@length of pregnancy

[bugabean]

I've heard a lot of people talk about how in other countries, pregnancy is regarded is being a standard of 42 weeks instead of 40. Just curious about the mom experiences here. What country/countries have you been pregnant in? How was your due date calculated? Was there talk of inducing, scheduling c/s, or anything by a certain date? Do most people talk about 40 weeks, 42 weeks, 9 months, something else?

[expatjen]

I gave birth in India and it was a standard 40 weeks for me. I had gestational diabetes, so I was induced at 38 weeks and 3 days. The hospital I went to is run in part with Columbia university in the US.

[travelingturtle]

They go by weeks. And, I'm 95% sure it's 40 weeks (I used US-based calculators, which I assume were 40 weeks and that's the same date my doctors came up with). My doctor was on vacation when I reached 40 weeks, so at that point I was doing check-ups at the hospital. The hospital said they could give me a drink at 41.5 weeks which should speed things up, but I didn't have to if my menstrual cycle tended to be long. They didn't want to keep the baby in longer than 42 weeks unless my cycles were long. My midwife offered to do some kind of smoke-out that I didn't quite understand that she said could help as well. This talk all started at 40 weeks, but it was never going to happen until 41.5 weeks at the earliest. I ended up having W at 41 weeks anyway, so I never had to do those other things.

[violetsmommy]

I got pregnant in the UK and had my first apt that confirmed it here, but I shortly went back to the US where I finished out my pregnancy/had DD. I don't know that I've heard anything other than 40 weeks -9 months. DD decided to come exactly one week before my EDD. Thabkfully no c/s needed and no talk of induction, I wouldn't think oof that unless something went wrong or I went a week past due.

[anna7602]

Gave birth in the US and it was 40 weeks. In my parents' day in Cuba (no idea what the standard there is today), it was 9 "lunar cycles." My dad (of all people) advised me to see what position the moon was in the day I conceived (new moon, full, etc.) and then count nine from there to the same lunar position to get my due date.

Talking about your child's conception date with your dad is a little awkward. And I totally erased all thought of that convo until just now. I should go back and look at a lunar calendar to see if he was right. DD was born at 38 weeks, exactly 9 months from my last menstrual period.

[travelingturtle]

Yeah, I hear that the hospitals are really full during full moons. I was thinking W was going to be a week early because that was the closest full moon to his 40 weeks date, but he was born at 41 instead. I have to say, since everything seems to go by weeks here, I never know how many months pregnant I am when people ask. Everyone I know in the states always knows how many months pregnant they are, and I don't know if it's just because they keep track of it that way or if their doctors do.

[violetsmommy]

Like I said I was in US and never knew what month. If someone would ask id try and figure it out. But everything seemed to go by weeks. I think if youce been/are/know about pregnancy you dobt worry over months

[bugabean]

I think non-moms tend to ask about months because months are a more normal way to talk about something that lasts as long as pregnancy does, but weeks are more common if you're pregnant or recently have been because you're more aware of the meaning that a certain week can have. 'Normal' people just want to know something general like 'I'm about halfway' or 'I'm nearly done' but moms remember things like what week they stopped puking or what weeks they had scans done. I find it's fairly true with kids, too, that moms and non-moms use different units for smaller kids. 8 weeks is more meaningful if you've BTDT, but non-moms just file that under 'baby' and would probably say something like 'a couple months, I guess'.

[popcorn]

Spain was 40 weeks, but the OB and midwives I went with would've waited up to two weeks past that with monitoring every few days after 40 weeks. So I guess it was 42 weeks.

I think if I had been with another OB they would've wanted to induce a few days past my due date -- that was a friend of mine's experience, but who knows if it's the norm.

Wasn't a problem as Kernal made her appearance 2 days before my due date. That's just like her. Always in a rush!

[amy726]

I gave birth in Australia and it was 40 weeks. They calculated my due date by my LMP on the little circular chart thing. The only talk about inducing was when I brought it up. I wanted to know how far past my due date would they let me go before they induced. I wanted to know because my parents were scheduled to arrive October 30 and I was due October 17th so I wanted to know if I would still be in the hospital when they arrived. It didn't matter though because he was born at 37 weeks exactly. They told me they would only let me go 10 days late.

[travelingturtle]

That's probably true about moms/non-moms referring to it in weeks/months. I don't get a lot of questions from people here, so I don't know how the non-medical people would refer to it.

[irish]

It's 40 weeks from LMP here in Ireland. There was talk of inducing me at 37/38 weeks because of my cholestasis but my consultant decided to wait to 40 weeks (he was Danish, in Ireland) so that's what we waited for. But N was born at 39 weeks so didn't need to be induced thank god!

[frlcb]

40 weeks in the UK and the US, but in both countries the midwives didn't want to induce me until 42 weeks. I was induced at 42 weeks in the UK, and scheduled to be induced at 42 weeks in the US but went into labor on my own that day. Had both kids at 42 weeks +1 day.

[crimsonandclover]

Where I am in Germany, the OB/midwife standard is weeks but common speech uses months, just like in the US. And like everyone else, I always had to pause and think about it when asked how many months along I was. The hospital I delivered at and will continue to deliver at as long as we live in the area allows you to go 10 days over your EDD, then they induce with what they call a "contraction-cocktail" (turtle, I'm guessing that's the drink they offered you). My midwife told me it actually has some champagne in it since that's said to both relax you and help your milk supply. "Yes, I'd like some champagne mixed with picotin, please" ;-)

[blushing]

I fell pregnant in the US, had my pg confirmed there, had my first scan with with gynae in SA, he confirmed how far I was by size and then from 13 weeks had UK care. I had a high risk pregnancy because I pg induced hypertension so they were not going to let me go past 40 weeks and my doc friend said that in SA that would not have allowed me to go past 37 weeks. I was booked in to go into hospital at 39 weeks 5 days, DH was born at 39 weeks 4 days all on his own. I only think in weeks not months, lol.

[clogged]

NL is 40 weeks. Induction starts at 41. They don't like you to go past 42.

Have you seen the still-birth rates at/beyond 42!?! Especially with older moms!?!? I can't imagine using 42 as a baseline and not acting until a woman is at 44 weeks. Scary.

[NomadicMama]

May 26, 2012 1:17:19 GMT -5 clogged said:

NL is 40 weeks. Induction starts at 41. They don't like you to go past 42.

Have you seen the still-birth rates at/beyond 42!?! Especially with older moms!?!? I can't imagine using 42 as a baseline and not acting until a woman is at 44 weeks. Scary.

I got pregnant and had my son while living in the states, so 40 weeks was the assumed duration.

I got into a disagreement with the OB I saw for the second half of my pregnancy. LO was conceived through IVF--we KNOW when we conceived. It involved a sterile environment and a gaggle of medical professionals. But, because he did not the lab report, and therefore how far developed our embryos were, he went by my LMP. Unfortunately, I stimmed quickly. My first OB put my EDD at June 28th, according to a dating ultrasound. The online calculator put it at June 30th. My LMP/OB went with July 4th.

In normal life, six days is not a big deal. And, the thought of an Independence Day baby was kind of cool (especially as a military family). So, I did not push the issue. I really thought that he'd be born around 38 weeks (older moms, I'd heard, tend to deliver earlier, as do those with IVF babies).

Boy was I wrong! My OB made me wait until his 41 weeks to schedule my induction--which, according to my first OB, put me much closer to 42 weeks. And, if I'd had a healthy and all was peachy, it would have been different. But, I'd been dealing with borderline high blood pressure since about 25 weeks. At my last appointment, there was a surprising amount of protein in my urine. He had me pee again, and it was fine. (Dude should have ordered a 24 hour urine catch at that point.). So, he went ahead and scheduled my induction.

Unfortunately, Dude (or his nurse) FORGOT to put my induction information into the system. I was supposed to get a call on Friday to go in that evening. I called at three in the afternoon to see what was going on. Long story short, I was not on the schedule, not that it matter--L&D was full. Lucky me was given the chance to select what time I wanted to come in on Sunday.

It got worse before it got better.

Bottom line, though, I strongly believe that if my OB had paid more attention and induced me earlier (with reason), I might have very well not developed pre-eclampsia and HELLP Syndrome, therefore not required an emergency c-section, which might have decreased the severity of my postpartum depression. And, my son might not have had a bowel movement prior to his birth, which landed him, briefly, in the NICU.

I consider myself very fortunate to be healthy and to suffer no long term consequences and that my son is here and healthy. I wish my OB had not been so damn married to his version of my EDD and treated my pregnancy as it developed.

Sorry, nearly three years after the fact, I am still very angry with the shitty care Dude provided. As I mentioned, there is more to the story, which includes an intern accusing me of faking it to get a bed in L&D. And, as you can see in my signature, my DH was in Iraq as all of this went down. To this day, I don't think he really knows how bad it got. My mom dropped five pounds in two days. My son's pedi came in and checked on me because she was so worried.

Okay, I'm done.

[clogged]

Dude. I don't even know your doctor and I want to bitch slap him.

[allibally]

May 26, 2012 13:24:03 GMT -5 clogged said:

Dude. I don't even know your doctor and I want to bitch slap him.

Agreed. I remember feeling frantic in my LDR sometimes. But nowhere near as stressful as a pregnancy and a husband deployed. I would of been a complete mess.

[americaninoz]

here in Australia it's 40 weeks
10 days is the max most ob's will let you go past that before inducing

[bugabean]

May 26, 2012 1:17:19 GMT -5 clogged said:

Have you seen the still-birth rates at/beyond 42!?! Especially with older moms!?!? I can't imagine using 42 as a baseline and not acting until a woman is at 44 weeks. Scary.

ITA. That's partly why it drives me crazy when I see people talking about how "in Europe" people say 42 weeks. The other part of why it drives me crazy is that it doesn't seem to be true, which is why I thought I'd ask. It still doesn't seem to be true. I wonder where all these 42-week-happy "Europeans" are.

It seems like most people (whether in the US or in Europe) agree that 40 weeks is a general guideline, and sometime around 41 or 42 is when you get concerned about induction. I think the US **might** tend to schedule c/s or offer elective inductions before 40 weeks more often than in some European countries, but I wouldn't say it's because Europeans think pregnancy is supposed to last 42 weeks….