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Months?
Lunar months? Weeks? Days? Trimesters?
How
far along am I anyway?
If
you are confused, you're not alone. While most people
talk about pregnancy being 9 months long (divided
into three trimesters), most health care providers
refer to a pregnancy as being 40 weeks long, starting
with your last known menstrual period. You might like
to know that this is also equal to 280 days, or 10
Lunar Months. Phew!
OK,
so when is my due date?
The
traditional way to calculate a due date is to add
9 months from the first day of the LNMP (last normal
menstrual period) and then add seven days.
For example:
1.Your LNMP was Feb 1
2.Add nine months, bringing you to November 1.
3.Add seven days, bringing you to your due date of
November 8
4.Thus, your due date becomes November 8!
Some
people prefer to do it this way:
1. Your LNMP was Feb 1
2. Add 1 day
3. On your calendar, count forward 40 weeks to determine
your due date. Making matters even worse, many women
do not have typical 28-day cycles. Practitioners may
adjust the EDD to reflect the shorter or longer cycle
length.
Remember, calculation of your due date is certainly
not precise (after all, women get pregnant in all
the months of the calendar, some of which have 28,
29, 30 and 31 days!). Also, all women do not have
a 'typical' 28 day cycle! This is why your due date
is usually referred to as your EDD or Estimated Due
Date! Use our Due
Date Calculator to estimate your due date.
As
if it wasn't already hard enough, some women may be
unable to recall their LNMP or may have very irregular
or infrequent cycles. When you visit your care provider,
try to give as close an estimate as possible. The
closer the estimate, the less likely both you and
your practitioner will worry or experience stress
if your baby does not come on the EDD. Only about
five percent of expecting moms deliver on their EDD
anyway!
An
experienced practitioner may also rely on physical
clues to determine the baby's due date. Most of these
clues are most evident within the first two months
of pregnancy. They include:
Examination
of uterine size
Identification of audible fetal heart tones by doppler
Ultrasound examination prior to 26 weeks from LNMP
This
all sounds fine, but if you calculate the due date
from LNMP, aren't you counting weeks before conception?
Although
it may be confusing at first, health care providers
begin counting the pregnancy from day one of the LNMP.
Yes, before you even conceived!
Months
Measured as nine months on the calendar -- starting
one week after your LNMP.
Trimesters
Three periods of three months each. Months 1 - 3 are
the first trimester, months 4 - 6 are the second trimester,
and months 7 - 9 are the third trimester.
Lunar
Months
Prenatal development is often measured in lunar months.
Each lunar month consists of 28 days, organized into
four weeks of seven days each. That means a pregnancy
is 10 lunar months long!
Weeks
40 weeks from the start of your LNMP. Gestation is
38 weeks from conception to birth.
Days
280 days from your LNMP. No matter what method is
used to determine EDD.
No
matter how you measure your pregnancy, even the best
estimated due date can be inaccurate. Your baby will
be born when he or she is ready!
Talk
to other Mom's-to-be!
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