A couple of weeks ago I emailed a pregnant friend who was approaching her due date; feeling certain she’d be part of the dreaded ‘overdue’ gang. Instead of peppering her with the much loathed question: have you had the baby yet, I shared with her the beginnings of my ‘top ten reasons why it’s good to still be pregnant‘ list.

I figured this time around I’d be prepared, nay proactive, and try to put a positive spin on my extended gestation period.

Ten (Best/Only/Fathomable) Reasons to be Pregnant for more than 40 weeks

• 1. More time to find a really good name for the baby. (Or, just a name.)
• 2. Ability to avoid, for a little while longer, having to feed someone every two hours, every day.
• 3. Slightly more, if incredibly uncomfortable, sleep
• 4. Extended wear of comfy maternity pants without being frowned at..
• 5. Ability to keep being lazy, because you’re too uncomfortable and tired to do anything; or, conversely
• 6. More time to ‘nest’ – get things organized at home
• 7. Getting to the point where you’d gladly go through labor – such is your desire to get the baby out
• 8. A chance to load up on beans, broccoli, tomatoes, garlic, chocolate and whatever else might make a nursing baby ‘gassy’. (This might be stretching the positivity a bit.)
• 9. More time to play the pregnancy card or draw upon people’s sympathies for women in their third trimester
• 10. Deferring the post-pregnancy look for just a little bit longer…