated out of gifts as well as that special day.

I think some of your concerns (not too hot/cold and the freshness in the air) can apply to fall as well as spring. And being hugely PG in the summer sucks, I'm sure, but it's one summer, birthdays are forever ;)

And with being oldest/youngest I'm not sure that's a plus or a minus. Some of the older kids love it, others hate it. Same with being youngest. All depends on the child.

Not much help, am I?!? :lol:

I have october babies and a march baby. I prefer the spring birth date over the fall one, by far. Why?
*When the babies were born in fall, it was too cold to get out and take them for walks to get rid of my post-partum weight. In the spring, it was much easier and I lost the weight much quicker.

*With an October birthday, they get presents and then WHAM! they get presents again for xmas. From a clothing perspective, that sucks. I end up having to buy all of their spring/summer stuff myself. For my spring baby, I can ask for spring/summer clothes for his birthday and I dont have to spend as much $$. I like that :nod: Especially since he doesnt need many toys, since he just got a buttload of them for xmas. Plus he can get some fun outdoor stuff for the yard and sandbox and play with it right away!!

*My spring baby isnt the oldest in his class, nor the youngest in his class, which IMO, is perfect. My october babies missed the cutoff, so they will be the oldest kids in their class. They will start 4 year old kindergarten and a month later, they will turn 5. I'd really like to put them in pre-school next fall, but I cant b/c they arent 3 in Sept. So to me, that sucks. I think they'd thrive.

I have a december birthday (12/23), and while it never interfered w/ the holiday --my family always kept it separate and never combined the day or the gifts -- it sucked b/c when I was young, I could never have b-day parties too close to my actual birthday, and when I was in college, no one was ever around to celebrate w/ me :(

The only +++ to having fall babies was that I got to be pregnant in summer, which (call me crazy), I enjoyed. I loved showing off my belly :biggrin:

i have an april and a september baby.

april is better....that way you're pg thru the winter and not suffering all big and fat in the summer. i was playing 'beat the biological clock' with my second and really just wanted to have the baby and be done with it :lol:

Personally, I think that a baby is a blessing and anytime that they come is wonderful.

I have 3 spring babies. We didn't intentionally try for spring babies, it just happened that way. The benefits of having them all in the same season was that I could reuse my maternity clothes and baby clothes each time. I also like that their birthdays are all within 7 weeks of each other. We get them all over and done with and there isn't a lot of jealousy about gifts and parties because the next one is coming up soon enough :)

The only time of year that we wanted to avoid giving birth was Christmas. My birthday is Christmas Eve and quite frankly, it sucks. But if I found myself pg in Mar-Apr and likely to give birth at Christmas time, I'd still be overjoyed.

I don't know anything about birthstones or star signs, so trying to give birth under a particular colour or sign never meant anything to me.

Good luck, Shannon :hug99: It will happen soon!

The only +++ to having fall babies was that I got to be pregnant in summer, which (call me crazy), I enjoyed. I loved showing off my belly :biggrin:

I agree completely!

Personally, I think that a baby is a blessing and anytime that they come is wonderful.

A truer statement has never been made and you know this Girlo! :)

I have a July and January baby. They are off season but I can still recycle many of the clothes. I wore all the same maternity clothes but of course was able to wear shorts for the spring/summer pregnancy. Neither season bothered me to be pregnant in.While you may not be able to get outdoors when a winter baby is small, you can still get out of the house to the mall, baby groups etc. I think you can make pros/cons out of any of the seasons and I also think the child won't really have those notions until s/he is older. Mason's b-day is 9 days after Christmas (Jan 3rd). We don't allow his birthday gifts to be wrapped in Christmas paper and if I had my way the tree etc. would be down too. Right now it doesn't bother him but it might when he's older. I was lucky to get pregnant with Graham and his b-day is the day before mine. I'm sure there are disadvantages to that for him, but who knows. Friends are often away for summer vacation so there is no guarantee for big birthday parties then.

I know that when you get that BFP and s/he sticks, you will come up with a bazillion reasons why that EDD is the best ever date to have a birthday. :)

I've always LOVED having an October birthday! It's during the school year so my friends were always around for my party. I was one of the youngest in the class which I also liked. The weather was usually good.
Nathaniel has a February birthday and Jessica will likely be late January/early February. I was never very pregnant during the summer which was really nice for me! Nothing exciting happens in February so we can make a big deal out of the birthdays (and no one in my family has a February birthday either!).
My weird thing is that I wouldn't want a holiday baby and I didn't really want a summer baby (because alot of kids go away to camp or on vacation so not everyone's around for the birthday parties!). That having been said, we never planned our TTCing around holidays. My work issues were the only limiting factor... (oh yeah, and that IF thing!)

Amanda

We don't allow his birthday gifts to be wrapped in Christmas paper

That's a very good point, Bev. I hate my bday presents wrapped in Xmas paper. Nothing like saying to a child that their birthday isn't important enough to buy seperate paper :rolleyes:

So.....it looks like the best months to have a baby are - April, May, September, October. :nod: :lol: Well, if I'd been pg this past cycle (today is CD1), my due date would have been in August. It looks like this next cycle will be looking at September!! I guess I'd better break out the thermometer again. :lol:

Thanks for all your input, ladies. :hug99: It has helped mellow me out. :awink:

I have a Jan and end of Feb (28th) baby. If we have another, we're going to try to have them born in April. The reason? Josh's birthday is March and I'm a May baby, so if we have an April baby, our birthdays will be Jan, Feb, March, April & May! :lol:

Hey! March ain't no slum month, either!

Karri.... :lol:

Karly - that's another reason I wanted a spring baby! My birthday is in July, our anniversary is in August, Paul's bday is in Sept., and Alex's is in October! So....if they were born in the spring, they'd have their own season! :nod:

I have a late June, late January and late September... The best for me was the June b/c she is the perfect age for school. January is OK too b/c we don't get a very cold winter so not an issue and for her, being one of the older kids will be good for her... the Sept. one is also nice, b/c our school cut off is December, so she should turn 5 right when Kindergarten starts... but if I lived where the cut off is Sept. 1, I wouldn't like the Sept. date as much, b/c she might be 100% ready for school, but have to wait b/c of the cut off. Other than the school cut off, for me personally, I really don't think there are any significant pros or cons.

Yeah, the cut-off for school here is August 31st. So, if we had a Sept. baby, they'd either have to be the oldest or youngest in their class. If you have a child with a bday close to the cut-off, you can petition to have them enter earlier. It's a hard call, though....they might be totally ready intellectually, but not at all emotionally. :dunno:
I've heard with boys and fall birthdays, it's better to keep them back and let them be the oldest in the class because they mature slower than girls emotionally. Being older gives them an advantage over being younger. With girls......I don't know.

Well, I may be of some help, as I have both an August and a September baby.

I think I prefer the August birthday slightly over the September, but I love both months. I found that it was nice and warm when the babies were born, so the worry of them getting a chill wasn't there. By the time it gets cool out, they are already out of the real newborn stage. The birthday party possibilities for nice weather bdays are endless. We always have a huge BBQ/Pool party for Tanis (August) and it's usually a huge, well attended event. People like to come to a summer party. The september weather is usually still nice enough to do something outside if you like. The weather is never a concern for driving, and people are rarely sick at that time of the year.

I can't say enough about having Aug/Sept. babies, and I think that no matter when your next baby is born, you'll find plenty of positives to having a baby in that season. :) Good luck TTC! :bighug:

We don't allow his birthday gifts to be wrapped in Christmas paper
I'm the same way with Ellie. Her b-day is 5 days before Christmas. It's a really hard time of the year to have a birthday. She came early and if she had gone to her due date (Jan 7), I think it would have been easier. Oh well. Definitely would not want another Christmas baby.

Ian is an October baby, which isn't ideal, IMO, either. The weather here is so unpredictable at this time of year that you can't plan outdoor events, so everyone gets stuck inside. Also, I have no idea if I should put him in school when he's 4-almost-5 or wait until he's 5-almost-6. :dunno:

I think an April/May/June birthday is ideal. It's far enough away from Christmas and the weather is great for outdoor parties. And there's no worry about when to start school.

I have two winter babies - 3 days after Christmas and mid January. When we try for #3 we are hoping for a spring/summer/early fall baby - basically anything but winter. Besides being expensive to have 2 birthdays so soon after Christmas the birthday party issue has been tough. We have a small house and hosting birthday parties here is really cramped - but parks and other fun (and inexpensive) outdoor venues are out because of the weather. I was also really anxious with a newborn during cold/flu season.

I have a January birthday and I always hated having to wait a whole more year to put things on my birthday/Christmas list but my brother got cool, new things in May.

I have an April and an October. For the most part, April has been great...weather here is hit or miss but we can deal with it.


Austin being October...ended up with RSV...multiple hospital visits..so IF there is a next time, I would like to have a summer baby right in the middle of them LOL...We have a pool and I think it would be fun to have a birthday pool party!

Definitely not Christmas as we have sooo many Dec and Jan birthdays...

I still stick with what I say... I have a May baby and 2 september babies (the may baby being born in our Autumn and my september babies being born in our spring) I personally preferred the Autumn baby because you can wrap them snuggly, and don't have to worry about hot cars while they are still little.... If I had a choice I definately chose the autumn baby!

BUT as its been brought up any time of year was fine with me as long as I had my babies! :heee:

I always thought that spring (April or May) would be ideal. That being said, I've got a January baby and a July baby.

As for January:
~ nicer weather to be pregnant.
~ I didn't mind having a newborn in the winter at all - we just bundled her up.
~ Could REALLY enjoy her first Christmas
~ better for photographs - can be propped up on her belly for spring pictures in the new grass, sit up with the pumpkins in the fall. Just a silly thing that I only really noticed after having Jacob.
~ old enough to really enjoy sumer stuff - sitting in a kiddie pool, etc.
~ She'll be among the oldest in her class
~ Presents all come at once.

As for July:
~ first tri. exhaustion and nausea when I needed to be getting ready for Christmas - it was hard!
~ third tri. in the hottest summer on record - Shrek feet - it wasn't pretty. :nono:
~ birthday party in last week of July when many are on holidays
~ will be in the middle of the age range for his class
~ something more magical about a first Christmas with a little baby than a nearly 1 year old.
~ presents spaced well between Christmas and Birthday.
~ Birthday parties easier - just let them play outside and BBQ hotdogs :lol:

I really want a Feb/March/April baby next time around~~~~since Dylan's Birthday is Dec 23rd! :rolleyes: Of course we want to start trying for #2 next Nov or Dec which would give us an August or September baby so I'm not sure what to do.....I would have to wait until Summer 2007 to have a Spring baby so I don't know if it's worth the wait to avoid being really pregnant in the Summer. :heee: I guess we'll see.....but anyway I think the Spring is the best for Birthdays!