The Calm Birth School: The Practical Guide For Modern Mamas to Create a Calm, Positive Hypnobirth by Ashworth Suzy

Author:Ashworth, Suzy [Ashworth, Suzy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-02-09T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9:

Understanding Estimated Due Dates

Think ‘Guess Date’ Not ‘Due Date’

Let's turn our attention to estimated due dates, or guess dates, as I like to think about them. I totally get it: being pregnant for 40 weeks, particularly if you are one of the early birds who found out as soon as you conceived is a really long time! This happened to me with my son Caesar.

But eventually, the day arrives: your magic estimated due date. If you’re like the majority of the pregnant population, your ankles have somehow merged with your calves, rings no longer fit on your fingers, you haven’t been sleeping well for weeks or months, you’re tired of wanting to go to the toilet every hour, only to realise you can barely squeeze out a wee that would fill a pipette and turning over in the middle of the night feels like trying to shift the Taj Mahal. I remember it well. Your EDD shines down on you like a beacon of hope. Not only is it the day you supposedly get to meet your gorgeous little bundle of joy, but the many, many other benefits that come with giving birth make you cling onto your due date like a limpet on a rock face.

The problem with this though, is that 96% of us are being led up the river without a paddle. For most of us, the day arrives and… nothing: nada, zip, diddly squat. This is for a number of good reasons. The 40 week due date is based upon Naegele’s Rule. This theory was originated by Harmanni Boerhaave, a botanist who, in 1744, came up with a method of calculating the estimated due date based upon evidence in the Bible indicating human gestation lasts approximately 10 lunar months. The formula was publicised around 1812 by German obstetrician Franz Naegele and since then has become the accepted norm for calculating the due date. However, there are more than a couple of massive question marks in Naegele’s theory.

Strictly speaking, a lunar (or synodic – from new moon to new moon) month is actually 29.53 days, which makes 10 lunar months roughly 295 days, a full 15 days longer than the 280 days gestation we’ve been led to believe is average. In fact, if left alone, 50–80% of mothers will gestate beyond 40 weeks. I’ve always gone against conventional wisdom and insisted that pregnancy is a ten month process.

While your period may have managed to get in sync with all of the girls in the office, the reality is, we all have different length cycles. Even when we know the date of conception there is a five week variance with healthy mothers giving birth to healthy babies. So, if you give birth at 37 weeks, you are not three weeks early and, if you give birth at 42 weeks, you are not two weeks late. You are only postdate once you exceed 42 weeks.

You might be surprised to learn that only 4% of women give birth on their due dates, which is why I prefer to call it a guess date.

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