So here we are… one week to go until Becky’s calculated due date, May 21. I know that we had told many people that our due date was May 18, but for the life of me I can’t remember how we came up with that date. May 21 is the date that we and the doctors calculated based on Becky’s last menstrual cycle, and it was confirmed when we had our prenatal ultrasound. It’s also the date that Beverly Hospital has us tentatively registered for admittance. Of course, there is no way to know for sure that our baby will be born on the due date, but we can be reasonably certain that it will be plus or minus a week from that date. Based on Becky’s current symptoms, and based on her doctor’s opinion after her exam last week, I tend to think that the baby will be born *past* the due date. It is pretty common for first-time mothers to go past their due dates. According to What to Expect When You’re Expecting, however:

Studies show that about 70 percent of apparent postterm pregnancies aren’t postterm at all. They are only believed to be late because of a miscalculation of the time of conception, usually thanks to irregular ovulation or a woman’s uncertainty about the exact date of her last menstrual period.

Becky and I kept pretty close tabs on such information while we were planning to have a baby, thanks to another great book, Taking Charge of Your Fertility. So we can say that the information we used for our calculations is about as accurate as we could get. That’s not to say that Becky won’t go past her due date, just that if she does, it’s most likely going to be true postterm pregnancy and not a miscalculated due date.

Becky has another prenatal exam on Tuesday, so we’ll get some more up-to-date info. With any luck, there should be a new Wood in our house within the next couple of weeks!