Hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day weekend!  Damon and I spent the first half of the weekend in Annapolis for his USNA 10 year reunion.  (I have to say, the Naval Academy grads have held up pretty darn well 10 years post-graduation).

Navy-Delaware game. Navy won!

Yesterday we spent actually laboring (and by “we”, I mean Damon): building the changing table, bookshelf and crib for the nursery.  Well, we Damon tried to build the crib, but this is how it arrived:

One of TWO huge cracks in the headboard. Sadness.

Hmmm.  I don’t think that meets US safety regulations.

Crib or no crib, summer is over (although someone has yet to inform the heat and humidity), and for me, this is cause for celebration.  If you came to this post thinking I was going to joyfully detail the greatness of the beaches and BBQs that typically characterize summer, you’ve probably never read this blog before.  Mourn the departure of the warm-weather months?  Not likely.  No, no.  In fact, I am going to tell you why planning your pregnancy to fall during summertime is a terrible, awful, no-good, very bad idea.

My mom always said to plan for spring babies so you don’t have to be pregnant during summer.  Did I listen?  Of course not.  Oh, how I wish I had.  Here’s why:

1)    Summer is hot.  I know.  This is not news.  But it’s even hotter when you’re pregnant.  It’s even hotter when you’re pregnant and experience record-breaking heat waves. Somehow I managed to visit Washington D.C. the two hottest weekends on record, Charleston when the heat index hit triple-digits, and Southern California the one week of the entire summer the temperatures rose to the high-90s.  How does that happen?  Not to mention my actual hometown is its own muggy swampland. Add anywhere from 10-30 pounds of extra pregnancy padding, and you’re doomed to be a literal hot mess all summer long.

2)    I entered my second trimester very early summer.  This means I spent the majority of the season in the I-don’t-look-pregnant-only-fat stage.  This during the season of shorts and sundresses!?  Forget bathing suits.  Now I love a hot mama who rocks a bikini at the beach, baby belly in all its glory.  Unfortunately, my pregnancy timing didn’t allow for that; I would’ve much preferred to sport an oversized sweatshirt all summer long (See #1 for why that was not possible).

3)    What do you crave when it’s hot out?  If you’re me, this:

Yes, Please!

I would have KILLED for a margarita this summer.  But I hear drinking during pregnancy is frowned upon these days.  Especially drinking tequila.  Perhaps you’re more for sangria.  Or pina coladas.  Or frozen daiquiris.  Welp, bad news ladies – those are all off limits, too.

So unless you want to feel like an overheated, summer-drinks deprived chubster for a quarter of the year, I’d recommend avoiding summer pregnancies if possible.

One caveat to all this: summer pregnancies completely justify unfettered ice cream consumption.  Is that reason enough to put yourself through the torture I described above?  I’ll let you decide.