How To Figure Out How Pregnant You Are

Whats In Store For Me Until My Due Date

Now that you know how far along you are, it might be helpful to know that pregnancies are often referred to in weeks and trimesters. Take a look at this pregnancy timeline for a breakdown of the weeks, months, and trimesters of pregnancy:

Here are some of the things you can expect in each trimester of pregnancy:

First trimester : You might notice some early signs of pregnancy, such as morning sickness and food cravings. Your provider will be able to confirm your pregnancy and set up your prenatal visits to make sure you and your baby stay healthy and safe.

Second trimester : This trimester is often referred to as the honeymoon phase of pregnancy. You may feel as if you have some extra energy to get things done, like baby-proofing your home, going to prenatal classes, and doing some gentle pregnancy exercise.

If you aren’t already, this may also be a good time to start doing Kegel exercises to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles. You can do these simple muscle clenches anywhere, and they’re beneficial not only during pregnancy and labor, but afterwards as well.

Third trimester : You’re nearly there! As you get closer to the birth of your baby, you’ll want to get prepared by making sure you have all the right baby gear. But remember to take the opportunity to slow down and rest whenever you can.

Review this article:

What Is Gestational Age Can It Be Different Than What The Calculator Shows

Gestational age is the term used to describe how far along the pregnancy is and how long baby has been gestating .

If you get an ultrasound you may notice a GA on the image with a number of weeks and days. This figure is based on how the baby is measuring, not on your LMP, which the due date calculator uses.

Its normal for these dates to not match up perfectly. If there are significant differences in the dates, your doctor may want to dig deeper to determine conception date. As a result, your midwife or doctor may change your due date based on the ultrasound gestational age.

Early ultrasounds are very accurate when dating a pregnancy and can be helpful if you dont know your LMP or your periods are irregular.

Note that you dont have to have an early ultrasound, especially if you are fairly certain of your cycle length and conception window. This study shows that early dating ultrasounds dont change the incidence of induction.

Estimation Of Gestational Age

According to American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the main methods to calculate gestational age are:

• Directly calculating the days since the beginning of the last menstrual period
• Early obstetric ultrasound, comparing the size of an embryo or fetus to that of a reference group of pregnancies of known gestational age , and using the mean gestational age of other embryos or fetuses of the same size. If the gestational age as calculated from an early ultrasound is contradictory to the one calculated directly from the last menstrual period, it is still the one from the early ultrasound that is used for the rest of the pregnancy.
• In case of in vitro fertilization, calculating days since oocyte retrieval or co-incubation and adding 14 days.
• Ultrasound measurement in the first trimester is generally considered to be the most accurate way to measure gestational age.

You May Like: Is It Safe To Take Tums While Pregnant

Using Last Menstrual Period

To figure out your due date, count 280 days, or 40 weeks, from the first day of your last period . The LMP method works best for women who have a consistent period with a regular cycle, says Delisa Skeete Henry, MD, an ob-gyn with Serene Health OB/GYN & Wellness in Fort Lauderdale, Floridaand by that she means a cycle ranging from 28 to 38 days. Your estimate can then be refined with what the doctor learns from your pelvic exam. Thats because a typical uterusone without fibroids or massestends to be certain sizes at certain points in pregnancy. The result is accurate plus or minus seven days, Ruiz says.

What Is Naegele’s Rule

For example, if the first day of your last period was August 11, 2019, you would:

• Add 1 year
• Add 7 days
• Move the date back 3 months
• Your due date would be May 18, 2020.

If your fertility app gives you a different date than the one calculated by your doctor, it most likely because it was based on the ovulation date and not the date of your last period. If you ovulated earlier or later than day 14 of your cycle, this would shift your due date accordingly.

Read Also: Can You Use Vagisil Wash While Pregnant

Role Of Fundal Height

Your midwife or doctor may measure your fundal height at your pregnancy well-checks. The fundal height is the measurement in centimeters from your pubic bone to the top of your uterus. It should grow at a predictable rate as your pregnancy continues.

After 20 weeks, your fundal height in centimeters will typically be the same as the number of weeks you are pregnant. In other words, at 21 weeks pregnant, your fundal height should be around 21 centimeters .

Sometimes, the fundal height won’t match perfectly. Slight variations are normal, but if you are measuring much smaller or larger than expected, your primary care provider may want to investigate with another ultrasound.

While useful, the fundal height is not an accurate measurement of gestational age and would not affect the estimated due date in any way.

Calculating Due Date: How To Tell How Far Along You Are

The answer to the question how far along am I? isnt just to satisfy a mom-to-bes curiosity. While getting an accurate due date is tough, its still crucial for your doctor to provide an educated guess. Thats because its still one of the single most important pieces your pregnancy, says G. Thomas Ruiz, MD, ob-gyn lead at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California.

A large part of your prenatal care depends on that due date, he explains. Knowing how far along you are can help you and your healthcare team track fetal development, mark pregnancy milestones and make decisions about prenatal testing. Having an idea of how long baby has been developing in your belly gives your doctor insight into, for instance, whether labor should be stopped because its premature or whether it should be induced because youre well past your due date, Ruiz says. With this in mind, here are a few at-home and in-office ways to learn how far along you are and what your official due date is.

Recommended Reading: Safe Days After Period Calculator

What If My Periods Are Irregular

The due date calculation estimate works best when you have regular cycles, and you get your periods every 28 days. Because in case your periods are irregular, you will not know your LMP and ovulation date cannot be ascertained, arriving on your due date can b difficult. In such a scenario, your first ultrasound scan or dating scan will give you a viable due date. The sonographer will measure your baby from crown to length, essentially meaning from your babys head to bottom. This measurement is a good accurate idea of how far along your pregnancy is.

Calculate Using A Dating Ultrasound

A dating ultrasound, which measures the length of the fetus from crown to rump, is an accurate way to estimate your due date or how far along you are if completed within the first trimester . Most women have a pretty good idea of when their last period was, within a day or two, says Scurfield. If a woman has no idea, youll want to try to get her as early as you can. Once you get past 13 weeks, the variability of the growth is such that an ultrasound can be off by a week or so.

Don’t Miss: Can I Use Vagisil Wash While Pregnant

I Had Sex Two Weeks Ago But My Doctor Says That Im Four Weeks Pregnant How

88 things nobody tells you about being pregnantIf you have a standard 28-day period, you will likely ovulate around day 14 and are most fertile around days 12, 13 and 14when you had sex to conceive. It takes about nine days after ovulation for implantation to occur, which brings you to around day 23. It takes a few days for your pregnancy hormone levels to be detectable by a pregnancy test, bringing you to around day 28. How far along you are in your pregnancy isnt calculated from conception or implantation but from the first day of your last normal period. If you had your period four weeks ago, then ovulated and had sex two weeks ago to become pregnant, youre currently four weeks pregnant.

What Are The Different Ways To Estimate The Due Date Of A Pregnancy

The following ways help calculate how many weeks pregnant a woman is and the estimated due date.

Calculating by using the date of the last menstrual period

This is one of the most common, simple and most accurate ways to figure out how many weeks pregnant a woman is and estimate the approximate due date. The way to calculate the due date is to take the first date of the last normal period and add 280 days , which is the typical length of a normal pregnancy. The period that is to be tracked should be typical of a womans menstrual cycle. This means it should be the same number of days as a usual period, the same amount of bleeding and the same amount of discomfort. Thats because sometimes a woman may bleed after shes pregnant, but that bleeding is different from a normal period.

• The formula for calculating how many weeks pregnant a woman is the number of days since the first day of her last menstrual period divided by seven. So, the number of days since the start of LMP divided by seven equals the number of weeks pregnant
• The formula to calculate how many months pregnant a woman is the number of days since the first day of a womans last menstrual period divided by 30. This means the number of days since the start of LMP divided by 30 equals the number of months pregnant.

Calculating using a dating ultrasound

Calculating using a pregnancy test with a weeks indicator

Calculating based on fetal milestones

Also Check: Is It Safe To Use Vagisil During Pregnancy

How Does This Due Date Calculator Work

Because you may not know exactly when you ovulated or conceived, a due date calculator will typically calculate your estimated due date based on your last menstrual period .

Our online due date calculator uses a simple method to calculate your due date.

• Your due date is estimated to be 40 weeks after the first day of your LMP
• Your cycle is assumed to be 28 days long, with ovulation occurring at day 14
• Therefore the calculator adds 280 days to your LMP

This method of due date calculation is known as Naegeles rule .

Youre Regularly Becoming Nauseous

We arenât talking about that nasty feeling you get after a greasy meal but chronic bloating and/or a recurring upset stomach. Nausea during pregnancy, often referred to as âmorning sickness,â usually starts around a month after you become pregnant. You may also develop intense desires for particular kinds of foods or suddenly become averse to foods youâve historically enjoyed. This nausea may or may not involve vomiting, so itâs important to note both kinds. If youâve been sick to your stomach for several days or nights and you arenât sick, pregnancy could be the reason.

Don’t Miss: Can You Donate Plasma When Pregnant

Average Length Of Pregnancy

While 40 weeks is the average, its not unusual to deliver your baby earlier or later. In the past, 37 weeks was considered to be a full-term pregnancy. This definition carried implications on as two when it would be safe to induce labor or schedule a cesarean section.

However, we now know that being born at 37 weeks can increase health risks. Its not nearly as risky as being born before 37 weeks, but its not ideal either.

In response, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has created new definitions to describe the timing of labor:

Pregnancy Weeks Vs Months

Planning for a nine-month pregnancy can be confusing if you look at the total number of weeks in the average pregnancy. When you break down the numbers, it would seem that pregnancy lasts 10 months, not nine.

There are about forty weeks in a full-term pregnancy. If you assume that a month is exactly four weeks long, that makes 10 months of pregnancy. The problem with this calculation is that it assumes that each month lasts 28 days. But most of our calendar months last 30 or 31 days.

To confuse matters even more, there is also the issue of when you actually became pregnant. While an exact date may not matter to everyone, you can estimate the date based on testing. By the time you have a positive pregnancy test, you are usually about four weeks pregnant.

The truth is that a full-term pregnancy lasts between nine and 10 months. To establish clarity about your stage of pregnancy and estimated due date, your practitioner will track your pregnancy in weeks rather than months.

You May Like: Can You Donate Plasma While Pregnant

Pregnancy By Week Calculator

Pregnancy period usually lasts from 37 to 42 weeks from the first day of your last menstrual period. The number of weeks depends on the date of last menstrual period. This online calculator is used to find how many weeks you are pregnant. Additionally you can also find your due date and the number of weeks until your due date.

Check out exactly how many weeks you are pregnant with this online calculator.

Does Pregnancy Last 10 Months

Yes … No …..

The common idea of 10 months of pregnancy came about because obstetricians traditionally counted pregnancy in months that were exactly 4 weeks long. Using these 4-week months, an average 40 week pregnancy lasts 10 months.

Unfortunately, this does not line up well with the calendar months we use in everyday life, most of which are approximately 4 and a half weeks long. When measuring pregnancy by calendar months, an average pregnancy lasts about nine months plus one week .

Over the course of a typical pregnancy there is therefore a discrepancy of approximately one month between the two systems, both of which are counting “months.”

The correct way of measuring pregnancy avoids this confusion since the word “month” is not used at all. Any official reference to pregnancy dates is always in weeks or trimesters.

Note: Our months are calendar months but in the pregnancy world a month may be any of the following:

• 4 weeks
• 5 weeks
• A lunar month

Any reference to how many months pregnant you are contains this uncertainty unless the type of month is specified.

You May Like: Pregnant Take Tums

How To Find Out If You Are Pregnant In 12 Steps

For most women, missing a period is the most accurate sign of pregnancy, while others look for signs of pregnancy before a positive pregnancy test. Here are 12 things to consider when trying to conceive :

1. Calculate your period due date: The date your period is due is very important to find out if you are pregnant. Home pregnancy tests will not work unless you have missed your period. The due date of your period can be calculated by adding 28 days to the first day of your last period. If you have missed your period, it is best to wait a short amount of time before testing just to ensure the most accurate result.

How To Calculate Your Due Date If You Dont Remember When Your Last Period Was

The second you see a positive pregnancy test result, it’s only natural to start doing the math to figure out the delivery date. After all, it’s handy to know how much time is left before the baby’s arrival. But how can you calculate your due date if you don’t remember when your last period occurred? There are some workarounds, thankfully.

Why is this missed period so important, anyway? For the most part, it makes the whole calculation process much easier. Because most pregnancies last for approximately 40 weeks, the easiest way to estimate the due date is to figure out the last menstrual period and add 40 weeks to that, as noted in What to Expect. It’s simple enough, but not everyone keeps detailed records of menstruation, and some people have irregular periods that are notoriously difficult to track.

There are plenty of other ways to guess a due date, however. âThe best way to calculate an estimated due date when you donât know the date of the last menstrual period is by ultrasound,â as doula Christine Strain, CD , tells Romper. âEarly ultrasounds are one of the most accurate ways to date a pregnancy .â

Another way is to guess the babyâs conception date. âIf the person knows the date of the sex that led to conception that would be another way to estimate it, but it could be off by several days as sperm can live for several days in the Fallopian tubes,â says Strain. Although not as exact as ultrasounds, itâs still a helpful tool to have in mind.

Experts:

Read Also: Lasik While Pregnant