For nearly nine months – just a day or two after my husband and I learned we were going to become parents – our world revolved around July 6.

This was our due date, the day our baby would enter the world.

Our midwife calculated the date by adding nine months and six days – roughly 40 weeks – to the day of my last menstrual period, but we initially joked that pulling a date out of a hat might be more accurate. Seldom do babies arrive on time.

Only about 4% of babies arrive on their due dates with 50% coming within a week of the expected day and 90% within two weeks. Most births occur between 37 and 42 weeks of pregnancy.

Our son was born right on his due date. Oliver, already the spitting image of his father, also takes after my husband when it comes to punctuality. I am always running behind and I fully expected my baby to be late as well. Aren’t all first babies late?

I left work three days before my due date with a very long to-do list. Not only were there weekly pre-natal appointments on my calendar, but I needed to finish setting up the nursery, tour the hospital maternity ward, install the car seat, shampoo the carpets, clean the basement and get a pedicure. I was nesting and nothing – not even my expanding beach ball belly and my constant breathlessness – would stop me.

By July 3, I was done. Everything was crossed off my to-do list and I was exhausted. I camped out on the couch to wait for the baby to arrive. My midwife, during an appointment a couple of days earlier, suggested the baby could arrive any day. My body was already changing to ready itself for labour. I didn’t believe her. I was convinced I had days, maybe even a couple of weeks, to relax and prepare for baby’s arrival.

Then, just after midnight on July 5, my water began to leak – it broke many hours later – and my contractions began. But Oliver was a stubborn boy. He held on for another 32 hours – a hand tucked up by his face slowed his progress – before he arrived at 9:05 a.m. on his due date.

For us, Oliver’s punctuality is an interesting bit of trivia. But for some parents, a baby’s prompt arrival has even greater rewards.

Parents who have registered for baby gifts at Sears will receive the value of their registry in merchandise certificates if their son or daughter is born on the due date, said company spokesman Eliana Cugini.

“Chances are people already bought you what’s on your registry,” Cugini said, noting most new parents use the certificates to pick up other baby gear they need. As any parent can tell you, babies need a lot of gear.

Just don’t try to register from the labour and delivery room – it must be done well in advance, Cugini said.

“It’s a neat thing,” she said. “Mothers-to-be have fun with it. We’ve had it for years.”

My husband and I first learned of the promotion from our midwife as we bundled up Oliver to take him home from the hospital. We hadn’t registered anywhere for baby gear, having been given so many of the things we needed from family and friends. But we may register if there’s a baby No. 2 in our future. Maybe lightning – or punctuality – can strike twice.

-- Sarah Green

   sarahg@babyontheway.ca