10/30/2020
This is great info that I wanted to share
🚫 DUE DATES ARE NOT A DEADLINE! 🚫
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Let's talk about this "due date" thing.
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📌 Most "due dates" are calculated based off of Naegel's rule, which adds 280 days to the 1st day of the last menstrual period. This issue with this method is it assumes everyone's cycle is 28 days with ovulation occurring on day 14. Other times due dates are calculated through ultrasound, which can be more accurate, but they do still have a margin of error. (Let's not get into all the other issues with ultrasounds today).
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📌 Most babies make their appearance between 37-42 weeks, so your "due date" is more like a due month. It is an estimate.
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📌Approximately only 5% of babies will be born on their due date. Only 10% of pregnant people go into labor by 39 weeks, half will go into labor by 40 weeks and 5 days (for 1st time mothers, 40+3 for 2nd time plus) and 90% will go into labor by 42 weeks.
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📌 If you are a low risk pregnancy with no complications, it's best to let the process happen on it's own. During those last few weeks your baby's lungs are finishing maturing. Once they are mature enough, a protein found in lung surfactant actives macrophages (immune cells), which will then begin to migrate to the uterus wall. Once there, a chemical reaction takes place, stimulating an inflammatory response in the uterus that begins the process of labor.
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📌 Your "due date" is not an expiration date. There is no such thing as an exact due date 👌. Please quit evicting your baby based on an estimation. I can not say this enough. Trust your body. Trust your baby.
