My first child’s due date was the week before Thanksgiving. In the early months of pregnancy, I imagined this date the doctor assigned to her to be a great blessing: a Thanksgiving baby! I actually envisioned having family around our home the entire holiday week — all there to welcome my baby. I could picture perfectly in my mind’s eye this vision of everyone together, everyone happy, with food and the joy of saying our blessings out loud, creating the best possible environment for a new baby.

Of course, a due date is not a promise. A baby’s due date is an educated guess, made by medical professionals with train-ing and experience. They do not pick a date out of thin air, or with the assistance of a crystal ball. But even medical professionals realize that babies come in their own time.

I ca…