Friday, January 18, 2008

What Is A Pregnancy Calculator?

You are pregnant and excited about having a baby. Soon the 9 months of pregnancy will be over and you will have a tiny little infant in your arms. But how do you calculate when your baby is due? This requires a pregnancy calculator. Pregnancy calculators use many methods to calculate the due date. Some of them are given here:

The Last Menstrual Period Method (LMP)

The gestation period of a pregnancy is 40 weeks. So add 40 weeks to day one of your last menstrual period and then subtract two weeks from the day that you get. That is your due date. You subtract two weeks, because ovulation occurs in those two weeks

Basal Body Temperature (BBT)

The Basal Body Temperature of a woman rises up to 1.6 degrees during ovulation. If you are sure of your fertilization date, you must add 266 days to it to get the due date.

Naegle’s Rule

In Naegle’s Rule, you must calculate 3 months backward from the first day of your last period and add 7 days to it. This method is quite popular with doctors.

Ultrasounds

Ultrasound is a high-pitched sound, which is directed at the woman’s abdomen. The echo of the sound creates a picture of the baby inside. This can help tell at what stage of growth the baby is in the mother’s womb and thus, we can get a due date for her pregnancy.

Despite the fact that a pregnancy calculator is used so often in pregnancies, babies don’t necessarily follow calculations. Except for 10% of the babies that are born on the due date, 90% are born within two weeks of the due date, here or there.

A pregnancy calculator is useful agreed, but do not depend much on it. Instead, enjoy every moment of your pregnancy. After all, these moments are rare and do not happen often in a lifetime.

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