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How to calculate your due date? Video
At the very beginning of pregnancy, the expectant mother wants to know when her child will be born. Determining the date of birth is possible in various ways, but none of them guarantees the birth of the baby in the calculated period.
How to calculate the due date
How to calculate the day of birth by the date of conception
The date of birth is easy enough to calculate by the date of conception of the child. The average duration of a woman’s menstrual cycle is 24 to 36 days. Conception is possible during the release of the egg into the uterus, ovulation occurs 14 days before the start of the next menstruation. If during ovulation the woman had unprotected sexual intercourse, then this date can be considered the day of conception of the future baby. To it, to calculate the time of delivery, you need to add 266 days, or 38 weeks.
Also, the day of maturation of the egg can be determined by the basal temperature graph, using ultrasound, ovulation tests, and blood tests for hormones.
Ovulation can be early or late, so if a woman has had sex several times in the middle of her cycle, it is difficult to establish a conception date. To calculate the due date, it is recommended to use other methods in such a situation.
How to find out the date of birth by the day of the last menstruation
Obstetricians-gynecologists calculate the date of birth based on the date of the start of the last menstrual period. You need to add seven days to this period, and subtract three months from the resulting date.
It is easy enough to calculate the date of birth of the baby by adding exactly 40 weeks to the day of the beginning of the last menstruation
Due to the difference in the length of the menstrual cycle and its irregularity in some women, the date of birth calculated in this way may not be accurate. Also, with the onset of pregnancy, some expectant mothers have their periods. The confusion arises due to the fact that implantation bleeding, which occurs 6-10 days after fertilization, is confused with menstruation. In the early stages, there may be bleeding associated with placental abruption and the threat of miscarriage; in case of an unplanned pregnancy, they can also be mistaken for menstruation.
How to calculate the due date of a future baby in other ways
You can determine a more accurate date of birth during an ultrasound scan for up to 12 weeks. By the size of the ovum or embryo, the doctor will be able to establish the approximate day of conception of the baby.
The date of delivery at a later date can be calculated from the first movements of the fetus. The mother can notice these movements between the 18th and 22nd weeks. Thinner women and repetitive mothers may feel movement earlier than the designated time, and with a large amount of fat in the abdomen, movement may not be noticed even after 22 weeks. Therefore, the period of labor calculated using this method may not be entirely accurate.
It is also possible to calculate the term of labor according to the size of the pregnant woman’s uterus.
By the 14th week, the uterus extends beyond the pubic articulation; in the later stages, the number of weeks of pregnancy and the date of birth can be determined by measuring the height of the fundus of the uterus. It should be approximately the same as the gestational age.
You can easily calculate the due date using one of the proposed indicators using a calculator, which can be found on any thematic site.
There are a lot of ways to establish the date of birth at home and with the help of doctors, but none of them can guarantee the birth of a child at the expected time. Normally, childbirth occurs at 38–42 weeks of pregnancy, and a woman may also start premature labor due to abnormalities in the development of the fetus and the health of the mother.
See also: face sagging.