QuestionI am 38 years of age. The first day of my last m/s was 12/13/07. My
periods have always been irregular. Before that, it was 45 days since my last
m/s. I have gone to dr and been told I am pregnant. However, they are
using the date from the last cycle. I went to see my dr today and he said
that it looks like the baby is around 10 weeks. I should be going into week
12. Is this normal, should I be worried? I have to go on a liquid diet for
three days, drink milk of mag. and go back to the dr on the 4th day for a
u/s. What is going on? I am confused.
AnswerLeslie,
First off CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!
I am curious to know how the doc measured the baby to be at about 10 weeks? I am going to proceed as though it was via ultrasound, but if not then the dating of 10 weeks is really a guess.
Try not to stress about the dates being off, they actually make perfect sense to me.
First, some background:
Every month (or so) when a woman gets her period, a cycle is started. There is a follicular phase in which follicles develop and grow until one takes over. This follicle will continue to grow and mature until ovulation (which normally happens about on cycle day 14 but can vary significantly in women to woman and month to month) After Ovulation you enter the Luteal Phase of your cycle. Although the follicular phase can vary, the Luteal Phase is normally consistent every month, and it normally ranges between 12-15 days. The only way to know how many days your luteal phase runs would be to chart your cycle using your basal body temperature or ovulation predictor kits.
Now, lets take your last cycle into account.
If you had a 45 day cycle and you did ovulate, you probably had about a 30 day follicular phase and maybe a 15 day luteal phase.
This means that you ovulated late.
If you ovulated late again, that means that you likely ovulated about 2 weeks later than in a normal cycle. This would explain the two week discrepancy.
I hope that I haven't confused you!
Try not to stress too much and get too worked up (I know that is easier said than done.)
You will have much more information after the repeat ultrasound!
I hope I was able to shed some light on the subject for you!
Tandi
