Calculating your due date

If you're expecting a baby and you've been given an estimated due date, let's say, 1st of February, then what that means is that on average, let's say, 100 women in pregnancy then average they are going to deliver the baby on 1st of February. But what's normal could be anything from 3 weeks before that until 2 weeks after that. So normal length of gestation in pregnancy can be anything from 37 weeks to 42 weeks. So I think we need to be better as a medical profession saying people what do you mean by estimate due date. We don't mean we think you are having a baby on that day. It means you are going to have the baby sometime 3 weeks beforehand and 2 weeks afterwards. Obviously we hope as many women as possible would just go to labour naturally during that time. Some won't though. Some babies as everyone knows don't come out during the time we think they will. So you might say why don't we just leave them along? Why don't we just leave you along and wait for the baby come and we'll visit and give them a call? The reason we don't is because this baby is being fed by the placenta. The placenta itself can age and become less affected at transporting nutrition and oxygen to the baby. If we keep on leaving you, the risk of that baby will be damaged or even died as a result of poorly nutrition in the womb increases with the longer you wait. So the guideline, the national guideline which based on lots of bits of references suggests that we shouldn't really leave people beyond 10 days to 2 weeks after estimated due date. So what do we do at that stage? Well, most of women at that stage will be offered some forms of induction of the labour.