When your baby is late it can be frustrating. I’ve watched friends go a little nutty waiting and waiting past their due date for their baby to arrive. While it is frustrating to have the nursery ready, all those cute clothes sitting around, and of course you have to carry around that big ol’ belly for extra days, know that it’s not unusual to deliver your baby late. If you’re sitting around waiting on that baby to show up, following are some reasons why he may be running late…
You’ve been duped by Hollywood: Movies and TV shows + commercials always discuss the “Nine month pregnancy” but real pregnancies run about 42 weeks which is 10 and a half months. The typical pregnancy is about 37-41 weeks with anything over 42 weeks considered late.
Babies are rarely born on their due date: My son was born smack on his due date, but that is extremely rare. I pretty much just got lucky because only 5%-10% of babies are actually born on their official due date.
Due date calculation is iffy at best: Your care provider likely figured your due date by counting 40 weeks past the first day of your last period, but the problem is that many women can’t remember the exact date of the first day of their last period and tons of women don’t even have clockwork period cycles so an incorrect period date can thus result in an incorrect due date. An ultrasound can determine due date with some amount of accuracy, but an early ultrasound is the most precise. For example, I had a ten week ultrasound due to complications, so that may be why my midwife got a good due date estimate. However, many women don’t have their first ultrasound until18-20 weeks. Note, online due date calculators are fun and do offer a good estimate of your due date, but they’re not a reliable due date source.
Babies run late in your family: If your grandma and mama had late babies, there’s a better chance that you will too.
It’s your first pregnancy: First pregnancies tend to run later than subsequent pregnancies.
