Seeing two strips on the test, especially if the pregnancy was not planned in advance, many women immediately begin to calculate, when the pregnancy could come and when to wait for the birth of a crumb. But if pregnancy is the first, then, more often than not, a woman does not know how to determine the duration of pregnancy. Let's try to help her with this, telling you several ways with which you can determine the duration of pregnancy.
So, in the beginning it is necessary to say that the period of pregnancy is measured not by months (as many are used to believe), but weeks. That is, the phrase "9 months", or "last month of pregnancy" habitually used by doctors, is used extremely rarely, and only in the case when the real term of pregnancy is not very important.
How to determine the duration of pregnancy at home?
Most often, before going to the doctor, a woman tries to determine the length of her pregnancy on her own. But practice shows that only a few can determine the length of pregnancy by the calendar. And when a woman does come to a gynecologist, the term he terminates rarely coincides with what the woman counted herself. This is due to the fact that women determine the duration of pregnancy a little differently, as doctors do. Some pregnant women begin to prove to the gynecologist that the term calculated by the doctors is not correct, what they remember when there was an unprotected sexual intercourse, and it is necessary to consider it. But they are wrong. The date of an unprotected sexual intercourse does not necessarily coincide with the date of conception. The difference can be as 2-3 days, or 5-7. Another thing, if a woman knows the date of ovulation, then she will be able to determine the duration of pregnancy herself, and this period will be the most accurate.
Nevertheless, many future mothers do not know the date of their ovulation and, accordingly, can not be sure of when the conception occurred. In connection with such a possible confusion, it is customary to determine the duration of pregnancy on a monthly basis. Here everything is very simple - think how many weeks have passed since the first day of the last month, and get a pregnancy. This is how gynecologists determine the duration of pregnancy. You can again disagree with their opinion - and your logic is clear. At first glance it is paradoxical how pregnancy can be 1 week, if only the monthly ones have ended. But there's nothing to be done, gynecologists of all countries determine the duration of pregnancy precisely for menstruation. Thanks to this method, you now know how to determine the duration of pregnancy at home. Using this method, we will receive, so-called, obstetric term. The normal duration of pregnancy is 37-42 maternity weeks. Such a large range (5 weeks) is due to the fact that ovulation can occur on any day of the menstrual cycle, and the calculation of the period for the months is somewhat generalized.
You can also determine the length of pregnancy by conception. And this method also does not give an absolutely correct time. The error can average about 3-5 days, but still considering the date of conception, you can determine the duration of pregnancy more accurately. But do not forget, by the date calculated on the date of conception, add 2 weeks to get an obstetric term.
How else can you determine the duration of pregnancy?
There are two other ways in which you can determine the duration of pregnancy:
- the first - by ultrasound. But this progressive method does not give an absolutely exact answer to the question "How to determine the duration of pregnancy?". And the longer the gestation period, the greater the error.
- The second method, which allows you to determine the duration of pregnancy, is a blood test for hCG. Such an analysis is recommended to pass several times (it is optimal to take every 2 days, 3 times can be enough), and look at the dynamics of the hormone change in the blood.
However, this method is accurate only in the first weeks of pregnancy, when the amount of the hormone in the blood every day increases by 2 times.
As we can see, even the doctor-gynecologist can not correctly determine the duration of pregnancy. The only exception is when a woman knows the date of ovulation. However, if you combine all possible methods for determining the duration of pregnancy, you can still find the right time, in addition, with each ultrasound, pregnancy, like the expected date of birth, can be adjusted. But in practice, very rarely there are cases when you need to know exactly the period of pregnancy. Basically, the plus or minus a few days or even a week will not play a big role.