Due Dates

I wanted to understand how a due date is calculated and came across the below links, I tried to do more online searching but didn't come up with much besides calculators. I have read about it in books, which I try to mention which ones I read through the blog so feel free to check any of them out. The due date is typically given as 40weeks after the first day of the women's last period. So this means that for the first two weeks there typically isn't a baby yet since ovulation on average doesn't occur until 14days after the first day of the women's last period, or longer or even shorter. This also means that at 40weeks women are really only 38weeks.

Something that bothers me is when I hear about how people are being asked to induce or schedule c-sections since they are "overdue". Is this good medicine or are Americans impatient? Everything seems like such a rush - I am sure it is not comfortable to be pregnant that long but if the baby isn't ready why would anyone force them out? There are of course times when induction and c-sections are appropriate but not as often as they are actually happening. Over 1/3 of all births in the U.S. are c-sections when only 10%-15% of births require them. This of course leads to other questions about medial treatments for pregnant women but I want to focus on due dates.

Keep in mind that the median of the normal range is 40 weeks, range of 38-42 (Block, 2007, Pushed). Key words in that statement are median and normal. Women are all so different that we don't all fall in the median nor are considered normal. So remember that women have a few weeks on either end of this median, women could fall in a range more like 36-44 weeks long, there are even a few outliers from that range. I don't think that there should be any additional stress placed upon a pregnant women right before she is to give birth. Why start planning an induction before women have even reached the end of the normal range. Once a women hits 42 weeks of being pregnant then maybe that is a time to have a discussion about helping the birthing process get started. Why would it be a conversation earlier than that - what is the rush?

So even though the due date is based upon the idea of lunar moons and not actually months but translated into that humanity as a whole has given into the thought of controlling something that shouldn't be. There is so much intervention and I think people, women, and men should really appreciate the beauty that pregnancy and birth are. Why not fully experience what your body, mind and soul go through in that miraculous moment when the baby and body are ready?

Why can't science be more accurate? Why do we just do something that sounds good? Question after question arises and I could go off on many tangents so I am going stop now and let you read the links below and think about what your feelings are on the subject. I would love to hear what you think about the topic.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1047180/the_lie_of_the_edd_why_your_due_date.html?cat=25

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/372825/why_pregnancy_due_dates_are_inaccurate.html?cat=52