Determine Pregnancy Due Date

Having a baby can be an exciting time in any parent's life. The joy the little child will bring will be immeasurable. However, there is much to take care of before the baby is brought into the world, and you will need to prepare a space for the infant. To be able to judge how much time you have to make ready before the baby comes, you will need to determine when your pregnancy due date is.

Determine when you conceived your child. To do this you will need to figure out when you missed your first period. There is about a 28-day window between your last period and the missed menstrual period, during which you conceived the child. This means the initial calculated pregnancy due date will be placed within this 28 day range. It is not extremely accurate but it will give you the best ideal date without performing tests for your doctor.

To make calculation easier you may want to place your "conception date" at the first of the month before your missed period.

Count 40 weeks from the designated "conception date" (the date you chose to represent the time of conception). Most pregnancies last this long. When you add this up it will be closer to nine and a half months from the time conception happened, rather then the nine months a pregnancy is thought to be. Once you have counted this you will be able to determine the rough estimate for your due date. However, to figure out a more accurate time period, you will need to go to the doctor.

Visit your doctor and perform a blood test looking for hCG (only have this done by a medical doctor). This will show how far along you are, however the test cannot be done in the early stages of pregnancy because there is not enough of the hCG hormone in her system to calculate the due date. HCG will begin collecting in the blood sample around the ten day mark, however at this stage it will not always be apparent in the blood stream. To be absolutely sure the hCG test is accurate you should have the test taken about a month after your believed conception.

Go to your doctor and have them perform an ultrasound. This will be the most accurate way to determine the due date for your child. This is because once the second trimester begins, the fetal development progression rate is generally the same for all babies, so determining the actual date will be much more accurate than counting 40 weeks from when you believe you conceived your child.