Birth Calendar: Calculate EDD

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Children are happiness and the meaning of life. Without exception, all mothers remember the day on which they learned about their interesting situation. An excess of feelings, successive experiences and joys overwhelm the expectant mother, but at the same moment many questions arise. When to go to the doctor, how to lead a new lifestyle, and, of course, on what date and month will the future birth occur?

As for the doctor, you should go to him immediately to accurately establish pregnancy, exclude any pathologies and register, he will also be able to give many useful recommendations regarding your new condition, determine the approximate date of delivery and answer all your concerns you questions.

How to determine the duration of pregnancy?

Using the pregnancy calendar, you can calculate the date of birth yourself. You need to take some simple steps: subtract 3 months from the first day of your last period and add 7 days, and you will get an approximate number.

For example: (date of the first day of the last menstruation) November 7 - 3 months + 7days=August 14 (estimated due date).

All these calculations are valid if the pregnant woman had a regular 28-day cycle, otherwise only a doctor can determine the date of birth, by performing ultrasound and other related methods.

Calculate the date of ovulation

The average pregnancy lasts 40 weeks, but delivery can occur at any time from 38 weeks to 42 weeks. In fact, using a calendar, it is impossible to calculate the dates of birth exactly up to one day, everything is purely individual. The obstetric gestational age implies the beginning of the calculation from the first day of menstruation, and yet it differs slightly from the real age of the fetus. To calculate the date of ovulation, you need to add 14 days to the number of the first day of the cycle (menstruation), and you will understand when the child was approximately conceived.

Possible difficulties and solutions

The average duration of a natural pregnancy can vary, this factor has been tried to be associated with race and the difference in the nutrition of pregnant women, but the data obtained did not give any accurate results in this regard. In any case, you should keep your birth calendar, the number of which is quite simple to calculate, this will allow you to prepare mentally and financially for the birth of the baby.

Using the birth calendar, not every woman can calculate the exact date, and there are a number of reasons for this:

• Irregular menstrual cycle.
• Various length of the menstrual cycle for different women (from 21 to 42 days).
• A woman simply can't remember the exact start date of her last period.

To calculate the gestational age, doctors use the concept of "amenorrhea week", so the report is kept starting from the first day of the cycle, that is, the last menstruation. However, sometimes the calculation of the date can be difficult. In the case of a non-permanent cycle, ovulation can occur at a completely unexpected time, in which case the expected date of birth can be determined using echography in the period from the 6th to the 14th week of delay. Determining the age of the fetus is undoubtedly important, as it gives doctors the opportunity to assess the development of the baby and the state of his he alth.

When exactly is the due date, and is it always just-in-time?

Even if the day of birth was determined by ultrasound, this does not give a full guarantee that the baby will be born on that date. Only a small percentage of calculations are confirmed in practice, in most cases, childbirth occurs +/- several days and even weeks around the appointed time. This is explained by the fact that the fetus is considered ripe from 38 weeks, and it can be born at any time, up to 42 weeks.

Establishing the estimated date of delivery using ultrasound

Ultrasound examination allows the most accurate determination of the age of the fetus and EDD (estimated date of birth).

In the first trimester, the gestational age is determined based on measurements of the diameter of the ovum or when determining the heartbeat of the fetus. Baby's first heartbeatsobserved already at 5-6 weeks of gestation.

During the third trimester, the doctor calculates the gestational age based on the largest head circumference, fetal head width and femur length.

In most cases, it is easiest to use the conception and birth calendar, which is not difficult to calculate the due date, but in 20% of cases, the approximate date of birth determined using ultrasound and the calendar is very different. In the event that the difference in dates is no more than 10 days, doctors are based on calculations from the first day of a woman's menstruation. If the difference is more than 10 days, the ultrasound results are taken as the basis.

Determining the gestational age during a gynecological examination

If it is difficult to find out the necessary information using the pregnancy and childbirth calendar, the doctor can also calculate the term using an examination on a gynecological chair, by probing the size of the uterus and abdomen of the pregnant woman. This method is rather inaccurate, since, depending on the physiology of a woman, it is quite difficult to accurately measure the height of the fundus of the uterus, so this method is rarely used by specialists, and ultrasound is most preferred.

Term of pregnancy and fetal movement

Using the birth calendar, you can also calculate the date of birth based on the first noticed movements of the baby. Using these two methods together, you can achieve the most accurate calculations. However, it is impossible to focus only on perturbations, since this givesonly approximate information about the date of birth. Studies have shown that for the first time pregnant women notice movements at 19-21 weeks, while mothers with experience feel the movements of the child 1-2 weeks earlier.

Birth Calendar: Calculate gestational age from intercourse

The date of sexual intercourse after which conception is likely to occur can be used to calculate the gestational age only if the woman is sure that conception occurred at that particular moment and at no other time, for example, if she had intimate relationships only once in a few months. In this case, 40 weeks should be added to the date of the last sex, then it will be possible to find out the estimated day the unborn child will be born.

Judging by the above methods, the most convenient and fastest way to find out the gestational age is a birth calendar, with which any woman can calculate the date of birth and, accordingly, prepare for the birth of a long-awaited baby.