Pregnancy Timelines and Due Date

Pregnancy Timelines and Due Date: Healthcare professionals classify pregnancy timelines based on weeks, not months, rather than nine months as usual. Due to the nature of pregnancy, you are typically pregnant for 40 weeks, which is technically equivalent to 10 months. Here’s where things get even more complicated. Your last period is taken into account when calculating your 40 weeks. It is not until the third week of pregnancy that ovulation and conception occur, which means you become pregnant.

As you progress through your pregnancy, things may become clearer since you are not pregnant when the pregnancy clock begins. The number of weeks you are pregnant will determine when you reach certain milestones. The baby’s heartbeat can usually be heard around 10 weeks into the pregnancy, and your belly button will be near the top of the uterus for around 20 weeks.

Moreover, pregnant women experience three different stages called trimesters. First-trimester activities cover weeks 1–13, second-trimester activities cover weeks 14–27, and third-trimester activities cover weeks 28–40. Pregnancy experiences vary during each trimester.

How to calculate your due date The pregnancy diagnosis has been made by a healthcare professional or by yourself. Women start planning for the arrival of their babies by thinking about their due dates.

The due date, which indicates when the baby will be born, can be calculated in different ways by a healthcare professional. Despite the estimated due date, it is important to understand that babies come when they want to. Due to this, the due date is also called the estimated delivery date, or the EDD. Generally, if you are pregnant for the first time, your due date will fall between weeks 40 and 41.

By subtracting three months from the date of your last menstrual period and adding seven days, your healthcare professional will calculate the due date. The due date will be determined by that. Counting backward three months would land you on January 10, if your last menstrual period began on April 10.

Add seven days to your due date, bringing it to January 17. Most women do not track their menstrual cycles, even though they should, because they do not have regular periods. It is not always possible to use this method of calculation. There are, however, other methods that provide clues about your EDD, since it is an important part of your pregnancy.

When you discover you are pregnant, your internal physical checkup will determine the size of your uterus. It is important that the size of your uterus correspond with your conception date and how far along you are in your pregnancy. The pregnancy timeline helps you determine when your due date is as you progress through your pregnancy, with other milestones occurring at different points in the pregnancy.

Heartbeats are typically heard from week 10 to week 12 using a Doppler device, and around 18 to 20 weeks using a stethoscope. At about 20 to 22 weeks, you will start feeling butterflies in your stomach as your baby begins to move around in your uterus. A woman’s belly button will be positioned at the top of her uterus while she is around 20 weeks pregnant (fundus).

A healthcare professional will be the one to notice and realize this, not you. The likelihood of your due date being accurate is pretty high if these instances coincide with the one you calculated with your practitioner. The baby will not necessarily arrive on the due date, but that is not necessarily a guarantee. There are many factors that can affect a baby’s delivery time, and this is an estimate.

To verify if the chosen due date is still correct, your physician can perform an ultrasound at around 12 weeks. A fetus’s size is assessed by taking a look at it. Your physician may also change your due date as your pregnancy progresses closer to its end. As an example, your cervix becomes thinner, causing effacement, and your cervix dilates, which are all symptoms of labor contractions.

The closer you get to delivery, the more symptoms you’ll experience. There is no 100% guarantee that your delivery date will be on time, as has been said before and again needs to be repeated: nobody knows for sure until you have your child.

Related reading: Is it safe to use household cleaning products during pregnancy?