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Dr. Andrew Rynne
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Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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How To Determine Duration Of Pregnancy If There Is Confusion With Last Period Date?

How does a doctor determine exactly how many weeks pregnant a woman is if there is confusion surrounding her last menstural cycle. For 2 months straight (Jan & Feb) my cycle was lighter than usual with only spotting for 5 days. Then the third month (March) I had no cycle at all so I took a pregancy test on the day of my expected period and it was postive. First testing for blood levels of Hcg hormone was 670 and I will take second blood draw today.



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Tue, 11 Mar 2014
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OBGYN,  's  Response
Hello and thanks for choosing health care magic.
I am Dr Nilajkumar a consultant gynecologist and I will be helping you in your queries.
Please do not worry about duration of pregnancy as there are modern tools that help clear this confusion. If the dates are not known properly, it is best to get an Ultrasonography as early as possible. If done in the first 12 weeks it will predict the date with an error of plus or minus seven days. If done very early in the first 5-6 weeks the error reduces to 3 days. So just get it done as soon as possible.

If done in late pregnancy the error increases as some women may have babies that have not grown well, so despite being say 7 months the sonography may show 6 months as the baby is small. Hence it must be done early and I suggest you get it done as soon as possible.
Also the total duration of pregnancy is 40 weeks and the baby is ready to deliver after 37 weeks. So even if the exact date is not known, a planned delivery may be done at 38-39 weeks so that a healthy baby is delivered.

Please do not worry, these are very common in our practice and we deal with it every day.
Hope this helped you.
Have a happy pregnancy.
Thanks for using HCM.
Have a good day.
Dr Nilajkumar Bagde
Consultant Obstetrics and Gynecology
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How To Determine Duration Of Pregnancy If There Is Confusion With Last Period Date?

Hello and thanks for choosing health care magic. I am Dr Nilajkumar a consultant gynecologist and I will be helping you in your queries. Please do not worry about duration of pregnancy as there are modern tools that help clear this confusion. If the dates are not known properly, it is best to get an Ultrasonography as early as possible. If done in the first 12 weeks it will predict the date with an error of plus or minus seven days. If done very early in the first 5-6 weeks the error reduces to 3 days. So just get it done as soon as possible. If done in late pregnancy the error increases as some women may have babies that have not grown well, so despite being say 7 months the sonography may show 6 months as the baby is small. Hence it must be done early and I suggest you get it done as soon as possible. Also the total duration of pregnancy is 40 weeks and the baby is ready to deliver after 37 weeks. So even if the exact date is not known, a planned delivery may be done at 38-39 weeks so that a healthy baby is delivered. Please do not worry, these are very common in our practice and we deal with it every day. Hope this helped you. Have a happy pregnancy. Thanks for using HCM. Have a good day. Dr Nilajkumar Bagde Consultant Obstetrics and Gynecology