![]() ![]() Your healthcare provider will monitor Baby’s size and development throughout your pregnancy, and will adjust your due date if he or she has any reason to (e.g. But a due date is just an estimate anyway. Since you can’t get a handy dandy text notification or receive a status update to know exactly when – hooray! – sperm and egg have finally met, it’s hard to have more than an estimate of when conception takes place. To sum up, after you have sex or introduce sperm, sperm might hang around for a few days before an egg arrives and conception actually takes place. So if, for example, you had intercourse once during your fertile window and conceived, the actual fertilization may have taken place as many as five days after that intercourse. And, remember, intercourse or introduction of sperm can lead to pregnancy any time in the five days leading up to ovulation, which is when an egg is released from an ovary. But why? It’s because the exact date of conception is really hard to know.Ĭonception is when sperm meets egg. This should make calculating a due date easy, right? Well, it’s not that simple. ![]() If you know the exact date of conception, you can simply add 38 weeks, and you’ve got your due date. While this method works well for women who have 28-day menstrual cycles with ovulation squarely in the middle (day 14 or 15), most do not, so your healthcare provider may have to re-adjust your due date further down along line. When calculating using this method, healthcare providers count 40 weeks forward from the first day of your last menstrual period, a figure that includes the 38 weeks of gestation plus an assumed 2 week span between your LMP, and ovulation. Most healthcare providers will use this method because the vast majority of moms-to-be don’t know exactly when they conceived. So healthcare providers have several different methods that they can use to determine when Baby is due. ![]() That day, month, and year is going to etch itself deep into your mind as you traverse the nine months until delivery, but how do you figure out when it is? Babies on average need about 38 weeks in the womb from the time of conception, but you won’t really know the exact date when that magic happened. Uterus: A muscular organ located in the female pelvis that contains and nourishes the developing fetus during pregnancy.Ah, the due date. Umbilical Cord: A cord-like structure containing blood vessels that connects the fetus to the placenta. Ultrasound Exam: A test in which sound waves are used to examine the fetus. Postpartum Hemorrhage: Heavy bleeding that occurs after delivery of a baby and placenta. Postmaturity Syndrome: A condition in which a postterm fetus is born with a long and lean body, an alert look on the face, lots of hair, long fingernails, and thin wrinkled skin. Oxytocin: A hormone used to help bring on contractions of the uterus. Oxygen: A gas that is necessary to sustain life. ![]() Obstetrician–Gynecologist (Ob-Gyn): A physician with special skills, training, and education in women’s health. This can cause serious breathing problems. If meconium is passed, it may get into the lungs of the fetus through the amniotic fluid. Meconium: A greenish substance that builds up in the bowels of a growing fetus. Macrosomia: A condition in which a fetus is estimated to weigh between 9 pounds and 10 pounds. Amniotic Fluid: Water in the sac surrounding the fetus in the mother’s uterus.Īmniotic Sac: Fluid-filled sac in the mother’s uterus in which the fetus develops.Īssisted Vaginal Delivery: Vaginal delivery of a baby performed with the use of forceps or vacuum.Ĭervical Ripening: The process by which the cervix softens in preparation for labor.Ĭervix: The lower, narrow end of the uterus at the top of the vagina.Ĭesarean Delivery: Delivery of a baby through incisions made in the mother’s abdomen and uterus.Įlectronic Fetal Monitoring: A method in which electronic instruments are used to record the heartbeat of the fetus and contractions of the mother's uterus.Įstimated Due Date (EDD): The estimated date that a baby will be born.įetus: The stage of prenatal development that starts 8 weeks after fertilization and lasts until the end of pregnancy. ![]()
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