“Well, when already?” – there are few pregnant women who have never heard this question in their life. He’s so indescribably infuriating! It is impossible to calculate the exact date of birth – although the doctors set approximate dates, the key word is approximate. Whether you will walk exactly 40 weeks, 38, 41 – it all depends even on … growth.
American scientists have identified this pattern by examining nearly 3,5 thousand women in Finland, Germany and Norway. It turned out that mothers shorter than 165 centimeters in height carried children less than their lanky “colleagues”. Not much, only 4 – 5 days, but still. In addition, short women have a greater risk of giving birth prematurely.
“We didn’t expect a woman’s height to directly affect her gestational period,” said Dr. Joe Lee Simpson, a physician researching the causes of premature birth.
And that is not all. The size of the fetus may depend on the woman’s height. The smaller it is, the smaller the child. However, this is quite logical, because such is heredity.
Other factors can affect the date of birth – not just height, of course. Indeed, at exactly 40 weeks, only 4 percent of women give birth. For example, moms whose progesterone levels rise late will have a shorter pregnancy. The age of the expectant mother also matters. Scientists have found that every year the estimated duration of labor increases by one day – approximately. Therefore, their children are born larger, because there is more time for growth.
In general, everything is very confusing. The body of a woman, it turns out, is much more complex than it is commonly believed.