Patient's question:
It is said that pregnancy lasts nine months, but how long exactly is a pregnancy?Doctor's answer:
The due date is calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period, subtracting three months or adding nine months, and adding seven days. The normal pregnancy duration is approximately 265 days (starting from the day of fertilization), and ovulation occurs in the middle of the menstrual cycle. Therefore, a 40-week (280-day) pregnancy is two weeks longer than the actual time since fertilization began. If a woman's menstrual cycle is 28 days long, then a 280-day pregnancy is equivalent to ten months of pregnancy (with 28 days as one menstrual cycle) or ten menstrual cycles.