How to Get an Accurate Due Date

Your practitioner will give you a due date for your delivery, or what they call the estimated date of delivery (EDD). But an estimate is all that it is (though an educated one). As a matter of fact, only one in twenty deliveries are actually made on the due date. This is mainly attributable to the fact that a full-term pregnancy lasts anywhere between 38-42 weeks.

So how do they calculate your due date? Your medical practitioner subtracts 3 months from the first day of your LMP, or last menstrual period. He/she then adds seven days to the difference. The result is your EDD. If say, your last period started on July 21, you simply count three months backward. This gives you April 21. Add 7 days and you get your due date—April 28!

This type of calculation often works well for pregnant women who have regular menstrual cycles. Problems arise for women with irregular cycle, as the system may not do them any good at all. So how do you cope if you happen to be one of these women?

Together with your practitioner, you will have to consider other clues that might help validate your EDD.

• the size of your uterus
• the first time fetal heartbeat becomes audible
• the first time you feel a flutter of life
• the height of the uterus’ top part (or the fundus)

You are also advised to get an ultrasound before week 12. This will help the practitioner detect your fetus’ gestational age. For even better results, you must get routine ultrasounds (with the assistance and advice of your practitioner).

Further clues may appear as you get nearer the actual due date.

• more frequent painless contractions
• engagement (the fetus dropping into the pelvis)
• effacement (thinning and shortening of the cervix)
• dilation of the cervix

Even with all these clues, you may actually never determine your exact due date. It’s okay though. At least you get a close-to-accurate estimation. And it may be all that you’ll need.

Relax and make your pregnancy the joyous occasion that it is!

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This entry was posted on Friday, April 11th, 2008 at 5:40 am and is filed under Early Stages of Pregnancy, Pregnancy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.