If you are going to have a baby there are baby due date calculators and calendars available online or in print that can help you figure out when your baby is due, and then some will allow you to follow the progress of your unborn child and at the same time, understand your body’s many changes.
Due Date Estimates
Initially the baby due date calculator will help you decipher the approximate date of when you will have a child. It is important to understand that the due dates are just estimates of when the baby will be born. Babies come early or late all the time. Setting the due date is based on the first day of your last monthly period. Many people don’t know this date for sure; they just give a best guess.
Once you’ve input the beginning date of your last period, the online calculators and even your doctor will set the due date based on the fact that human gestation generally takes from between thirty-eight and forty-two weeks. However, only a very small percentage of women will deliver on their estimated due date. One online due date calculator can be found here.
Having a Due Date
Having a specific due date will do several things for you. It will give you a date to plan around, as long as you realize that you could actually have the child several days or even weeks before or after this date. The due date will also allow you to know where you are in the process. Your doctor and other medical professionals use this point of reference to base many of your body’s changes and the baby’s development to date.
There are things you will need to do and be careful of based on your trimester or on how many weeks pregnant you are. The first trimester covers weeks one through twelve. The second trimester is from thirteen to twenty-six weeks, and the third and final trimester is from week twenty-seven until your delivery.
Medical symptoms are often grouped by trimester, based on your due date calculation. For instance, morning sickness is a medical symptom that typically manifests in the first trimester and goes away by the second. Another medical symptom that is based on trimester is that women have to carefully watch for swelling and water retention issues in the third trimester.
But nothing with pregnancy is a hundred percent sure. There are a number of women who never had morning sickness in their first trimester, and some who were sick in their third. The due date lets you and the doctor keep track of where you are in your pregnancy and will give you a good overall sense of the changes you are going through, the symptoms you may have, and how the baby is developing.
Pregnancy Calendars
Once you have calculated your due date you may want to keep track of your pregnancy with a due date calendar, or pregnancy calendar. These pregnancy calendars provide a great source of information on a daily or weekly basis. At the start of the calendar you will get information on all the things you should be doing, like getting enough rest…plus all the things you shouldn’t be doing, like taking drugs, or drinking alcohol. There are print and online versions of these pregnancy calendars.
- The online versions often offer a daily or weekly email, offer development photos and tips on websites so you can see what changes have taken place for the baby and the mommy. Some even have journal features and online groups where you can track your individual progress or share the experience with others with the same approximate due date. Some online pregnancy calendars can be shared with family or friends. This would allow you to forward and personalize the daily or weekly information.
- Print calendars for pregnancy can be hung on the wall like any other calendar and allow you to visually track the experience and the upcoming due date. Generally you can make notations, use stickers and other items to personalize the calendar with doctor appointments and events like the day you first felt the baby move or decided on a name.
- There are also book versions that serve as information, a journal, and a type of pre-baby book. You can attach personal pictures that might include the nursery, baby showers, and a month-by-month tummy photo. Some books are more text book in nature, with lots of info and no place to really record your own information.
Summary
Once you have the baby due date figured out, you may want to follow up and find a pregnancy calendar so that you can keep track of the changes to baby and mommy until birth.
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