1 pregnancy week.As the pregnancy begins you will in the 1 pregnancy week go through some of the things mentioned here. When Is Your Baby Due?
The beginning of a pregnancy is actually figured from the beginning of your last menstrual period. That means, for your doctor's computational purposes, you are pregnant 2 weeks before you actually conceive! This can be confusing, so let's examine it more closely. Refer to the due date calendar starting on page 393 for help calculating your own due date.
Figuring Your Due Date
Most women don't know the exact date of conception, but they are usually aware of the beginning of their last period. This is the point from which a pregnancy is dated. A due date is important in pregnancy because it helps your doctor determine when to perform certain tests or procedures. It also helps estimate the baby's growth and may indicate whether you are overdue. For most women, the fertile time of the month (ovulation) is around the middle of their monthly cycle, or about 2 weeks before the beginning of their next period. Pregnancy lasts about 280 days, or 40 weeks, from the beginning of the last menstrual period. You can calculate your due date by counting 280 days from the first day of bleeding of your last period. Or count back 3 months from the date of your last period and add 7 days. This also gives you the approximate date of delivery.
For example, if your last period began on February 20, your due date is November 27.
Calculating a pregnancy this way gives the gestational age (menstrual age). This is how most doctors and nurses keep track of time during pregnancy. It is different from ovulatory age (fertilization age), which is 2 weeks shorter and dates from the actual conception.
Many people count the time during pregnancy using weeks. It's really the easiest way. But it can be confusing to remember to begin counting from when your period starts and that you don't become pregnant until about 2 weeks later. For example, if your doctor says you're 10 weeks pregnant (from your last period), conception occurred 8 weeks ago.
You may hear references to your stage of pregnancy by trimester. Trimesters divide pregnancy into three periods, each about 13 weeks long. This helps group together developmental stages.
For example, your baby's body structure is largely formed and his or her organ systems develop during the first trimester. Most miscarriages occur during the first trimester. During the third trimester, most maternal problems with pregnancy induced hypertension or pre-eclampsia occur.
You may even hear about lunar months, referring to a complete cycle of the moon, which is 28 days. Because pregnancy is 280 days from the beginning of your period to your due date, pregnancy lasts 10 lunar months.
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