Date of ovulation or date of LMP?

[MyZoeJane]

Which is a more accurate way to calculate a due date? I would imagine it would be the date of ovulation... but I have a feelign my doctor will initially go by my LMP?

The differences:

Due date based on LMP of 12/3/08 : 9/9/09 (cool!)

Due date based on ovulation on 12/24/08: 9/16/09

[citizenfong]

Originally Posted by MyZoeJane

Which is a more accurate way to calculate a due date? I would imagine it would be the date of ovulation... but I have a feelign my doctor will initially go by my LMP?

The differences:

Due date based on LMP of 12/3/08 : 9/9/09 (cool!)

Due date based on ovulation on 12/24/08: 9/16/09

I've yet to hear of a doctor that would go by anything other then LMP. I'm sure they are out there, somewhere. I just don't know of them.

I am not about lying...but I might try to find a way to imply that your LMP is was 14 days before you actually ovulated. You don't want to end up with your OB telling you you are late and need to be induced, when you know that you are just at your due date.

[MyZoeJane]

Originally Posted by citizenfong

I've yet to hear of a doctor that would go by anything other then LMP. I'm sure they are out there, somewhere. I just don't know of them.

I am not about lying...but I might try to find a way to imply that your LMP is was 14 days before you actually ovulated. You don't want to end up with your OB telling you you are late and need to be induced, when you know that you are just at your due date.

SO funny you post this! I just did a bit of research and cametothe same conclusion! I found that doctors go by LMP and I KNOW my old doctor was WRONG with DD and I DID end up being induced because I didn't know any better!

Not this time! My LMP THIS time is gonna be 12/10 instead of 12/3! (Ironically, 12/10 was the due date they gave me for DD!)

I wonder, though.. If I went in there with my temping charts that show when I ovulated and DTD, would they go off that? Or would they think I was just a layperson trying to be a doctor?

[citizenfong]

Nope, they wouldn't go for it.

I mean, I obviously can't speak for all OBs! But the story I hear over and over again is that doctors will NOT go by ovulation date, even with a chart. Who knows why?

[rhiandmoi]

You could say you don't remember and use the dating ultrasound.

[MMx3]

I know my midwife initially goes by LMP, but they take the ultrasound stuff into consideration as well.
But in the end a due date is just a due date.
They changed my daughter's due date, it was Sep 10 (LMP) and then Sep 22 (ultrasound) and she was born Sep 4.

[citizenfong]

Originally Posted by MMx3

I know my midwife initially goes by LMP, but they take the ultrasound stuff into consideration as well.
But in the end a due date is just a due date.
They changed my daughter's due date, it was Sep 10 (LMP) and then Sep 22 (ultrasound) and she was born Sep 4.

It works okay most times if they think your due date is later then it is. However, if they think your due date is earlier then it is, and you tend to go late anyway, you are set up for being coerced into an induction. That can quickly turn into a big problem, unfortunately.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Ovulation dating is by far more accurate but Dr's wont use it so if you know your ovulation date then you can always give your LMP dating based on that. Tell them exactly 14 days before ovualtion because that is what those silly little pg wheels are based on. I find that most Dr's and many MW are tied to that little wheel and refuse to budge from it.

As for U/S dating mine was never accurate.

[MyZoeJane]

It makes me feel pretty horrible to say it, but I will be altering my chart to show that my LMP was later than it really was. (Dr. knows I've ben charting and will likely expect me to have it with me.)

I feel like I have to do this because it is IMPOSSIBLE for me to have conceived ANY day other than the day I ovulated because the ONLY TIME DH and I BDed was the day before I o'ed!

[KQCC4mama]

I always go by O date. With charting or a real in-tune mama you can pretty much know when you conceived. My midwife is one that trusts me and always lets me go by my O date. I am almost always a "later" ovulator. But this time for the first time, I was on day 11. My EDD is based on that!

[MichelleAnnette]

Date of ovulation is accurate, LMP is NOT unless you ovulated on day 14. I ovulated on day 13 with my first pregnancy and my son was born one day before his due date as calculated by LMP, so exactly on time by date of ovulation. This time, however, I ovulated on day 23, and if we go by LMP, my due date is 8 days before it should be. I don't want to even go there so I have simply altered my LMP to be 14 days before ovulation. I know my body and I don't want to argue, esp since there is ONE homebirth midwife in this area and I will not plan a hospital birth. I struggled with this, but I just won't have the stress of being "overdue" when I am not.

[BlueWolf]

Not in your DDC, but I wanted to add that I went by my ovulation date at first. Then when we had the first ultrasound and the doctor dated the pregnancy... it was one day off from my date. So, I was basically spot on.

[jorie]

I am going by ovulation. I have been very fortunate with all my pregnancies to have care providers that went off my charting rather than their wheel. But I have had an nurse practioner (for prenatal care) and a family doc and now a homebirth midwife so not real surprising they were/are willing to go with my body, not the wheel. I've never had less than a 31 day cycle so there is no way I've ever had a day 14 O I say lie if you have to . . .

[MyZoeJane]

Well, I posted this dilemma on another board I belong to and they sort of made me feel guilty about lying... Well, not guilty, really, but they posed the question:

"Can you really feel happy with a caregiver that you have to lie to?"


I live in IL where they don't allow birthing centers and there are very few midwives... none in my area. I am now in the care of a new practice because I was not happy with the doc who delivered my daughter. It took two months just to get my appointment for an annual exam last month just so I could be considered a patient. I don't know if I would be able to find a different/better caregiver now?

This is where I am going now:

www.obgynwomantowoman.com


I know it isn't such a big deal, because u/s dating is taken into consideration, too... but women tend to go "late" in myfamily anyway, and I had a horrible (and dangerous) induction with DD5.

Am I setting myself up for disappointment with the practice if I have to lie to them to get the date I KNOW would be accurate? Or is it possible for a doctor to still be good, but still ornary about pregnancy dating practices?

[Spring Sun]

It is 266 from the date of ovulation, so if you know that date, then it is way more accurate. If you count 40 weeks from ovulation, it is going to be about 2 weeks off. You can either do 40 weeks from lmp or 266 from ovulation.

Don't worry about what other people say-trust your body and do what makes you feel comfortable. I doubt there is really any chance of the baby staying in there too long. If it started to go too long, you could always tell your dr then. Otherwise, don't worry about it! I don't blame you for wanting to have extra breathing room for your last two weeks.

It is not your dr anyway, it is regulation and Ob-yns are among the highest dr population suied, so they need to watch their backs. Can't blame em'

[MyZoeJane]

Thanks! I hadn't thought about the suing aspect. I'll just assume the responsiblity for making sure the dating in accurate by giving the info I need to give for that to happen and that way I give myself the wiggle room to have a normal, hralthy pregnancy without any premature discussion of induction this time around!

[citizenfong]

I think comments like that are idealistic. Wouldn't it be nice to have a provider with whom we totally agreed? But most of us do not have that luxury.

I do think it is possible for a provider to be able to meet your needs, but to still be stuck on using the pregnancy wheel.

Do what YOU think is best!

[nataliekat]

If it were me, I would go by O, and tell the doc my LMP was 14 days before that.

Fortunately, I always O around day 14-15, so for me it's true!!