Missed period how many weeks am i

Ultrasound: At some point during your pregnancy, you will likely have an ultrasound scan. This enables your healthcare provider to check on fetal growth and monitor other development milestones; it also provides the most accurate estimate for how many weeks pregnant you are and what your due date will be.

This method is the most reliable, and particularly useful if you don't know the date of your last period or if your menstrual cycles are irregular.

When figuring out how far along you are, it can be confusing that the weeks of pregnancy are not the same as the gestational age of the baby. Remember, conception most likely occurred about 14 days into your last cycle, whereas pregnancy is calculated from the beginning of that cycle, so there's a two-week difference. For example, when you're six weeks pregnant, your baby's gestational age is only four weeks. During your prenatal checkups, your healthcare provider will monitor how far along you are.

Don't be surprised, though, if your provider gives you a slightly different due date than the one you calculated. Also, most babies don't arrive exactly on their due date. Every pregnancy is unique, and only a small percentage of babies are born right on time. Babies are typically born between weeks 38 and 42, and it's totally normal for your baby to arrive any time during this window.

If your baby is born pre-term , your doctor will be able to advise you on any extra care your baby might need. The placenta has also begun to form and is producing some important hormones including hCG. There is a movement of rudimentary blood through the main vessels. Babies are still very small at this point and measure about 0.

If your period is late or if you have an irregular period, you may want to take a home pregnancy test. If the result is positive, you can try to schedule an appointment with a health care provider, although many health care providers wait to see you until you are 8 to 12 weeks pregnant. If your test is negative and your period is late, then you should wait a week before testing again.

Some women take 2 to 3 weeks after a missed period before producing a detectable level of the pregnancy hormone. You also want to begin looking for a health-care provider and decide where you will have your baby.

Many doctors and midwives will allow you to arrange an appointment so you can meet them and ask questions before deciding if they will become your provider. For more information on choosing your health care provider, see our information on your birthing choices. Even if you already have a routine, you might want to read about exercise during pregnancy. Take a look at our information on:.

You also want to be careful about the different medications you take during pregnancy. You should check with your health care provider before taking any over-the-counter or prescription medications. If you saw a plus sign or double lines on a pee stick or sticks!

The likelihood of false positives on home tests are slim to none. Your family doctor or primary care provider will soon order a blood test to confirm the pregnancy, but most women start with the drug-store home tests. Depending on how regular or irregular your cycle is, your doctor or midwife might also schedule you for a dating ultrasound to measure the developing embryo and calculate your due date more precisely.

Read more about dating ultrasounds in our week-by-week pregnancy articles here. By Andrea Karr June 14, Your due date may become a beacon my belly will stop growing in three more weeks, right? By far, the most common and accurate way to figure out your estimated due date is to take the start date of your last normal period and add days 40 weeks , which is the typical length of a pregnancy.

The formula for calculating how far along you are or number of weeks pregnant is simply the number of days since the first day of your last menstrual period LMP divided by seven:. It takes about nine days after ovulation for implantation to occur, which brings you to around day It takes a few days for your pregnancy hormone levels to be detectable by a pregnancy test, bringing you to around day A dating ultrasound , which measures the length of the fetus from crown to rump, is an accurate way to estimate your due date or how far along you are if completed within the first trimester the first 13 weeks of pregnancy.