Did you try to plan the month your child would be born?

[Anonymous]

No planning for DC1.

Wanted another Spring baby for DC2, to avoid the winter cold and summer heat. Also because DC1 was born on a beautiful Cherry Blossom day! I will always treasure that memory of looking out of my window after his birth and seeing blue sky and a flurry of pink blossoms...
DC2 took a little longer to conceive than we hoped, so will miss the Cherry Blossom, but will still come in Spring

[Anonymous]

Yes. I very much wanted Spring babies and got one in May and one in April. But, I would have been happy to have given birth any time of the year.

I do, however, highly recommend springtime!

[Anonymous]

We tried to plan both one and two. It worked perfectly with two but were a couple of months off with one, not that I am complaining.

Most woman I know at least planned the season if not the month but everyone goes in knowing you can't get pregnant at the drop of a hat just because you decide to.

I'm really curious why some people think this requires organization or is "psycho". All it requires is being able to count backwards by 9/10 months and stopping birth control.

[Anonymous]

Yes. All three of my children were born in the months I preferred. It was kind of an, "Oh, wow, that worked?!" for #1. For #s 2 & 3, we simply figured it would work and it did.

[Anonymous]

As a teacher I did try to plan for a spring baby to maximize time off. That way my maternity leave would carry me through the end of the school year and then I'd still have the summer off. It's worked twice so far, but I also know that it's rare and lucky and I was so happy to be pregnant the due date really doesn't matter in the end.

[Anonymous]

Clearly not everyone is able to get pregnant exactly when they want to, despite all the best plans in the world! I understand how some people could think it's psycho - but that said, I'm a planner too, so I can totally relate (and of course I tried to plan as best I could for what I wanted). Would have been happy with a due date anytime between March and June - and I'm due at the end of May. Of course, we'd been trying for almost a year before I got pregnant, so I would have been happy for it to happen whenever - but it's always a nice perk when things work out!

[Anonymous]

I'm really curious why some people think this requires organization or is "psycho". quote]

Me too! I responded earlier that I preferred to have my 2nd in the spring. I sometimes think that responses on this board are irrational or extreme, but calling a little bit of forethought and wishful thinking "psycho" just baffles me. I also waited until I thought my husband and I were financially ready, my career could withstand a hiatus, our marriage was strong, my health was good, etc. Does that make me psyhco too?

[Anonymous]

Yes -- apparently it's "psycho" to be able to count to 9?

[Anonymous]

I don't think it's strange to plan for a certain time of year in some circumstances. I know several teachers who aim for the summer to maximize time off (since the summer doesn't count as maternity leave).

I'm not sure about doing it for the school things though, that seems a bit much to me.

[Anonymous]

I might call it "psycho" if someone was SO set on one particular month they only tried one cycle per year... but even then, eh, what do I care what they do? (Just don't complain about how long it takes to get pregnant in that case!)

[Anonymous]

I wanted to have a baby in March, as I'm a teacher and it would let me take a nice chunk of time off. We ended up having trouble though and it took over a year to get pregnant. So, I'll take what I can get.

[Anonymous]

We didn't try for a certain time but I have to say I am enjoying being on maternity leave during winter and not having to be outside in snow/ice and cold weather
I also was not at my hugest during super hot uncomfy temperatures
So winter babies are great in my book!

[Anonymous]

I don't think it is weird to plan for a season though that never occurred to me for my first. For my second, I didn't really care about season as much about spacing of the kiddos (wanted at least 2 years). I would find it REALLY odd to plan along the lines of when DC would start school. Not wanting it to be January (cold) or August (hot) makes some sense, but to base it off of school admission dates?? Weird.

[Anonymous]

I didn't give it much thought. We started trying when we were ready and got pregnant in two months. Now that I am due in April though, I realize that, for me, this is absolutely the perfect time to have a baby and I will probably try to plan to have #2 in the same general time frame two years later.

[Anonymous]

I was always the oldest in my class and DH was always the youngest in his class and we both hated it. So I totally get planning based on the school year. We expected it would take us a while to get pregnant because my cycle has always been really irregular so we didn't think planning would be worth it. We actually got pregnant quickly and are pleased that our son will fall in the middle of his class age-wise, but didn't exactly plan.