How Many Weeks Pregnant Am I?

Trying to figure out exactly how many weeks pregnant you are can be tricky. Your progress can change depending on who you talk to. Some doctors use the gestational age of a pregnancy in reference to how many weeks along you are, while other doctors use the fetal age. Once you understand how each of them works, it can be easier to figure out. There is roughly a 2-3 week difference, depending on when you ovulate and how long your cycles are, between the two types of calculations.

Gestational age of your pregnancy week by week begins with the first day of your last menstrual period. While you were not actually pregnant at that time, it is counted in the total 40 weeks one needs to be full term. This is one of the most standard and widely used methods for determining a pregnancy’s time frame. At your first appointment you will be asked when you had your last period and the doctor will use a pregnancy wheel to determine your due date from that.

The other way to determine a pregnancy’s progression is by using fetal age. You would use conception or ovulation to determine how far along you are. This is the most accurate method as it uses the actual fetus to determine the pregnancy’s age. If you are using the fetal gestation for your weekly calculation you would need to have an early ultrasound to determine the age. This would be done before 12 weeks gestation to be most accurate. After the 12 week mark a baby can grow more or less than other babies in the same age range depending on genetics. Using this method you would actually only be pregnant for 38 weeks, instead of the traditional 40 weeks.

No matter what gestation you use, you need to be aware of exactly calculating how many weeks pregnant you are. When you are one week pregnant that means you have completed the full week. This means you will always be calculating how long you have completed, not what you will be moving into that next week. Fourteen weeks pregnant means that you have completed 98 days of pregnancy and are in the beginning of the 15^th week. You would use the term 14 weeks 2 days to describe how many weeks you have finished and are along.

While this can seem confusing it is actually very easy to keep track of. Many women prefer using how many weeks they are pregnant verses how many months. This is because by the time a pregnancy is full term you are actually 10 months pregnant, which is 40 weeks. It is the completion of 9 months, or 40 weeks, that determines the end of a normal pregnancy.

References:

Ask Dr. Amy - http://www.askdramy.com/dating.html

Baby2see.com - http://www.baby2see.com/pregnancylength.html

Disclaimer:  The information provided within this site is not meant to be a substitute for a medical doctor's opinion.  This site is for informational purposes ONLY.  Please check with your medical practitioner before any type of treatment or prevention method is started.