The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I'm not talking about Christmas, although Christmas is a wonderful time of the year.  I am talking about the best time of year to have a baby.

Before we get into a serious discussion on this topic, we have to acknowledge that you can't actually control your baby's birthday.  Even with a scheduled C-section, you're still limited to a window of time, meaning that your OB won't let you have a C-section on July 4th if your due date isn't until October 15th.  Aside from your lack of control over the delivery, there's also your lack of control as to when you ovulate and when fertilization occurs.  Basically, we're about to have a pointless conversation.

Now that that's out of the way, let's dive in.  If you were able to choose your baby's birthday, you may want to consider some of the following:

• Fall Babies are Wicked Smart - Respected studies out of the UK show that babies born in September, October and November are the highest achievers, both academically and socially.  Read more here.
• Summers Off - Teachers and students often want/need to have a summer baby and preferably an early June baby.
• Time to Lose the Baby Weight - Babies born in the fall or winter give you a good chunk of time to lose the baby weight before it's bathing suit season.
• Maternity Clothes Wardrobe - If you're at your most pregnant during winter months in a cold part of the world, your maternity clothes investment can be significant.  You need coats and sweaters and pants.  And if your feet widen you need a couple pairs of shoes or boots.  If you're at your most pregnant in the summer, all you'll need are some cheap cotton dresses and flip flops.
• Holy Hot Flash - While summer maternity clothes are the cheapest and easiest, there are some obvious disadvantages to being extremely pregnant in extreme heat.  Public transportation and non-air conditioned spaces are hell.
• Winter Holidays With a Newborn - Having a baby in the fall means his/her first holiday celebration is right around the corner.  This may mean traveling with your newborn.  This may mean hosting a bunch of family and friends while caring for your newborn.  This may mean exposing your newborn to all sorts of winter germ thanks to the masses of family and friends that you visit or host.  
• Your Other Child(ren)'s Birthday - Having back to back birthday parties takes skill, money and patience.  Spreading out the fun tends to be more manageable.

What other seasonal factors affected you and your newborn?  What was the best time of year to be pregnant, to deliver and for your baby to be born?