For some reason, getting pregnant can be a real shock, and it often does not matter if this is your first pregnancy or the tenth. The shock is always there. However, if this is the first time for you to carry a baby, then your shock could be appreciatively more than for the more experienced women. Once you are past the stage of shock, the next step to take would be for you to plan for the baby’s life in the future and the baby’s general health. First of all, you would need to know how long you have had the baby so you can start your planning from there. That is what would lead you to ask yourself, how many weeks pregnant am I?
There is a particularly easy way for you to estimate the time of your pregnancy, here it is:
you would need to try to remember the last day for your last period. For the purpose of this illustration, assume that the date for that period was March 10th. Next, add seven days to the time of your last period. This would make it March the 17th. Once you have done this, you should then go back about three months from that date, and that would make January 17trh next year the due date for your pregnancy.
Since you have been able to get the due date, getting the number of weeks you are pregnant is quite easy. All you would be required to do would be to count the days from your last period to the day you are currently in and you would have the number of days by which you are far gone.
You might have some skepticism about this method. For one thing, you were definitely not pregnant when you had your period. You might wonder why then the due date and your pregnancy date are calculated in this funny pattern. Actually, a woman does not become of her date of conception. This is even true when she has a regular partner she has intercourse with. However, a woman would have an inkling of her last period date. This is why doctors have decided to use this more tangible date as their point of reference. Doctors have come to the conclusion from the calculation that most pregnancies have an average of forty weeks or two hundred and eighty days.
Are There Other Ways Through Which You Can Tell If You Are Pregnant
Perhaps you cannot actually remember the date of your last period. Or, maybe you are one of those women who have an irregular period. This could pose a few problems for your ability to use this formula effectively. However, a doctor may be able to use ultrasound as good ways to determine how far along you are. However, you would need to have the ultrasound scan as early as possible so that the accuracy of the results is better.
There is no scientific – and come to think of it, unscientific – procedure through which anyone can tell the exact day they expect their baby to be due. Even though there have been a lot of advances in science and technology, it is still said that babies only come when they want to; they cannot be second-guessed. Once you have been able to calculate the period when your baby is to be expected, to be on a safe side, you might need to add two weeks before and after that date to have a wider margin for the window of possibility which babies often exhibit.
Have you been able to figure out how many weeks pregnant you are? Then by now you would have begun to feel very different from normal. Every pregnancy week has its own unique feeling, and comes with surprises of its own. Of course, the changes that you would experience would occur little by little, but there is a change nonetheless. The fact remains that there is a living thing growing in your body, and your baby is taking shape, and even more so with every minute that passes in your womb. Therefore, there is usually an outward manifestation of those growth patterns in your own body. If you go online and get a few books on pregnancy, you would be able to see some charts that would guide you through week by week changes that could occur in you as you are having your baby’s growth.
These should be able to coach you on what to expect at particular stages of your pregnancy. It is advised that you get some of these references since they would help you own in a case where you might not be able to see your doctor every week.