Once you have had your pregnancy confirmed, your pregnancy due date will be worked out from when your last period was. If you do not know for sure when your last period was, you will most likely be asked to make a guess. If you have been planning on getting pregnant for sometime, it is always worth making a note of each of your menstrual periods, as should you need to check the exact date of the last one you can, this will enable you to much more accurately predict your pregnancy due date.

The pregnancy due date is given at the beginning of the pregnancy and is often referred to as Estimated Delivery Date; you may see this abbreviated to EDD on your patient notes. The accuracy of the predicted pregnancy due date is not very high, this is because they apply a statistical mean to the prediction, amazingly only 5% of all babies are born on the original pregnancy due date or EDD.

Of the remaining 95% that arrive either before or after the pregnancy due date, 30% arrive before and 70% after. So as you can see, the majority of babies born arrive after their pregnancy due date. Even with the amazing technological advancements in the last twenty years, accurately predicting a pregnancy due date is beyond the medical fraternity.

The main reason for this is because every woman’s menstrual cycle is unique, they are of varying length and ovulation, this means that conception can occur at any time within in it. Many women get incredibly worked up about the pregnancy due date, especially towards the end of the pregnancy, this is the time that your body aches, you’re tired and you just want everything to be over. When we feel like this, it is easy to comfort ourselves in the knowledge that we have a pregnancy due date, therefore we already know when it will all be over.

Unfortunately, basing this on the original pregnancy due date may not be the best thing to do. As you can see from this article, an overwhelming 95% of all babies are born outside of the original pregnancy due date. This means that if you become emotionally attached to that estimated due date, it is possible you may have a huge sense of disappointment when that day comes and goes without a baby arriving.

Many women complain of feeling deflated and drained when they go over their pregnancy due date. Each and every day following feels like an enormous drain, as though they have done everything that has been asked of them, yet for some reason they are being kept on for a few more days. It is very easy for morale to drop and feelings of depression to sneak in. That is why it is absolutely critical that you do not emotionally buy into the original pregnancy due date.

It is also critical that you do not dwell on the fact that you are now overdue. In fact, when you are given the original pregnancy due date, it is often a good ploy to add an extra week to that date. If you do go past the original date, take comfort, relax and enjoy this time.