Pregnancy Calendar: Your Personalized Guide

by judy Wellsworth


If you're one who isn't too fond of surprises, then a pregnancy calendar is for you. A pregnancy calendar keeps you informed of the bodily changes that you and the baby are undergoing, and some types would even present you with an ultrasound photo of what your baby might look like at certain stages of your pregnancy.

It's easy to acquire your own pregnancy calendar. If you go to certain websites dedicated to would-be mothers, you'd be able to come across these pregnancy calendars. All you need to do is input your due date, and a downloadable pregnancy calendar is yours for the printing!

If you're still in the early stages of your pregnancy and have no idea of when your due date is, then you can go to a website which will help you compute just that. Some present tables for this purpose, while many can automatically determine the date for you after you input the first day of your last menstrual period.

How accurate is a pregnancy calendar?

The updated pregnancy calendars used by doctors, midwives, and other health professionals have been put together after years of intensive research, so they are considered fairly accurate. However, these very same professionals will emphasize that births can occur anytime 1-2 weeks before and after your due date.

Women need to be informed of this possibility so that they could be prepared if the baby comes early or would consult with the doctor if there are still no labor signs even after the stated period.

When a baby is this much overdue, you should immediately see the doctor as the baby could be under distress or may possibly ingest fecal matter while inside the womb.

Even though pregnancy calendars are fairly reliable, all women are different and there are various other factors that may cause a deviation from the due date as determined with the pregnancy calendar.

Are Chinese pregnancy calendars reliable?

A Chinese pregnancy calendar is a grid-style table which has been used by Chinese for hundreds of years. Although some old folks swear by its accuracy, there is actually no scientific basis to the formulation of this chart.

This is how the Chinese pregnancy calendar is supposed to work: A woman, on the basis of her age at the time of conception, checks the month when she is planning to conceive. The point at which these two data intersect will correspond to a certain square on the Chinese pregnancy calendar, stating whether the baby will be a boy or a girl.

This chart, as by no stretch of the imagination can it be deemed reliable, is merely used with a grain of salt. It's definitely fun trying to predict the sex of one's baby by checking the Chinese pregnancy calendar, and it's more thrilling to see if you can actually get what you wish for â€" a boy or a girl â€" by scheduling your conception date according to what the calendar says.