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How do I know how far along my pregnancy is?
When did you have your last period?
My doctor asked me that, but I don’t think it is right.
They measure the pregnancy duration based on when the last period was, because that’s
a certain marker. Though you might be unsure if there was spotting from implantation or
light bleeding when the next period might have been.
Or brown discharge in what might have been early on.
This is why doctors do ultrasounds early on. It tells them how far along you are and gives
indications of possible problems.
He’s already measured my stomach size.
That could be off if you are pregnant with twins, dehydrated or gaining extra weight.
The ultrasound is a sure measure.
How so?
They can use it to measure the size of the baby.
I think it is the size of a grape right now.
Fetal development is standard in all pregnancies except for differences in length in the final
trimester. They are all the same size in the first weeks, and measuring that tells him
how many weeks along you are.
The baby’s development could be off.
While a baby might grow faster or slower than peers or eat like a piglet, limb buds versus
finger buds is a standard development pattern. Rump to crown measurements, too, have a direct
correlation to weeks of development.
Then my weight gain is irrelevant.
You could gain 30 pounds and not be pregnant, or you could lose weight due to morning sickness.
Weight gain in pregnancy has guidelines but it isn’t an accurate measure of how far
along you are.
How do they decide when you are too far along?
When the pregnancy passes the 40 week mark, they start thinking of inducing. They don’t
let pregnancies last past the 42 week mark.
I saw a horror show about stone babies.
Those are pregnancies that failed and calcified, but that is on the medical oddities shows
because it is so rare.
It is a horror, because I don’t know if I could stand months of this, much less years.