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Pregnancy Date Calculators
A pregnancy calculator is used to estimate your due date, which is important to know so that you can make plans for the labour, especially if you have other family obligations and commitments around this time. If you already have children you will need to arrange care for them whilst you are giving birth, and also in the event that the labour has any complications and you need to stay in hospital for a few days. Also you may want to plan specific arrangements for your labour, such as a particular doctor/maternity team, or even a holistic or home birthing. It is important you know the due date so you can make accurate plans, but also remember that due dates are only a guideline, and you may give birth a few weeks early or late around this time.
There are plenty of pregnancy calculators available on the Internet, that will work out your due date for you, as long as you know the date of the first day of your last period. These calculators are usually based on a period lasting a 28 day cycle, so if your period is not exactly 28 days then there is usually a section in the calculator page that will allow you to enter the correct length of your cycle.
It is also helpful to know your due date so that you can calculate when you are entering each trimester. Generally the first trimester is considered to be the most risky in terms of miscarriage, and for this reason many people wait the until this is over, (week 13), before they announce the pregnancy to friends and family. Also when you confirm that you are pregnant you may be facing the difficult decision of abortion, and this type of procedure can only be carried out in the UK before the end of the 24th week of pregnancy. This means it is vital you know at what stage of the pregnancy you are in, as part of this decision making process. In some rare conditions such as medical complications that are deemed dangerous to the mother, abortions can be carried out after this 24 week stage.
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