Pregnancy: Trimesters

Transcript

“Pregnancy is broken down into three trimesters. If you’re pregnant, first of all, let me congratulate you. That’s very exciting. And I’m sure that you’re having a lot of nerves and fears and anxieties intermixed with a lot of excitement and optimism and a lot of positive emotion as well. And if you’re feeling nervous, don’t worry. A lot of people do. In fact, most new moms definitely feel nervous. You can absolutely figure this out. Pregnancy is broken down into the first 12 weeks is the first trimester from 13 to 26 is the second trimester. And from 27 to full term is the third trimester. Now we use those weeks of dating from the first day of the last menstrual period. And we know of course that you’re not pregnant on the first day of the last menstrual period. You actually conceive somewhere in the middle of that first month, and that is taken into account with all of these calculations, but to figure out your absolute due date or the number of weeks you are along, you want to calculate from the first day of your last menstrual period.

And sometimes your healthcare provider will have an early dating ultrasound ordered it’s not required, but an early dating ultrasound, the earlier it is in pregnancy will give you more accurate dates. So between your first day of your last menstrual period and your dating ultrasound, putting all of that information together will help determine when you reach what’s called the estimated data confinement or your due date. And that is estimated to be about 40 weeks. Now, full term is 37 completed weeks and beyond. And we know that 37 weeks and beyond any time in there would be full term. But when we have an estimated data confinement, you can deliver anywhere from one to two weeks on either side of that due date and still be considered full term normal pregnancy. So if you’re not sure of your absolute due date, that’s okay. Not likely you’ll deliver exactly on that date. You’re more likely to deliver in and around that date. And any time after 37 weeks would be considered full term.”