Pregnancy Signs & Symptoms, Week by Week Pregnancy Guide

When thinking about the length of a pregnancy most people think that it’s nine months. Well, this isn’t entirely true. Usually the doctors say that it is of 40 weeks, but babies could be born at almost any moment after the 38th week.

What causes the variations?

Usually it is difficult to determine the exact date of fertilization and this is why the doctors use the last menstrual period as a point of reference.

If we consider that a pregnancy is of 40 weeks, it means that we assume that women have a 28 day menstrual cycle and that they ovulate on the 14th day.

As it has been mentioned before, the baby could get born before the 40th week of pregnancy, but that doesn’t mean that he or she is born prematurely. This is determined according to the stage of development and birth weight.

Some of the people say that a pregnancy actually lasts for 38 weeks. This is also true if we calculate the number of weeks starting with the moment of conception.

If we add the other two weeks before ovulation we will get the 40 weeks that the majority of the doctors use.

Premature birth

If you are asking how long does a pregnancy last most probably you will get the mentioned answers. Nonetheless if labor starts at an earlier point it is possible that the doctors won’t stop it and they will allow the baby to be born in natural circumstances.

According to the current technology, it is possible to take care of a baby if he or she gets born during the 27th week or after. In this case this is the gestational period.

This happens because starting with that week the babies are developed enough to survive with medical help. The babies won’t experience side effects later.