27/09/2022
In the 19th century, Frederich Naegele gave his name to the rule that determined how long gestation lasted and thus when babies would be born.
However, as we know, human beings are pretty complex and variation among us is NORMAL. So if we think about a system which is based on our last monthly period, including our own pattern of ovulation, which exists within our own personal cycle - it’s not surprising that there’s going to be a fair bit of variation amongst us all, is it?
Women don’t all have neat and tidy regular cycles of 28 days, ovulating on day 14 and bleeding for 5 days.
So what’s the problem? Well nothing really if you choose to not put too much focus on the dates set on your maternity paperwork. BUT - with ever increasing rates on induction in the UK and women being given all sorts of reasons as to why these are deemed ‘necessary’, having some flexibility around the creation of your ‘due date’ can make a lot of difference in terms of buying you more time to come under less pressure from your maternity care providers.
Dr Sara Wickham’s, ‘In your own time’ is a must read and she really is the queen of the research in this area!
Many of my clients do their own calculations based on their unique knowledge of their body and cycles, to get a clearer idea of a due date. They’ll often ask to have this recorded officially on their maternity notes (particularly if it’s later than the assigned due date).
If you’ve had a baby, how close to your due date was your baby born?
