Saturday, July 7, 2007

Pregnancy Calculator – When The Stork Will Visit

Pregnancy calculator is the answer to your question, “Now that I’m pregnant, when will the stork visit me”? Why not figure out the magical date, the pregnancy due date for yourself. It’s not so complicated. The pregnancy calculator will help you do it.

What Is Your Due Date?

It’s the likely date the stork will visit you. But when is that? Various pregnancy calculators are used to make this magical calculation. Few ways of calculating the pregnancy due dates are listed below;

1) Using Last Menstrual Period (LMP) Date

This method of calculation uses the first day of LMP to arrive at the likely due date. You get the due date by adding 280 days to the first day of your LMP. It works on the concept that you would have ovulated 14 days from the first day of your LMP and conceived on the same day to which 266 days gestation period is added (266+14=280). This was the standard pregnancy calculator in use.

Disadvantage is that accurate determination of ovulation and conception dates maybe difficult.

2) Naegle’s Rule

Count three months back form the first date of you LMP and add seven days to it. The resultant date is the due date.

3) Using Basal Body Temperature (BBT) and Luteinizing Hormone (LH)

This pregnancy calculator uses the ovulation date derived by tracking the rise in BBT and surge of LH. Adding 266 to this ovulation date will give you the due date.

But accurate calculation of when the BBT is rising and when the LH is surging is difficult.

4) Using Conception Date

If you know the exact date, on which you conceived, by adding 266 to this you will arrive at the due date. Impracticality of this pregnancy calculator is in knowing the exact date of conception.

5) Using Ultrasound Results

The pregnancy ultrasound results reveal the age of the baby in the womb making due date calculation easier.

These methods give us only the probable pregnancy due date. They are not an accurate prediction. This is mainly due to the inherent difficulties of determining the data required by these pregnancy calculators. Statistics reveals that only less than 5% of the women deliver on the due date.

So Why Use Pregnancy Calculators

Human minds like certainty. Waiting for the baby to come without having a proper date might be frustrating and unduly stressful. Having a probable date to look forward to will make the wait easier. Pregnancy calculators therefore provide us an ever-nearing horizon of happiness making the long wait of nine months more bearable.

Pregnancy calculators can give you an idea of your due date, but they are not always true. The use of these calculators is just to make preparations for pregnancy delivery well in time so that you don’t miss anything at that great time. Visit Pregnancy Planning for more information about planned pregnancy, breastfeeding, best time to get pregnant etc.

source ; www.americanchronicle.com

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