ICYMI (which is probably impossible given the subject matter, but hey, I guess it happens), the Kensington Palace has confirmed that the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, is officially in labor. That's right: the freak-out has commenced, and it won't be long before the UK — and the world, really — has a new royal baby to fawn and obsess over. However, reports of Middleton being in the "early stages" of labor, as Kensington Palace stated on their Twitter, beg the question: When will Kate Middleton actually give birth to the new royal baby? After all, a woman's labor can last anywhere from eight hours to 18 hours, or even more — it's definitely not a stretch to start wondering when Middleton will finally deliver her second child with husband Prince William.
Luckily, we might actually have some semblance of an idea about when to expect the newest royal baby. As The Telegraph points out in their live blog of Middleton's labor, her admittance to the hospital this time around is fairly close to the same time she was admitted to the hospital when she was in labor in 2013 with her first child, Prince George — so it might not be insane to wonder if the timeline of this birth could follow Prince George's. Sure enough, they're right about the timing, too. For instance, this Us Weekly post from July 22, 2013 about Kate Middleton's first delivery was published at 3:05 AM EST (with reports stating Middleton had been admitted to the hospital a couple of hours prior), and confirmation of Middleton's labor this time around began breaking around 2:00 AM EST on Saturday, May 2.
Of course, this is in no way actual science, because the length of a woman's labor can differ with each pregnancy. However, considering Kensington Palace is keeping tight-lipped about the details surrounding Middleton's labor, all we can do is wonder at this point, so it's not a total waste of time to take a look at Prince George's delivery timeline while we wait for updates.
OK, so what went down during Prince George's birth? Basically, Middleton was in labor for a long time — so long that people anxiously awaiting the news began to get a little antsy, to say the least. However, after a lengthy wait, Clarence House confirmed that Middleton gave birth to Prince George at exactly 4:24 PM — which is 11:24 AM EST. (It's worth noting that the news wasn't confirmed by Clarence House until 3:35 PM EST.)
By this logic, the announcement that a royal baby has arrived may not surface until Saturday afternoon if Kensington Palace follows the same timeline as last time and takes at least a few hours to announce the happy news. And if Middleton's labor takes longer than the 10 and a half hours that Prince George's took, it could be even later. That said, the palace did tweet about Middleton going into labor right away, so it's possible they'll tweet about the birth as soon as it happens, too.
Is this timeline a totally accurate picture of what we can expect with royal baby #2? Likely, no — every pregnancy is different, and in reality, there is no indication of what to expect until it's actually happening. However, considering we're probably in for a wait of at least a few hours, it's not bad to at least wonder, and reminisce on the last time the world was anticipating a birth this intensely.
Congrats to Kate and Wills!
Images: Getty Images (2)
