St. Albert & Sturgeon Primary Care Network
Post Date Pregnancy
When is my due date?
The average length of pregnancy is 280 days, or 40 weeks from the first day of a woman's last menstrual period. It can be hard to predict the exact date. Only 5 percent of babies are born on their due dates
Waiting for the birth of a child is an exciting and anxious time. Most women give birth between 38 and 42 weeks of pregnancy. But very few babies are born on their due dates. It is normal to give birth as much as 3 weeks before or 2 weeks after your due date.
What if my pregnancy goes longer than 2 weeks after my due date?
Most women who give birth after the due date have healthy newborns. However, health risks for the baby and mother do increase if a pregnancy is prolonged and the more overdue the pregnancy is, the greater the risks. But problems occur in only a small portion of post-term pregnancies.
How can my healthcare provider check on my baby's health if I am overdue?
When a baby is not born by 1 week past the due date, tests can help the doctor check on the baby's health. Some tests, such as a kick count, can be done on your own at home. A kick count is a record of how often you feel your baby move. Healthy babies tend to move about the same amount each day. Below is an example of how to do a kick count, your healthcare provider may ask you to do something slightly different.
- Choose a time of day.
- Get a watch.
- Get a piece of paper and pen or pencil.
- Mark a line for every movement your baby makes within 30 minutes.
- If your baby moves 10 times before 30 minutes, you're done.
- If you have fewer than 10 movements in 30 minutes continue.
- This time lay on your left side.
- Eat something.
- If you still do not have 10 movements in the next 30 minutes, call your practitioner
Others tests are done in the doctor's office or in the hospital. These are called electronic fetal monitoring and include non-stress test - biophysical profile.
- In a non-stress test you will be asked to push a button each time you feels the baby move. This causes a mark to be made on a paper recording. The fetal heart rate is expected to increase when the fetus moves.
- A biophysical profile combines the results of electronic fetal monitoring and an ultrasound exam.
Can anything be done to start labour if I am past my due date?
If you pass your due date, your doctor may discuss inducing labour. This is when medication or other methods are used to bring on labour. Lab or is induced to cause a pregnant woman's cervix to open and to prepare for vaginal birth. Most doctors wait 1-2 weeks after a woman's due date before considering inducing labour.
Methods used to induce labour include:
- Ripening or dilating the cervix
- Rupturing the amniotic sac
- Using oxytocin.