As soon as you find out that you are pregnant, you are filled with incredible joy. At first, you walk around and just give everyone your happiness. Over time, when the period gets a little longer and the first euphoria wears off, you can’t wait to find out when your baby will be born. You want to plan your birth by at least knowing approximately when the day will come so you can be prepared for anything. Today we will tell you how to calculate your due date.
Pregnancy is always a joy
Due date calculator
Calculation of due date
How to calculate the due date based on the date of conception?
To be completely honest, everyone wants to know their due date. There are two ways:
- The first and most the right option, at least that’s what doctors say, the calculation is based on conception.
Everything is very simple here: you need to approximately remember when sexual intercourse occurred, after which pregnancy occurred, and add 9 months to this day. The main thing is to calculate everything correctly. If you cannot remember such details, there is another way, which is also associated with the day of conception. - Medical calculation.
Every woman knows approximately when she should start having critical days. Based on this information, you can determine how long each cycle lasts. That is, you should know how many days menstruation lasts. After this, you can approximately find out on what day ovulation occurs. IN in this case Calculating your due date based on ovulation is very simple. It is believed that it occurs in the middle of the cycle, on days 13-15. Based on these data, the date of birth can be determined.
How else can you calculate your due date?
There is another method that is popular with doctors. At this method calculating your due date is not as difficult as many people think. Initially, you need to decide what kind of cycle you have. After this, you should remember the last time you had your period. The calculation should be based on when your last period was. In medicine, the first day of menstruation will already be considered as the possible birthday of your child. The estimated date will be calculated from weeks, which are also called medical weeks of pregnancy. What is the difference?
Everything is very simple. If in ordinary life We are used to the fact that pregnancy lasts exactly 9 months, that is, approximately 36 weeks, but according to medical standards this period is 4 weeks longer. In simple terms, the pregnancy will last 40 weeks. The expected date of birth is calculated from the critical days plus 40 weeks. Calculating all this is quite simple. You shouldn't get confused.
The estimated date of birth determined in this way is considered not entirely reliable, and doctors do not rely on it.
You just need to know your cycle and know when the last day of your period is. The preliminary date of birth is calculated very easily. There is a special calculator that will help make the calculation quick. Of course, it is impossible to calculate the sex of a child using this method.
There is also a table for determining the due date. You can also find it on the Internet. In addition to such tables, you can usually find tables for determining the sex of the child. They are usually also based on personal data (menstruation, ovulation). A special calculator will help you quickly calculate your cycle, and you will find out approximately when your baby will be born.
The easiest way to figure out when your baby is due is to go for a routine ultrasound. It is believed that this is the most reliable method. There, the calculation takes place based on the stage of fetal development.
All pregnant women know modern methods calculate the due date. The approximate date of birth of the child can be found out (calculated) and checked in advance.
For every expectant mother during pregnancy, the most important thing is not her birthday, but the date of birth, which today can be calculated with a small error.
There are several different ways, methods, and techniques for finding out your due date. They are based on well-known physiological characteristics the course of pregnancy. It is known, in particular, that on average normal pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks, counting from the beginning of the last menstrual period. Of course, it is impossible to calculate the date of birth absolutely accurately. The timing of pregnancy is different for all women. But all pregnant women know how to correctly calculate the expected date of birth. The error most often amounts to several days.
Methods and methods of calculation
How to calculate the due date? You can, for example, determine the date of birth by the date of conception, if there is reason to more or less accurately assume on what day it occurred. From the date of conception, accordingly, simply count the duration of pregnancy.
What is PDR, what is an “online calculator”?
PDA – estimated date of birth. In order to determine it, you can, among other things, use the so-called “calculators”, which are now available online. Each such service on the Internet has instructions on how to determine the gestational age and how to calculate the date of birth (DOD) based on the last menstruation. This can be done in literally a few seconds.
Definition of PDR
You can calculate the expected date of birth not only using a calculator on the Internet, but also yourself. There are several ways. All of them have an error, but with proper calculation, you can calculate the estimated date of birth with an accuracy of up to a week.
Does the date of birth depend on the characteristics of the menstrual cycle?
The date of birth can be determined by the last menstrual period. Calculating labor by menstruation (determining the due date by the date of conception) is quite simple.
To calculate the gestational age and use it to determine the date of birth, you need to remember the start day last menstruation. This date is taken as the basis. It is necessary to count exactly 3 months ago from the date, add another 7 days to the resulting day. This will be the date when, most likely, there will be a beginning of a new life. If, for example, the last menstruation began on October 24, then you need to count back 3 months - you get July 24, plus 7 days - you get July 31. This is precisely the due date, calculated based on the last menstruation.
The duration of a woman's menstrual cycle (MC) is important in determining PDR. If the MC exceeds the usual 4 weeks, then the pregnancy lasts more than 40 weeks, and vice versa. But the error in this case is no more than 5 days.
Methods for determining PDR by ovulation
Due date calculation can be done different ways. You can determine the date of birth not only by the last menstruation. It’s easier to create a special pregnancy calendar by week. But to do this you need to know when fertilization occurred. How to find out the date of conception?
First you need to remember how the fertilization process occurs. After menstruation, vesicles form in the ovary, in one of which a female cell appears. She breaks through the follicle and is released. Its path lies in the direction of the uterus. In this sexual tract, under favorable circumstances, a sperm fertilizes an egg. This is precisely the favorable moment that you need to know in order to calculate the time of birth based on the day of conception. The fertilized egg continues to move towards the uterus, and its journey can only end 7 days after meeting the sperm. After this, changes appear in the structure of the mammary glands, and the first signs of pregnancy appear.
Ovulation calendar calculation
If a woman does not know the exact day of ovulation, it can be determined based on her cycle readings. To calculate the due date based on ovulation, you need to take into account several parameters:
- cycle duration over the past few months;
- systematic;
- duration and characteristics of menstruation.
Normally, menstrual cycles should be equal in duration, without significant differences in start and end times, and in the nature of their course. If all of the above parameters are normal, then calculating the date of conception and drawing up a labor schedule will not be difficult. The date of birth calculated based on the last menstruation will be more or less accurate.
Ovulation calculator for irregular cycles
If the MC is not regular, then identifying ovulation (and, accordingly, calculating the due date based on the date of conception) will be more difficult, but still possible. When calculating based on the date of the last menstruation, the size of the error increases, since the result depends on the length of the cycle, which is always different. But in this case it is also possible to calculate the date of birth using menstruation (the menstrual cycle).
Pregnancy and child development calendar by week
After completing the necessary calculations, the woman receives a specific date when childbirth can occur. There are many services that not only answer the question “how to calculate the due date,” but also help create a child development calendar. Such a pregnancy calendar by week, in fact, allows a woman to draw up a specific plan of action for the entire period of pregnancy.
Naegele's formula
Calculation of the due date is done using the Naegele formula. To do this, a woman needs to know the exact day when the last menstruation before pregnancy began. Many women don't remember this day. Therefore, gynecologists recommend marking the first day of menstruation on the calendar to make it easier to calculate the date of birth based on conception, especially if it was accidental.
In what week can childbirth occur?
If you correctly calculate the approximate date of birth, you can make a mistake in specific days, but, as a rule, you can more or less accurately determine the week when the birth will occur. The due date “plus or minus a week” is calculated with higher accuracy.
Determination of PDR using ultrasound
Determining the date of birth using ultrasound is now considered a reliable method. If its results coincide with the date of birth calculated from the last monthly period, then the probability of such a forecast will be above 90%.
When is the best time to perform an ultrasound?
To calculate the due date using ultrasound, you need to contact the clinic. It must be remembered that the gestational age at which the examination is carried out is taken into account. If it is carried out at 11-14 weeks, then the error in determining the due date will be 1-3 days. In the first trimester of development, embryos hardly differ in size. In the second trimester, the weight and size of the fetus already have more significant differences, and in the third they become even more pronounced. Therefore, it becomes easier to find out the due date.
The importance of accurately calculating gestational age
Gestation is the actual pregnancy. The differences between these two concepts are that the gestation period is calculated in the number full weeks the entire period while a woman is bearing a child. The beginning of gestation is counted from the calendar date of the beginning of the last menstrual cycle. Those. the concept of gestation makes it possible to more accurately calculate the approximate due date. The baby will most likely be born at the time calculated by the woman based on the gestational age.
“First stir” method
You can calculate your due date based on the baby's first movement during pregnancy. If you feel the baby moving, how to calculate the expected due date? During their first pregnancy, women feel fetal movement at the 20th week of pregnancy (i.e. exactly halfway through the term). In the second and subsequent pregnancies, the first movement may occur at 18 weeks. Accordingly, to calculate when the baby will be born, you need to add 22 weeks. But it must be borne in mind that this method today is considered not the most reliable. But gynecologists, when doing weight measurements and other procedures, ask the woman the day the baby first moved.
Signs of imminent labor
In the last weeks before giving birth, some signs begin to appear that may indicate that labor is approaching. At this time, it is easier to calculate the day of birth, and the woman should be prepared for the fact that this will begin soon. Using a calculator, you can calculate approximately how many days are left before giving birth. And then, based on the date of birth, calculate the gestational age.
Signs:
- The stomach goes down.
- The appetite is constantly changing, the woman is losing weight. There is an upset stomach, the woman goes to the toilet very often.
- A woman's mood swings are becoming more severe and frequent. During this period, the expectant mother constantly wants to retire.
- Shortness of breath and heartburn disappear. During most of her pregnancy, a woman feels that the fetus continues to press on her internal organs mother. And before childbirth it disappears.
- The baby in the stomach behaves much calmer and quieter.
- A nagging pain appears below, in the pubic bone.
- Mucous discharge from the vagina appears.
Enter the first day of your last menstrual period
Day
Month
Year
Day
Month
June 2018
Alleged
Conception date
days before giving birth
September 2018
Alleged
date of birth
June 2018
Alleged
Conception date
days before giving birth
September 2018
Alleged
date of birth
Calculation of due date by date of conception
On average, gestation (“interesting position”) in women lasts two hundred and eighty days from the moment of ovulation.
280 days is ten obstetric months. Or forty obstetric weeks. Plus the first two obstetric weeks before ovulation from the first day of the last menstruation. In this case, ovulation occurs on the fourteenth day of a woman’s menstrual cycle. That is, knowing the date of the first day of the last menstruation, add fourteen days to it, and then add another two hundred and eighty days, and you will get the estimated date of birth (ED). Sperm can live up to three days. Therefore, as a starting point, when we try to determine the date of birth from the date of conception, we do not take the day of conception, or sexual intercourse, on which conception most likely occurred. The starting point is the day of ovulation.
Determine the date of birth based on the last menstrual period
Naegele's formula - subtract 3 months from the first day of the last menstruation and add 7 days.
Much depends on what the expectant mother’s menstrual period is. If it is less than twenty-five days, the baby may be born a week or two earlier than expected. If the expectant mother's menstrual cycle is more than thirty days, the birth may be delayed by a week or two. Such a delay will not be considered a delay. Two hundred and eighty days is just the average length of pregnancy. However, each female body is individual.
Calculate using ultrasound
There is another way to find out your due date. This can be done using ultrasound examination of the fetus. This method is the most accurate and reliable relative to calculating the date of birth using the previous two methods. If an ultrasound examination is performed at the very end of the first trimester, the date of birth can be determined with an error of no more than three days. During the second and third trimester of pregnancy, this method will not give such an accurate result.
After the baby's first movement
- From the day of ovulation;
- From the first day of the last menstruation;
- Using ultrasound examination of the fetus.
Now we will talk about another method. Let's determine the PPD by the first movement of the intrauterine child. Every expectant mother awaits the birth of her baby with such trepidation and impatience. Therefore, it is very important for a pregnant woman to try to accurately calculate the expected date of birth. How can I do this, I know the date of the baby’s first movement?
This means that after the first movement during the first pregnancy, approximately twenty weeks, or five obstetric months, remain until delivery. By marking these twenty weeks on the calendar, you will receive your estimated due date. To determine the date of the long-awaited meeting with the baby in the second or subsequent pregnancies, you need to add twenty-two weeks to the date of the first movement, because in this case, gynecologists usually note the first movement at the eighteenth week.
However, you must understand that calculation by this method gives an approximate due date. The error may be more than two weeks.
After obstetric examination
Up to the twelfth obstetric week During pregnancy, every expectant mother needs to register with her local gynecologist at the antenatal clinic. Starting from the twentieth obstetric week of the “interesting position”, when visiting your gynecologist, the doctor measures the size of the abdomen and also measures the height of the uterine fundus. This data is regularly entered into the exchange card. Based on these dynamic indicators, the doctor can calculate the expected date of birth of your Miracle. It is worth noting that this will be an approximate time. You can more accurately calculate your due date using our due date calculator. This is for real effective method with a minimum of deviations and errors in calculations.
After examination by a gynecologist
A gynecologist during regular examinations of a pregnant woman evaluates the dynamics of uterine growth. This organ increases in size along with the fetus. Based on systematic examinations of the size of the uterus, an experienced and qualified gynecologist can predict the expected date of birth. In this method, it is very important to monitor the health of a pregnant woman in the first trimester of pregnancy. Such a forecast will be effective when monitoring a pregnant woman in the early stages. Based on the results of examination in the second and third trimester, the prognosis of PDR will have a large error.
How accurate are the timing results?
The reality is that the duration of bearing a child is individual for each woman.
- Is this your first pregnancy?
- What is the length of this woman's menstrual cycle?
- Singleton or multiple pregnancy;
- Genetic characteristics and much, much more.
If a woman gives birth not at the fortieth week, but at the thirty-eighth week, this will also be considered the norm.
And even if mommy gives birth at the forty-second or forty-third week of pregnancy, this will also be the norm. Although many of the above methods for predicting the expected date of birth in their formula have the fact that the average pregnancy lasts two hundred and eighty days, that is, forty weeks.
TO premature birth may result from the characteristics of the course of pregnancy and the health characteristics of this particular expectant mother.
However, pregnant women who have calculated the expected date of birth are better able to organize their time. interesting situation" The documents and bag for the maternity hospital are ready on time. All examinations were completed on time. The children's room is ready and renovated. Completed courses for young mothers. Completely ready for breastfeeding.
Therefore it is very useful thing for both mother and baby!
Are deviations from the deadline normal?
Are deviations from the estimated due date normal? Of course they are normal. Only seventeen percent of women give birth at the predicted PDA, while the remaining eighty-three percent give birth either before or after the PPD.
You cannot expect maximum accuracy in calculating the date of delivery. This is just a rough guide. The lighthouse towards which the frigate is heading for a happy pregnancy and joyful motherhood. Not a single specialist, no matter how outstanding his qualifications, is able to take into account dozens of factors of the specific organisms of a woman and an intrauterine baby.
Thus, during a normal pregnancy, birth occurs between the thirty-eighth and forty-second weeks. In this case, the birth of the baby will be normal (neither premature nor late).
Remember that when carrying a baby, it is very important for a woman to maintain a positive psycho-emotional mood and drive away unreasonable fears and worries. Our due date calculator will help you maintain a positive attitude - very soon you will be a mother! Health to you and your baby!
Many women, especially those expecting their first child, do not understand why the doctor named this or that due date, although according to their calculations it turned out that the baby should be born earlier. There is no need to worry, the doctor was not mistaken, and neither were you. How can this be? The fact is that there is a true pregnancy period and an obstetric one; they differ from each other by two weeks.
For any pregnancy, the estimated delivery date is always calculated. There are several methods for calculating the approximate due date.
- Embryonic. This is a real term, i.e. This is how long a normal pregnancy lasts. From the date of conception to birth, 266 days usually pass, or, in terms of weeks, 38 weeks.
- Obstetric. This period is usually recorded in the patient's card. The doctor cannot know the date of conception of the child. Medicine is an exact science; it cannot rely on a woman’s assumptions. Therefore, obstetricians-gynecologists use their own method. The countdown is not from conception, but from 1 day of menstruation before pregnancy. This period differs from the true one; its duration is 280 days (forty weeks).
Calculation by day of menstruation
The most common method that helps to quickly calculate the expected date of birth is based on the last menstrual period.
- Think back to the day your last period before pregnancy began. Mark this day on your calendar.
- Now subtract three months (working backwards through the calendar).
- Add seven days to the resulting date.
Let's say the last time your period began was on July 15th. We count down three months in reverse order - it turns out to be April 15. We add 7 days to this date. The baby's birth date is April 22.
You can quite accurately calculate the due date based on the date of your period if a woman regular cycle and it lasts from 26 to 28 days. If it is slightly longer, for example 35 days, the result that was obtained will be incorrect. In this case, conception should occur on the 21st day of the cycle, and not on the 14th, as in many women, i.e. labor may begin 7 days later. If the cycle is short, less than 24 days, then the due date also moves forward by about 7 days, they should begin earlier.
Calculation using a calendar
If you find it difficult to make these calculations or you doubt that everything is correct, use the birth calendar to calculate this day based on the date of your last menstrual period. The top line is the time of the onset of menstruation, below it is the expected date of birth.
Or you can use online calculators, which are available on many websites. It is enough to enter the date of the beginning of the last menstruation in a special window, after which the system will give the desired answer. Very popular now online calendars pregnancy, they will not only help calculate the due date, but will also tell you what is happening in the woman’s body. This way, the expectant mother will be able to monitor the development of her baby and find out what changes have already occurred. If you wish, you can even order your own individual calendar, which will show how the child grows in time.
Calculation by date of conception
How to correctly calculate the due date if your periods are irregular? There is another way that will help calculate the due date based on the date of conception. You need to remember on what day the child was conceived. Then add 266 days to this figure. This is how many days a woman usually carries a baby. You can also calculate the due date by weeks of pregnancy, because Sometimes it can be difficult to count the days. On average, pregnancy lasts 38 weeks after conception. Using the calendar, it is easy to calculate the due date based on the known date of conception.
Are these methods reliable?
If you calculate the due date based on your last period, will the baby be born on that day? No, according to statistics, only 5% of children are born on the “calculation day”, this is approximate date, babies are born within a week (plus or minus) of a given day (85%), and about 10% of children may be another week late.
Also, if you correctly calculate the due date based on the day of conception, there may be errors. Not everyone can name the date of conception of a child, because... this date sometimes does not coincide with the day it was intimacy. The sperm can remain in the body and fertilize a woman for 4-5 days after intimacy, i.e. a woman could have sex on one day and conceive a child later. But, even if the calculation was correct, childbirth may be ahead of schedule due to various diseases, due to severe stress, etc.
Additional ways to determine pregnancy
- A trip to the gynecologist. As soon as the expectant mother comes to the doctor, the gynecologist examines her and finds out what her gestational age is. Accurate results can be obtained between 5 and 12 weeks by measuring the size of the uterus. A pregnant woman's blood test for hCG is also important. This hormone is produced only in the body of a woman who is expecting a child. different dates its concentration in the blood varies. The doctor has tables that indicate how much hCG should be present at a given period.
- Ultrasound. The doctor must measure the size ovum, as well as the embryo. Until 9-10 weeks, the indicators for all women at a certain period are the same. You can use them to find out the gestational age. Later this method will not work, because... after 10 weeks the size of the fetus is different women may vary significantly depending on the mother’s weight, nationality and other factors that affect the weight of her baby.
- At the first movement. It is believed that a mother expecting her first child feels 1 movement at twenty weeks, and other pregnant women at eighteen weeks. Based on this knowledge, you can calculate the date of birth: for a woman who is pregnant for the first time, add twenty weeks to this date, and for a woman who has already given birth, add 22 weeks. But some mothers feel the baby moving already at 15-16 weeks, while others feel it after 20 weeks, so these numbers will be inaccurate.
- There are many ways to calculate your due date. You shouldn’t hope that the baby will be born on this very day, but it is important for a woman to know at least an approximate time frame in order to complete all her affairs, pack her things and prepare for the birth of the baby. This information is also necessary for the doctor who is conducting the pregnancy to make sure that it is proceeding normally.
As we can see, it is not difficult to make such calculations; you can calculate the required number in just a few minutes.
Use our EDA (estimated due date) calculator to calculate the estimated date of birth of your baby. The calculation can be made by the date of conception, or by the date of the last menstruation. Select the appropriate option and enter the original date. As a result of the calculation, you will receive the cherished date, as well as an accurate pregnancy calendar with comprehensive information about fetal development and medical indications for each week. The calculation results can be saved by email or printed.
Calculator for expected date of birth
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