18 Weeks Pregnant How to Know Baby Is Ok

Figuring out exactly where yous are in your pregnancy tin can exist tricky. Read our guide to counting your pregnancy in weeks, months and trimesters.

How many weeks significant am I?

There'south no mode to know for certain exactly when you ovulated and conceived unless you lot had an assisted formulation. So most people, including health professionals, volition date your pregnancy based on your LMP (last menstrual period) instead (NHS 2018a).

To work out how many weeks pregnant you are by this measure out, try to recall when your last menstruum started. The starting time twenty-four hours of your LMP counts equally twenty-four hours one of your pregnancy. You can find out your estimated due date using our handy due date calculator.

Some women prefer to count their pregnancy from the twenty-four hour period that they were likely to be ovulating during the month in which they became pregnant. This volition give you lot an estimated engagement of conception, which will commonly exist well-nigh 2 weeks after the first day of your LMP. So you'll exist two weeks farther along in your pregnancy if it'southward calculated according to your LMP rather than your estimated appointment of conception.

And so that's why BabyCenter, and most health professionals, will exist telling y'all that y'all've been pregnant for virtually two weeks longer than yous actually have been.

What if I don't know the date of my concluding menstruum or I have irregular periods?

The due date calculation works best if your menstrual bike is regular and your periods are every 28 days.

If you have an irregular menstrual cycle, you may not know the date of your LMP. And if your bicycle varies in length, counting from the showtime twenty-four hours of your LMP may not give you a date you tin can rely on.

An ultrasound scan early in your pregnancy will give you lot a more accurate due date for your baby.

You'll be offered a nuchal tranlsucency scan when you're between 11 weeks and 13 weeks plus six days meaning, based on your LMP. You lot may also be offered a dating scan a scrap earlier, between x weeks and 13 weeks plus half-dozen days.

During these scans, the person performing the scan (sonographer) will measure your infant from his caput to his bottom. This is chosen his crown rump length (CRL), and information technology gives a more than accurate idea of how far along your pregnancy is (NCCWCH 2008).

Once yous've worked out how many weeks pregnant you are, check out the chart below to see how the weeks, months and trimesters of pregnancy line up with each other.

How can I be iv weeks pregnant when I'm in my fifth week of pregnancy?

To understand this, it may help to think most age. When a babe turns one, he's finished his first year of beingness alive. This means y'all'll say he's 1 year old, even though he'southward actually in his second yr of life.

Similarly, when y'all complete your kickoff week of pregnancy, you're ane week meaning. So you'll be one week pregnant during your second week.

Information technology's all about completing each week – putting one week behind you and starting another 1. You're not half-dozen weeks pregnant until you've reached the end of your sixth calendar week, and you're still six weeks significant until you lot accomplish the finish of your 7th week. Then:

• in your first calendar week you're zero weeks pregnant
• in your second week you're one week pregnant
• in your tertiary week you're two weeks meaning
• in your fourth week you're three weeks pregnant
• in your fifth week you lot're four weeks pregnant

This is why your personalised weekly newsletters from BabyCenter will tell you that y'all're 4 weeks pregnant when y'all're in your fifth calendar week of pregnancy. Sign up for our newsletters here.

What is a trimester?

"Trimester" means "iii months". As nigh pregnancies are around nine calendar months long, each pregnancy is divided into iii trimesters. This is merely a useful mode to describe the changes that are happening in your body:

• Your start trimester lasts from the very outset of your pregnancy until you're 13 weeks plus half-dozen days pregnant. Along with the excitement of discovering that you're expecting, yous may experience exhausted and queasy.
• Your second trimester lasts from when you're 14 weeks to when y'all're 27 weeks plus six days pregnant. During this trimester you'll probably feel much better. Yous may start to flower, your bump will show and early pregnancy symptoms volition exist behind you.
• Your 3rd trimester lasts from when you're 28 weeks meaning until yous have your baby. You'll need actress free energy to help your baby'southward growth spurt, and tiredness will probably render.

You may also hear people talk about the fourth trimester. This refers to the three months after the nativity, when you're bonding with your new baby.

How long does pregnancy last?

Information technology depends on how yous count it. Most people determine their due date by counting 40 weeks from the outset day of their LMP.

Forty weeks adds up to almost:

• nine calendar months (30 or 31 days each), or
• 10 lunar months (28 days each)

Is my infant really the size y'all say?

Each of our weekly fetal evolution pages has information about your unborn babe's size and weight. These are average figures.

All babies are about the same size early in pregnancy, but they begin to abound at different rates during the second trimester. That'southward why some full-term babies weigh less than 2.5kg and some weigh more three.5kg.

Try not to worry if an ultrasound browse indicates that your babe is not the average size. As your pregnancy progresses, the range of what's considered a normal size gets bigger. Your doctor or midwife volition let you lot know if they accept any concerns about the size of your baby.

How accurate is my due appointment?

Your due date is just an estimate of when you'll requite birth. Simply near 5 per cent of babies are born on their due date (NCT nd).

Well-nigh babies arrive betwixt 37 weeks and 42 weeks of pregnancy (NHS 2018b), normally within a calendar week either side of their expected due date (VDH nd). Then you're unlikely to give birth on your actual due engagement.

How exercise I switch from pregnancy to infant newsletters?

If you've had your baby recently and you're still receiving BabyCenter newsletters about being pregnant, or if you lot're only getting the newsletter for the wrong week, all you lot need to practice is update your family details.

• Either employ the link above, or click on your contour icon (if you're logged into your account) in the top right corner of the screen.
• This volition take you to the family details page.
• You can then remove or change your due date or birth date information.
• When you've inverse your due date or your baby'south birth date, click on "Salvage changes".

At present that you know how to date your pregnancy, cheque out our guide to pregnancy week-by-week, and bring together our friendly Community to share your early on symptoms and become plenty of tips.

References

NCCWCH. 2008. Antenatal care: routine intendance for the healthy pregnant woman. Updated February 2019. National Collaborating Centre for Women's and Children'due south Health, Squeamish clinical guideline, 62. London: RCOG Press. world wide web.nice.org.britain [Accessed March 2019]

NCT. nd. Overdue baby: what happens if my infant is late? National Childbirth Trust. www.nct.org.uk [Accessed March 2019]

NHS. 2018a. You and your pregnancy at i to 3 weeks. NHS, Health A-Z. www.nhs.uk [Accessed March 2019]

NHS. 2018b. Pregnancy due date reckoner. NHS, Health A-Z. www.nhs.uk [Accessed March 2019]

VDH. nd. Overdue babies. Victorian Department of Health, Meliorate Health Channel. world wide web.betterhealth.vic.gov.au [Accessed March 2019]

grubbsprowenties.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.babycenter.com.au/a549805/how-to-count-your-pregnancy-in-weeks-and-months