PREGNANCY DUE DATE

When you find that you are pregnant, one of the first things you will do is ask about your pregnancy due date. Though these are pretty accurate, they are not as accurate as you might think. You can never depend on your baby arriving on the due date, and many women find themselves frustrated when their pregnancies go beyond the special day. If more people understood how the due date was calculated, they would understand why sometimes a pregnancy goes longer than what the doctors expect.
Most doctors still use a wheel to calculate pregnancy due date. This is fine if you are a woman that has a perfect 28 day menstrual cycle. Perhaps perfect is the wrong word. Each woman is different, though it has been drilled into our head that a 28 day cycle is what you should have. However, this is simply not the truth for most women. The pregnancy wheel assumes that you have ovulated on the 14th day of your menstrual cycle, and it calculates your pregnancy due date according to that information. This is why many times a baby does not come near the due date.
I have a 35 day menstrual cycle. This means that if I were told a pregnancy due date based on the old pregnancy wheel that my due date would be incorrect. Most doctors do not bother to ask about the length of your menstrual cycle before they calculate your pregnancy due date. This is why when they give you a day, you should always use it as a reference rather than when to expect the arrival of your new little baby. If you expect a baby to come exactly on your pregnancy due date you will probably end up being very frustrated when you go over by a week or two.
If you have a menstrual cycle that is longer than the average 28 day cycle, make sure you talk to your doctor about this when they set your pregnancy due date. If you have a shorter or longer cycle, you should let your doctor know that you think the pregnancy due date they are giving you is off. If you ovulated on day 21 as opposed to day 14 of your cycle, this will shift your due date by an entire week. If your doctor won’t listen to you, and says that that really doesn’t matter, just keep the change in your mind. You may be surprised to find that you indeed go at least a week past the pregnancy due date your doctor gave you.