I don't really care too much about an accurate due date.. I know the baby will come when its ready and God knows when its ready.. and I know that will be somewhere close to or around early September to early October. The only reason I want to know a due date is to have an answer when someone asks "when are you due"? The thing is I can't figure out what my most accurate date would be. As some of you already know I don't get ultrasounds or regular pre-natal care.. haven't even seen my midwife yet. I tried measuring my fundal height best I could and I'm getting somewhere between 29-31 cm. With Brooke I always measured cm to weeks to a 't'... if I was 29 weeks I was 29 cm. She was born 2 days before her due date. With Lawson I measured about an inch under but he came 5 days after his estimated due date so that could have been accurate. With G I always measured way under which should have been my first clue that she would come a couple weeks past her estimated due date. Anyway.. this time around I'm pretty sure I know the date of conception.. I'm 'almost' sure its the 24th of December. I can't pin point the day of my last period.. I did note it somwhere but I have searched high and low and can't find where I wrote it down.. I do have it narrowed down to sometime between Dec1st and 7th (I think). Now to throw another loop into an already complicated mess is my cycle length. When I'm not breastfeeding I have regular 28 day cycles but when I got pregnant with this baby I was breastfeeding Gabriella and it was causing my cycles to be as far apart as 42 days! I think 40 days average though. So I would use that average as my cycle length, right? Anyway I have entered all the different scenarios into online calculators and I get due dates varying from the beginning of September all the way to the beginning of October. I know when I tell my midwife this I'm going to make her head spin, lol. I guess my question is what due date would you ladies use to tell people? If I use the date of conception with 40 day cycles I get a due date of Sept. 5th. If I use Dec 7th as my first day of last period with 40 day cycles I get the Sept 27th due date I've been using. I was just telling people mid to late September but for whatever reason everyone wants to know a day! :neutral:

Hmm....if it were me and I were pretty sure of the date of conception, I would probably use that as the base point for determining due dates. *shrug* Like you said though, baby will come when he/she is good and ready either way. Or, just pick a date right in between the two and call that it! lol

Oh, it's better if people don't know a date! Then you won't get bugged as much. LOL.

You say that you know the day of conception. How do you know? Was that the day of your temp rise? Did you have EWCM? Did you have a positive OPK? The reason I ask is because the formula that I have always used is to take the first day of sustained thermal shift, subtract 7 days, add 9 months. If you go by my LMP, this baby would be due February 14, but my temp shift didn't start until day 27 of my cycle (delayed by stress and illness) so my due date is February 26 by Prem Rule which uses temp rise.

If you have a discrepancy between yours and the midwife's, though, I would take the later date. It tends to alleviate stress about being post-term and blah, blah, blah, especially if you tend to go over, like I do. I was SO glad that I took my temps and had an accurate due date. If you went by my LMP, I would have birthed Hannah at 43 weeks. But using my temp rise, I still fell below 42 weeks.

well first off...let them 'deal' with the date range you give...just smile when you say it and then walk away heehee

i would go with the date of conception calculation, personally

everything clear as mud now? teehee

I am having this same issue...only mainly, it's w/ my MW. She wants to go by lmp. I KNOW when I "O" & BD'd . I keep telling her & tried to show her my charts. She will not budge. It bugs me. the dates are only 6 days off, but I don't wanna here "induction" when she thinks I'm 6 days overdue & I'm not. I am going by "O"=12-26-08, but if I am asked, I will likely say Christmas time or late December. If they push for a date I will give 12-26-08. (I should say Jan 14th or something..hee-hee. by then I would have the baby & the in-laws won't be calling everyday)

You say that you know the day of conception. How do you know? Was that the day of your temp rise? Did you have EWCM? Did you have a positive OPK?

I am still new to NFP so I'm not possitive I o'd but pretty sure.. going by cm alone.. I wasn't temping regulary. And we did bd, easy to remember that because it was Christmas eve and I was pretty sure it was a fertile time for me so I had even made a comment to dh that the date of conception would be easy to remember, haha.

I am glad you mentioned the whole idea that its better to go with the later date because of being bugged if I go a few weeks past my due daste.. good thinking!;)

And T, yeah.. clear as mud! :P Thanks.. I knew I could count on you!:)

I am having this same issue...only mainly, it's w/ my MW. She wants to go by lmp. I KNOW when I "O" & BD'd . I keep telling her & tried to show her my charts. She will not budge. It bugs me. the dates are only 6 days off, but I don't wanna here "induction" when she thinks I'm 6 days overdue & I'm not. I am going by "O"=12-26-08, but if I am asked, I will likely say Christmas time or late December. If they push for a date I will give 12-26-08. (I should say Jan 14th or something..hee-hee. by then I would have the baby & the in-laws won't be calling everyday)

So how do you calculate from day of O and bd? I don't get how you and Ruth are doing that.

I am having this same issue...only mainly, it's w/ my MW. She wants to go by lmp. I KNOW when I "O" & BD'd . I keep telling her & tried to show her my charts. She will not budge. It bugs me. the dates are only 6 days off, but I don't wanna here "induction" when she thinks I'm 6 days overdue & I'm not. I am going by "O"=12-26-08, but if I am asked, I will likely say Christmas time or late December. If they push for a date I will give 12-26-08. (I should say Jan 14th or something..hee-hee. by then I would have the baby & the in-laws won't be calling everyday)

That always boggles my mind why midwives and doctors won't listen to women. So your midwife has never heard of charting or NFP? Maybe you could give your midwife some literature on it if she wants to induce or something. I know of someone who got induced because their mw thought they were overdue when they were not.

It was very important for my mw to believe my chart because in both pregnancies there was a large discrepancy between my LMP and conception due dates. With Hannah I was due July 31 by LMP, was due August 9 by temp rise, and gave birth on August 21. If I hadn't been charting, I could have been a candidate for induction or biophysical profiles. I didn't want to do those, because then I would probably lose my homebirth.

There is even a larger discrepancy in this pregnancy (12 days). So who knows, maybe I'll give birth on March 10th. But if my due date was calculated at February 14 (LMP) that would put me almost a month overdue if I went that far! YIKES! LOL.

Hey, that's what I'm here for *wink*
Consider it my service :p

So how do you calculate from day of O and bd? I don't get how you and Ruth are doing that.

Do you temp/chart? there is a site called fertility freind(you can try it for free). It costs a little, but, mycycle.com is free.(you just don't get all the extras.
You can also just chart on paper or in your head. are you pretty regular? temping & cervical fluid observations are great indicators of fertility.

So how do you calculate from day of O and bd? I don't get how you and Ruth are doing that.

The formula that I use is this:

1st day of sustained temperature rise minus 7 days plus 9 months = EDD

For example:

With Hannah my temp rose on November 16. Subtract 7 days, add 9 months, that's August 9. Make sense?

This pregnancy, temp rose on day 27 (June 2 I think), subtract 7 days = May 26, add 9 months = February 26. That is 12 days later than my due date based on LMP.

Do you know which day was your Peak day of mucus? (Last day of more fertile mucus before drying up process started) You could use that instead of a temp rise as follows:

Peak Day (let's say December 25 for the sake of it) minus 7 days = December 18 plus 9 months = September 18.

Do you have an NFP chart to share? I might be able to help you better if I had a visual aid.

Do you temp/chart? there is a site called fertility freind(you can try it for free). It costs a little, but, mycycle.com is free.(you just don't get all the extras.
You can also just chart on paper or in your head. are you pretty regular? temping & cervical fluid observations are great indicators of fertility.

I charted using fertility friend for a few months but with up to 42 day cycles and very crazy temps (probably all due to bfing) I kind of got discouraged. The only consistency I saw was the cm so I just kept note of it and I did have ewcm for a couple days around the 24th when we bd'd. I could probably go back and look at my charts on fertility friend but I dont know that it would help because I stopped charting at least a month, I think 2 before getting pregnant.

I charted using fertility friend for a few months but with up to 42 day cycles and very crazy temps (probably all due to bfing) I kind of got discouraged. The only consistency I saw was the cm so I just kept note of it and I did have ewcm for a couple days around the 24th when we bd'd. I could probably go back and look at my charts on fertility friend but I dont know that it would help because I stopped charting at least a month, I think 2 before getting pregnant.

Well, do you know the days you BD? can you figure going by that?

The formula that I use is this:

1st day of sustained temperature rise minus 7 days plus 9 months = EDD

For example:

With Hannah my temp rose on November 16. Subtract 7 days, add 9 months, that's August 9. Make sense?

This pregnancy, temp rose on day 27 (June 2 I think), subtract 7 days = May 26, add 9 months = February 26. That is 12 days later than my due date based on LMP.

Do you know which day was your Peak day of mucus? (Last day of more fertile mucus before drying up process started) You could use that instead of a temp rise as follows:

Peak Day (let's say December 25 for the sake of it) minus 7 days = December 18 plus 9 months = September 18.

Do you have an NFP chart to share? I might be able to help you better if I had a visual aid.

I keep cross posting with you ladies, hehe. Anyway I think I answered part of your question in my pp. As for using the peak day of cm I cant be sure of the days.. I didn't write it down, just noted it in my head.. I just remember thinking I was more then likely fertile on the day of bd.:???:

I guess I'll just stick with the answer "mid to late Sept" for family and nosey strangers.;) Now for my midwife I guess I'll just have to explain the mess to her and let her come up with a date. I dont think I'll have to worry about her inducing me.. it wasn't even a thought when I went weeks past my EDD with G.

Thanks ladies for all the help sorting this out! More comments/suggestions are welcomed!:D

Well, do you know the days you BD? can you figure going by that?

Not for sure.. I "know" we bd'd the 24th for sure.. but then we could have a week prior a week after? Any time inbetween? Lol

Ah okay, so you weren't doing any kind of charting or NFP when you got preggo. Sometimes intuition can be pretty powerful, though. And if you know that you only BD on specific days, that helps. I would laugh if anyone tried calculate my due date assuming day 14 ovulation, because I didn't BD within a week of day 14 of my cycle. LMHO.

Not for sure.. I "know" we bd'd the 24th for sure.. but then we could have a week prior a week after? Any time inbetween? Lol

did you happen to have an "early u/s???" they are often quite accurate.

Nope.. we don't do ultra sounds. I think one thing that will really decide for me is when my midwife measures my fundal height. Its always been consistent with babys actual date of birth in the past. If I measure 30 cm.. I'm willing to bet I'm 30 weeks.

I can tell you that this is a Christmas day baby. Bet you can't guess what Dh got for Christmas! Haahaa!! Anyways, I was on clomid, temping, had ultrasounds, so I know when I got pg. I am due Sept. 16th. Since term pregnancy can be anywhere between 38 and 42 weeks, give them an inbetween date. Feel free to use my due date....the more the Merrier.....more Merry Christmas' I guess! Ha!!

Blessings,
Amber

I talked to my midwife today and she estimated my due date to be September 15th!! So we are really close Amber! How cool! :)