For almost every woman, a child is a welcome and expected miracle. Therefore, many ladies, as soon as they find out that they are in an interesting position, want to know when they can see their crumbs. And if it is too early for methods such as ultrasound or a gynecologist’s examination , you can try to calculate the date of birth by monthly. How you can do it yourself - that's what I want to talk about.
Why is this needed?
So, first of all, you need to decide why a woman needs to know this information. It is worth saying that this figure will be far from accurate, so it can be indicated simply to determine the approximate date of the baby's birth. Further, by other, more accurate methods, this date will be specified. Basically, they themselves figure out how to calculate the date of birth by menstruation, women who are eager to find out when their baby will be born.
What is this method good for?
What is good at determining the date of birth by monthly? This method is very easy to use and suitable for all women. Indeed, for the most part, ladies very rarely monitor ovulation (according to these indicators, you can also calculate the preliminary date of birth and find out the time of the birth of the baby) and almost never know when fertilization could have happened.
Normal numbers
How long does a normal medical pregnancy last? If you count in the usual for all mode - this is 9 months. However, it is customary for gynecologists to consider the development of the baby not by months, but by weeks. Those. in their calculation, a normal pregnancy lasts 40 weeks. You can also count on the lunar months. In this case, the woman will give birth to her baby after 10 lunar months. But there are certain nuances in this statement. So, very rarely, a pregnancy lasts for an exactly allotted period of time. Normal, i.e. full-term and not yet matured, the baby is considered to be born during the period from the 38th to the 42nd week of pregnancy. Therefore, to focus on the figure obtained by any methods is definitely not worth it, it is approximate and just indicative for parents.
About this method
In order to know the date of birth by monthly, you need to know only one important date - the beginning of the last menstruation. Next, you just need to make simple calculations according to the formula of Franz Negele (the German obstetrician who gave women this method of calculation). To do this, you only need to take three full months from the first day of the last menstruation and then add one week, i.e. seven days.
Example
In order to better understand how the calculation of the date of birth is carried out on a monthly basis, you just need to look at how this is done, using an example. So, let's say that the last menstruation in a woman began on April 3. Then the Franz Negel formula comes into operation, according to which we subtract three full months from this number. It turns out January 3. Next, you need to add one week to the received date. As a result, we get January 10th. This will be the desired PDR woman, i.e. estimated date of delivery.
Nuances
However, it’s not so easy to approach these calculations. Indeed, ideally, this formula is designed for those women whose cycle is clearly 28 days. However, this is not always the case. On average, a cycle is considered normal, the duration of which can be from 26 to 35 days. And the pregnancy itself falls out during ovulation, which occurs in the middle of the cycle, on about 12-14th day (at the rate of 28 standard days). If the woman’s numbers are different, then the results need to be slightly adjusted.
Amendments to the calculations
How to correctly calculate the date of birth by monthly, if the woman’s cycle does not last 28 days? There are some nuances here. If it is shorter, then the date obtained by standard calculations will not be accurate. It is necessary to take away from it so many days by how much the cycle differs from the ideal. If the cycle is longer, then it will also be necessary to calculate the indicators by the standard method, however, again, make corrections - add the difference between the woman’s cycle and its ideal indicators of 28 days to the received date. Generally speaking, the longer the woman’s cycle, the longer she will bear her baby.
Deviation example
Now I want to calculate the date of birth by monthly on an example, considering the situation when the woman’s cycle differs from the standard. Preliminary calculations let them remain the same as above, then we will simply proceed from the DA on January 10.
- If a woman’s cycle does not last 28 days, but 26, what will be the calculations in this situation? We find the difference in days between cycles (28-26 = 2) and from the date of January 10, we simply subtract the two days received. Thus, if a woman has a cycle of 26 days, she can expect her baby to be born on January 8.
- Ladies can also find out the delivery date by menstruation, the cycle of which is a certain number of days longer. For example, let it be 32 days. In this case, first again we find the difference between the standard and the existing cycles - 32-28 = 4. And then simply adds 4 days to the date on January 10th. In this case, the lady, whose cycle is somewhat longer (in this case, 4 days), you should expect the birth of crumbs on January 14.
Deviations
Again, it is worth recalling that you can independently calculate the date of birth by monthly, but do not focus too much on this figure. After all, it is not final, and the baby may want to see the light a little earlier or later than this date. As for statistics, only about 20% of women give birth on the very day that they received thanks to calculations (both by their own and by doctors). But the rest will be expected by surprise, because the baby can appear, starting from the 38th and ending with the 42nd weeks (and this is absolutely normal). This is the time when the baby will not be considered premature or born. Various stressful situations, pathologies in the development of the fetus, hereditary factor and many other reasons can provoke earlier births.
Other methods
We have already figured out how the estimated delivery date by month can be found. However, it is worth saying that this is far from the only method for determining this number. So, there are several more.
- Determining the date of birth by the embryonic method. Do not be afraid, not everything is as scary as it might seem at first glance. This is just a determination of the date of birth according to the day of ovulation. In this case, for calculations it will be necessary to know the length of the woman’s cycle itself, and depending on this, the day of the alleged conception will be found. If the cycle is shorter, about 21-25 days, ovulation will occur on about the 7th day, if it is longer and lasts 31-35 days, then ovulation should be expected on the 21st day. It should be said that gynecologists have certain tables for calculations, due to which they quickly determine the DA.
- Determining the date of the first visit to the gynecologist. When a woman first turns to a antenatal clinic, a doctor must definitely examine her (however, this is not recommended before the 6th week of pregnancy). At this time, the doctor in terms of indicators such as abdominal volume, fetus size, as well as determining the height of the bottom and size of the uterus can draw certain conclusions and say the approximate duration of pregnancy.
- Well, and probably the most accurate method for determining the date of birth - ultrasound. The first screening is done around the 11-14th week of pregnancy. Then it is possible to determine the estimated date of birth with an accuracy of 3 days.