A Pregnancy Calendar Can Keep You Informed

By Jody Smith HERWriter

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Photo: Getty Images

Just found out you're pregnant? Congratulations!

One of the first things you'll want to do is determine your due date. For a rough estimate of your due date, add 40 weeks to the first day of your last menstrual period.

Then you might want to consider a pregnancy calendar. Maybe you'll check out some of the pregnancy calendars online. After you enter your estimated due date, or the first day of your last menstrual period, your individual pregnancy calendar will appear.

Some pregnancy calendars describe each week. Descriptions cover stages of fetal development. They explain what's happening in your body and why you feel like you do.

Many online pregnancy calendars offer a variety of articles.

Curious about what your baby is like at this point? Read up on fetal development.

Concerned about what's happening in your body? Other pregnant women get swollen ankles, stretch marks and morning sickness. Knowing that can be reassuring.

If your gorge rises at the thought of your formerly favorite foods, and you catch yourself longing for concoctions that normally would make you shudder, don't let it throw you. This game of digestive musical chairs is surprisingly common, resulting from hormonal changes due to pregnancy.

You will find that many strange things are called normal during a round of pregnancy.

Your pregnancy is divided up into three roughly trimesters. According to an article on Kidshealth.org, Week 1 through 12 is called the first trimester. Week 13 to 26 is considered the second trimester. The third trimester lasts from Week 27 to the birth of your baby. Each trimester is distinct, bearing its own unique benefits and burdens.

Keep in mind, estimates and averages come seriously into play when using a pregnancy calendar. It's impossible to know exactly what is happening with your baby while it is gestating.

Every baby is different, every mother is different. After all, mothers of more than one child will have found each pregnancy, with its discomforts and remarkable moments, to be different from all of her other pregnancies.

But estimates and averages can give you some place to hang your hat. When you are wondering where your little passenger is in terms of fetal development, and what you may yet need to grit your teeth through, the generalized information found in a pregnancy calendar can help you to feel more like you are behind the wheel during your pregnancy and less like a passenger yourself.

Sources:

Pregnancy Calendar: A week-by-week guide. Kidshealth.org. Retrieved Oct. 23, 2011.
http://kidshealth.org/parent/pregnancy_calendar

Pregnancy Calendar Week by Week. Pregnancy-calendars.net. Retrieved Oct. 23, 2011.
http://www.pregnancy-calendars.net/pregnancy-calendar.aspx

Pregnancy Calendar. Pregnancy.org. Retrieved Oct. 23, 2011.
http://www.pregnancy.org/pregnancycalendar

Visit Jody's website and blog at http://www.ncubator.ca and http://ncubator.ca/blogger

Reviewed October 24, 2011
by Michele Blacksberg RN

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We value and respect our HERWriters' experiences, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice, although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.