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Family Forum / Pregnancy / Pregnancy / July 2006Can you due date answer how many weeks are you pregnant?
There is something that is confusing me and too be honest, scares me a little bit. When my wife got pregnant, based on her menstrual cycle, she got a due date of Feb 27th, based on May 20th, her first day of her last menstrual cycle. When we went for the ultra sound on July 18th, the nurse said she was only 5 weeks pregnant? Is that ok? My question is: when they say you are x weeks pregnant, does it mean you are so many weeks pregnant from the date of conception? or does it mean you are 5 weeks from the first day of your last menstrual period? any help appreciated, - Sam > There is something that is confusing me and too be honest, scares me a > little bit. When my wife got pregnant, based on her menstrual cycle, [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > you are so many weeks pregnant from the date of conception? or does it > mean you are 5 weeks from the first day of your last menstrual period? Usually they're pretty consistent about dating from LMP, so "5 weeks pregnant" really means 3 weeks pregnant plus the average 2 weeks between LMP and conception (which is not accurate for all women). The discrepancy in your wife's case might be due to her having a longer than normal cycle, or ovulating late in this particular cycle. Also, it is possible that they could have given you a gestational age, which would come closer to lining up with your wife's LMP date. Definitely ask for clarification. The main thing here is that you need to get the due date adjusted, if necessary. Otherwise, you might get to what they *think* is her due date and have them start pushing for an induction when really the baby needs to wait a while! Early ultrasounds are usually fairly accurate in determining gestational age. They get less and less accurate as time goes by, so if you're going to adjust the due date, better to do it early on when the estimate is more accurate. Best wishes, Ericka Thanks Ericka, Yeah, the ultrasound nurse then said, she would be due by March 20. But one of my wife's friends said it could be worrisome that even though my wife had May20 as her first day of last period, by July 17th she was only 5 weeks pregnant?. My theory (which is fully supported by wifey) is our intercourse on July13th is when the conception happened, hence 5 weeks from that conception date (not sure if it is called a conception date) comes to around July 17th. I hope the above statements make sense. Let me know what you think. Thanks, Sam > > There is something that is confusing me and too be honest, scares me a > > little bit. When my wife got pregnant, based on her menstrual cycle, [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] > Best wishes, > Ericka > Thanks Ericka, > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > Thanks, > Sam So how long are your wife's cycles usually? If her last period was May 20th, and she didn't conceive until July 13th, that certainly lines up with the 5 weeks being gestational rather than LMP based. Which would also line up with your wife having long menstrual cycles.  SignatureJamie Earth Angels: Taylor Marlys, 1/3/03 Addison Grace, 9/30/04 Check out the family! -- www.MyFamily.com, User ID: Clarkguest1, Password: Guest Become a member for free - go to Add Member to set up your own User ID and Password > So how long are your wife's cycles usually? If her last period was May > 20th, and she didn't conceive until July 13th, that certainly lines up > with the 5 weeks being gestational rather than LMP based. Which would > also line up with your wife having long menstrual cycles. But it doesn't line up with being already "5 weeks pregnant"! A conception date of July 13 with an ultrasound on July 18 would be actually 5 DAYS pregnant/gestation. Sounds to me like the ultrasound tech/nurse gave a gestational age, ie. 5 weeks after conception rather than after LMP, since July 18 was actually about 8 weeks after May 20. Which would also line up with a long(ish) menstrual cycle (ovulation about 3 weeks after first day of LMP). Unless the OP and his wife had absolutely no intercourse at all between May 20 and July 13, in which case I have no idea how she became 5 weeks "pregnant" only 5 days after conception... My guess would be conception around June 13, or in the preceding week, and NOT July 13. Unless this blastocyst is growing freakishly fast, in which case I'd be asking a whole lot of questions about why this is going on Dating from conception is almost never used in obstetrics. Health care providers almost always use menstrual dating. Even if the dates are assigned by ultrasound biometry, the menstrual dating conventions are used. Remember that there are a lot of assumptions involved in assigning a due date based on LMP. The woman must have a "textbook" 28 day regular cycle with ovulation on day 14. The date must be remembered correctly. The date reported must be the first day of the LMP. The period has to be a normal period. Even when a woman believes that all the above conditions are met, it is still a very frequent occurrence that the actual age of the baby as estimated by ultrasound is different than the menstrual age of gestation. Generally this is nothing to worry about, as long as subsequent fetal growth and development proceed normally according to the corrected dates. Also, as always, remember that the due date is not a good prediction of the date your wife will give birth. Women have their babies at all different times of pregnancy. The real purpose of the due date is so that providers can caluculate how far the pregnancy should have progressed at any given time. |
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