when are babies born relative to their due date?

[NaeNae]

Maybe you could ask the Mods if you (or they) could create a Poll that way you can collect stats from the women on here??

Unless there is something somewhere else of course

[Pandora]

NaeNae - the "Who's due" thread has a section at the start with figures form births reported on BB, for gender, c/s-vb, and early, EDD or post EDD births

[Trillian]

Its one of those things that there will never be a quantative answer for. I know you have a scientific background, but not everything can be answered scientifically kwim? There are several thoughts about this, somewhat like the 'chicken or the egg' question. Some say that the baby instigates the labour and others say the mother, and some say both together. It's true that even if a baby is ready that the mother can delay the process by not letting go emotionally - many women who've gone past dates go into labour on their own once an induction or c/s date has been booked - almost signalling that it's *safe* to give birth. I personally believe that our mind plays a huge role and we have to stop thinking with our 'concious' brain when it comes to birth and think with our 'primative' one (there is something on here about it that Kelly posted some time ago).

The giving of an EDD is just that - an ESTIMATED date that baby should arrive, but it is accepted that term is anything from 37 to 42 weeks (some women even go to 44) so as long as your baby is born within that time frame then there is no cause for concern really, baby will come when it's time to come. And even then the giving of an EDD would only be a recent thing that I would assume would coincide with when birth became medicalised and hospitals and Drs had to be booked . Decades ago a woman didn't even acknowledge the pg till she had felt the 'quickening' (first movements) and only worked on a rough guide for when the babe should be born. Many factors can alter your EDD too - length of cycles, day of ovulation and then implantation. Some babies need to gestate for longer to be fully developed and others need a shorter time. There's really no science to it, its just one of those things that is completely beyond prediction.

[yummymummy]

i was given so many due dates for my daughter - two by my last period (one Chinese dr and one Caucasian); 3 different dates by scans and she was born on a different date to all of them. The first date I was given was September 1st and by my first scan at 8 weeks the date was September 19th (other dates were 3rd, 10th, 14th), the first scan is supposed to be the most accurate date but she was born September 7th (went into labour 12:30am on the 6th and she was born just over 38 hours later). The last scan I had at 35 weeks said that she was going to be born the 10th. The only regular periods I have had in my life were 2-3 cycles before she was born that seemed to have some kind of pattern so maybe this was of influence??

[sealy]

I love statistics! and I too was curious about this. this is the best I could do with 10 mins of surfing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pregnancy#Duration

^ Dr Sally Tracy, Having a Great Birth in Australia ed. David Vernon, Australian College of Midwives, 2005, p22

Fewer than 5% of births occur on the due date; 50% of births are within a week of the due date, and almost 90% within two weeks.[16] It is much more useful to consider therefore a range of due dates, rather than one specific day, with some online due date calculators providing this information.

I think with some more surfing and changing search terms etc one could find the answer to this. Some of this scientific stuff can't even really be found on the internet, it's in jouranls and whatnot, so if you're really keen on it you can look in a book or a journal at the library or university library near you.

[Curly]

the mother can delay the process by not letting go emotionally - many women who've gone past dates go into labour on their own once an induction or c/s date has been booked - almost signalling that it's *safe* to give birth.

I firmly believe this after DD - I was due on the 30th and because DS was 6 days late I told my Mum not to bother coming down to Melbourne till the 29th. She was very nervous about this and I was fine, the OB said that if it took my body that little bit longer to "bake the baby" LOL that was probably the way I would go again. Every woman is different and some have longer pregnancies than others and different labours etc etc.

Anyway, I went into labour the day Mum was due to come down, and I truly believe it was because I knew she was coming so DS was going to be looked after so it was "safe" to give birth. And I know the first time around I was quite apprehensive and not looking forward to labour at all and the day I did go into labour it was Saturday and DH was home. I wasn't by myself therefore it was "safe".

In terms of stats and graphs, my OB said that 5% of babies come on their due date so that means that 47.5% come between 38 and 40 weeks and the other 47.5% come between 40 and 42 weeks and there would be a peak around the 40th week, giving or taking a few days because the average pregnancy is about 40 weeks, hence the EDD they give you.

As for what triggers labour, I have read they still don't know.

[ShootingStar]

DS was 2 days late, DD was 3 days late.

[BellyBelly]

So many reasons due dates can be off.

* Date of last period incorrect or unknown
* Date of conception unknown - luteal phase varies
* Not every woman has a 28 day cycle and ovulates on day 14 which due dates are worked out on
* Ultrasounds are incorrect / are already inaccurate within a few days and are based on averages, not your baby. Especially later ultrasounds, when genes have taken over and your baby is more unique.
* Emotional issues/stress deferring labour (adrenaline counteracts oxytocin)
* Average gestation is not 40 weeks, its an estimate smack bang in the middle of what is classed as full term. 37/38 (depends who you ask)-42 weeks is full term.

Personally I think due dates should be calculated on 42 weeks. After that you ARE overdue and can discuss plans to move things along, IF the dates are correct, IF there are signs mum and bub are not healthy and IF mother feels that she is okay with it.

[Cyathea]

Personally I think due dates should be calculated on 42 weeks. After that you ARE overdue and can discuss plans to move things along, IF the dates are correct, IF there are signs mum and bub are not healthy and IF mother feels that she is okay with it.

Amen to that Kelly, I think it would solve a LOT of stress, I suggest it to everyone I know actually Not that anyone listens...

[Ambah]

My DS was 5 days early.
DD was 3 days early.

So there definitely seems to be a trend there.

My sister has 4, and they were all born after their EDD.

[MummyTummy]

Very interesting thread here....

My DS, my 1st was born on his EDD. My waters broke two days earlier though and although I was left alone as long as I could I had to be induced and then c/s. (Bub never engaged and just wasn't budging after 42 hours!) So, how does this get worked out in statistics?

I also believe the mind plays a big role in our births, afterall this has been going on since day dot, so before doctors and hospitals etc. That primitive part of our brain is still there and our instinct is to have optimum conditions to give birth in. That's why we get the strong nesting instinct too in the later weeks of pregnancy.

[brightstar79]

My DS was born right on my EDD and I was the midwives seemed very surprised when they asked when my EDD was! According to one of the doctors who I saw during delivery, they said "only 5% of babies actually arrive on their EDD". I have yet to confirm if this statistic is correct.