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Katie's Baby Shower, Part 2


Liz was the game mistress at the baby shower. Above, she is holding the celebrity baby quiz, with celebrity pictures (along with a picture of my father and Katie's mother) on one side, and pictures of celebrity babies (along with baby pictures of Katie and me).

The coup de grace, however, was her Baby Androeke Prognostication Quiz, which was modeled on the prognostication quizzes that I've run over the past couple years. Baby Androeke is the best amalgam of Katie's and my last names that we considered doing (for 30 or 40 nanoseconds) instead of choosing one name or the other for Max.

Sixteen people entered the quiz, with a prize promised for the winner.

Baby Androeke Prognostication Quiz

Question 1. Only 5% of babies are born on their due date. 50% are born within a week of that date, and 90% are born within two weeks of that date. Baby Androeke will be born:
a. before the due date (April 19)
b. on the due date
c. between April 20 and April 23
d. after April 23

Max was WAY early, which is especially unusual for a first baby. He was born on April 9, making the answer A. Six people got this correct, including both parents.

Question 2. 31% of all babies are born via Ceasarean-section. 6% of all births are “assisted” with a vacuum or forceps. Baby Androeke will be born:
a. vaginally w/o tools
b. vaginally with vacuum or forceps
c. via C-section
d. Other

The answer (somewhat sadly) is C. Interestingly, only one person (Laura P.) guessed C. Was this because people didn't want to wish bad things on Katie? Or because everyone had such great faith in her birth canal? In their avoidance of C, two people even picked D, even though I can't think of what "other" might entail. (Heather M. picked D and also explained what she was predicting: via stork.)

Question 3. The average American baby weighs 7.6 pounds. Baby Androeke will weigh:
a. Less than 7 pounds
b. 7 pounds - 8 pounds
c. 8 pounds – 8.5 pounds
d. More than 8.5 pounds

Four people correctly guessed that Max would weigh 8 pounds, 5.3 ounces at birth for answer C.

Question 4. The average baby is 20.16 inches at full term. I predict Baby Androeke’s length will be:
a. 20 inches or less
b. 20.1 -21 inches
c. 21.1 -22 inches
d. longer than 22 inches

Four people also correctly guessed that Max would be 21 inches long at birth, for answer B. Max's parents guessed that he would be a big baby (D on 3, D on 4), but the early delivery thwarted those answers!

Question 5. During the labor/delivery, Katie will shout at Michael or the nurse/doctor:
a. Get me a pear, walnut and cheese salad, STAT!
b. Cut HIS perineum!
c. You’re changing all the diapers dammit!
d. Why didn’t you get your haircut?!
e. Do NOT write about this on the blog…

No one got this question right, as Katie avoided all five catchphrases. The best write-in guess was "Get out! Get out, all of you! I'm going to do this by myself!" The actual answer is "Will you two be quiet, PLEASE!" Katie directed that at the nurse and me as we were trying say nice calm things to her as she was starting her C-section. She (poor thing) was trying to concentrate so as to avoid throwing up (again).

Question 6. Katie will vomit at some point during labor and delivery:
a. True
b. False

Yes, the answer is A. People really know Katie, because a full 12 people predicted she would toss her lunch. Only in her case, it wasn't lunch: it was a green popsicle. The doctor forbade her from having anything to eat or drink except ice chips. Katie quickly countermanded that order and had me sneak her glasses of water. Then she managed con a nurse to bring her a popsicle. When (as the doctor predicted) she vomited, it was bright neon green, and got all over her face as I wiped her face clean. The doctor (who was right there) must have understood what happened, but said nothing. I wonder if the friendly nurse met with any repercussions.

Question 7. Katie and Michael will:
a. Have a name picked out before the baby is born; or
b. Wait until they see the baby to choose his name.

Only four people chose B, correctly predicting that we would not have our act together. Thanks to the other twelve who thought we'd be prepared. Sorry to let you down.

Question 8. What will Katie and Michael name the baby?

I was the only one who got this right. You may think that I knew what the answer would be and so it shouldn't count, but at the time our top choice was Dashiell. At least one person was privy to this information and put that down as her answer. I started writing Dashiell as my guess, too, before deciding (correctly, it turns out) that Katie would decide in the end that she wanted what was then our second-choice name, Maxwell. For reasons that are best known by her, Katie guessed that we would name the child Marvin, even though she never mentioned that name again to anyone, as far as I know. (It never made it on to the list of names that we chose from.)

And the winner is . . .

. . . Christy S! She got half of the questions right (1, 3, 4, and 6). Honorable mention goes to Laura P., who got three questions right (2, 3, and 6). Everyone else scored either one or two. Talk to Liz to collect your well-deserved prize!

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