I have to admit that all of the times I’ve thought about being pregnant I never wanted it to happen in the summer. I was going to be very very careful to only be pregnant during cool times of the year, because, you know things like that are oh so easy to plan. It doesn’t help that when I tell people that my due date is August 5th I get all sorts of comments and pitying glances and stories about how horribly HORRIBLE it is to be pregnant in the summer. Because that’s what a pregnant woman needs to hear.

But you know, despite the fact that the weather is warmer and I’m (much) warmer it hasn’t been that bad. In fact, I would even say that there are some perks to having a summer due date, none of which have to do with the pity that it seems to elicit.

1. Everyone else is too busy indulging their own ice cream cravings to notice that you just ate a half-gallon serving.

2. You can go the entire summer ignoring all of the silly magazines that advocate the get-your-best-beach-body-now fitness, diet, and torture regimes, the “lose all your belly fat in two weeks” guides, and the detailed “find the bathing suit that makes you look 20 pounds thinner and costs more than your electric bill and car payment combined” articles.

3. If your feet grow and swell in the last few months flip flops are cheap and forgiving.

4. There’s a new kind of popsicle on sale every week.

5. With more daylight and warmer weather there are a lot more times to exercises and a greater variety of activities to choose from. I pity the poor pregnant woman stuck walking on a treadmill mid-January.

6. Clothing costs. Seriously, have you compared the price of a maternity tank top to the cost of a maternity coat? Bring on the sun dresses and tee-shirts!

7. Fresh fruit abounds! Peaches and berries and melon, oh my!

8. What other season lends itself to relaxing in a pool and feeling weightless while soaking up some vitamin D? Combine that with friends and a good BBQ and you can’t go wrong.

9. It’s a little more normal to complain about the heat with everyone else mid-summer than mentioning it at a Christmas party when everyone else is in a turtleneck and you’re sweating in a maternity tank top.

10. There is zero bathing suit competition at the beach.

And just for your information, if I’m still pregnant around August 18th I will be taking back everything I say here. Just so you know.