Longer cycle...effect on EDD?

[Phoebe]

Ok, I know I'm grasping here and there really isn't any answer to this question but if you could share your experience that'd be great!

I usually had 30-33 day cycles. The month I concieved I ovulated on day 16. So, if EDDates are based on a 14 day cycle, how long can I expect to go over? I'm due on the 21st which is why I'm so anxious!
Is a person with a cycle a couple of days longer than "the norm" going to go over her EDD by a couple of days...or more

Oh just humor me! I'm ready for my last day of work to be the Friday before my due date (19th) but I don't want to sit around my house for 2 more weeks waiting and wasteing my maternity leave.

Thanks for putting up with me
Amy

[HeidiJ]

With DD#1 my cycles were long (about 30 days) so we adjusted my edd back a couple days and I still went 10 days over. With #2 I didn't have regular cycles due to nursing, so we had an edd based on a 20 week ultrasound, and I went 8 days over...I think, like you said, there is no answer, but this is my experiance.

[mattjule]

The Dr that did my u/s told me that when you have a longer cycle, you count back 14 days from the end, not the beginning. That sounds just right from your charting. After that, the length of the pregnancy is pretty much the same for everyone (within reason LOL). I used a site online to calc my edd (my cycles are 32-36 days long and I wasn't charting, though I did know the first day of my last period) that entered my cycle length and it came out pretty accurate as far as coinciding with fundal height and u/s, etc. (we assume since we aren't due until June )

Here is the link: www.parenthood.com/pregcal.html

However, if you know the day you ovulated, your edd is probably pretty accurate already.

[Journey]

With my last pregnancy I was charting. I ovulated late. I knew when the baby implanted. The doctor gave me a due date of September 28th, I figured I was due October 4th or 8th (can't remember now because I went with either date), and ds was born October 20th. If I had seen an OB/GYN during that pregnancy, I would have definately ended up with a cesarean. Instead, I had a perfectly healthy 10 ½ lb baby boy at home with no complications!


I forgot to add my point... your "due date" actually means NOTHING. Even if you have an "accurate" due date based on conception date being KNOWN, you can still go weeks over. My grandmother had her first child (my father) a full month past the due date (he was 10 ½ lbs too!). You have to look at the women in your family and see how long they typically gestate. All the women in my family (barring any outside influences) tend to go quite "over". So, I figure my "due date" is more like 42 weeks instead of the typical 40 weeks.

Just go with being off work when you planned on it, and use the last couple days/weeks to prepare your home, body, and soul.

[Phoebe]

Mattjule, what a cool calculator. By my LMP and likely conception date it says 3/21 and 3/22. Man I hope I'm in the 5% that deliver on their due date!
Well, Heidi, guess you proved that you just never know and I just need to be patient.

You know, about a month ago I would read these posts from girls saying "when is it going to happen...I don't want to go over!". I thought what's the big deal. I even thought I hope that I go over. I need all the time I can get. NOT ANYMORE!! I decided last weekend that I'm ready and from that point on I've changed my toon.

Thanks for humoring me and I appologize for thinking that all these other mamas were crazy for their impatience!

Amy

[georgia]

One of my closest friends is a Bradley instructor. The due date info she most recently shared with me is that first-time mamas, on *average,* have 41.2 week gestations. You're definitely not average, but the myth of a due date is just going to eat you up if you let it....I know how easy this is to say, but your little baby knows when s/he's ready---I promise Some babies are ready two weeks sooner---or two weeks later.

The impatience is really a GOOD thing----it means you're mentally getting ready! You're not wasting your maternity leave---you're savoring the last few days/weeks with your unborn baby

[Tiacsophno]

I charted with both my pgs. For the first I ovulated on day 29. The CNM humored me and put MY due date on the medical charts, but somehow when they sent out the AFP they used the 14d cycle edd and as a result the results came back with a red flag. It took some doing for me to convince the genetic counselors to run the afp numbers with MY dates, but when they finally did the risk of problems was very low. Then when my due date neared, the CNM said she wanted to induce me if I went past my due date (which would be 42 weeks according to the wheel). So I'm not sure whether anyone ever took my word for it and would have honored MY due date. Fortunately, my 8# 7oz baby arrived naturally a couple days before the due date I had calculated.

With my second pg I ovulated on day 21. This time the CNM (same one) recommended an 8 week u/s to "check dates". I thought it was unnecessary, but figured it would be better than arguing on the other end about whether I needed medical intervention to bring on labor. I refer to it now as the "pre-emptive u/s". Of course, the u/s confirmed MY edd of the 22nd, but later I had to correct the CNM's paperwork because they STILL had it down as being the 17th. For this and many other reasons, I ended up planning a homebirth instead. I got the flu at the end of my pg and after days of fever, congestion, aches and coughing, I coughed so hard my water broke and I went into labor. Baby was born soon after at home at 9# 2oz on the 14th (a week earlier than MY date!). So go figure.

The moral of the story? Forget the dates! Or at least stick with the latest ones you can so you won't be bullied into medical interventions. And psychologically, it's a bummer to go 'past dates' but it's a pleasant surprise to have the baby arrive 'early'!

[LisaG]

Here's some interesting research about due dates.

The length of uncomplicated human gestation.
Obstet Gynecol 1990 Jun;75(6):929-32
Mittendorf R, Williams MA, Berkey CS, Cotter PF.
Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.

The average length of gestation for first time white mothers in uncomplicated and spontaneous labor is 274 days (from assumed ovulation to deliver). For mom's that have already had at least one pregnancy their pregnancies averaged 269 days.

I wonder how much this varies with non-white mothers? I also wonder how many women have been induced due to the almighty 266 day number - let alone take into consideration that ovulation might not always occur on day 14.

In short, I believe if all signs indicate that mom and baby are healthy, why mess with a good thing?

LisaG

[eilonwy]

This is really interesting to me; I have short cycles, so I was convinced that Eli was due nearly two weeks before my EDC. This would mean that he wasn't born three weeks early, but just under one. It makes a lot of sense, especially considering that he weighed 7.5 pounds; however, he wasn't really fully cooked and probably could have used another week in the belly.

The calculator you linked gives me a date of June 13th, more than two weeks earlier than my EDC (June 30). I suppose that's a good thing; It means that they're unlikely to pressure me to induce before the baby is fully cooked. :LOL On the other hand, I don't want to go too long past when I think the bean should be out. I talked to my sister about this. She went late with her second baby, and they wouldn't even discuss induction with her until 41 weeks. She was miserable, but she delivered at 40 weeks 5 days.

[nonnymoose]

I have a 31-day cycle, down to the time of day (which made it pretty easy to get pregnant!). I knew what my O date was, and I tested 11 dpo. I told my family 14dpo, before I'd even missed a period. Along with my regular cycle, my poor hubby was getting ready for sinus surgery, and I made him stop taking the percocet long enough to put out Sooo, I'm 100% sure of my conception date. My son was born at 38 weeks, and was 8lb 1oz. He definitely decided *he* was ready to be born...I was sitting on the couch, and he did this HUGE roll. I'd never felt him move like that before - it was more like a heave. That's when my water broke.

[Mamid]

I O'd on CD28 after having a miscarriage on cd5. (splain that!) But of course, no doc wants to believe I miscarried since I didn't go to the hospital or get "emergency medical treatment." 'Scuse me for having a baby at home that I couldn't just up and leave or have someone else care for especially since the only people who could take care of him were either working or out of town!

So anyway, they have my due date down as almost a month earlier than what the O due date is. And it took an 8 week ultrasound to properly date and find out if it wasn't a surviving twin I'm having...