Things to know..

1. Instead of the due date you might come accross these abbreviations: DD, EDD and EDC. DD= `Due date`, EDD= `expected date of delivery`, EDC= `estimated date of confinement`
   
   
2. We -and probably your doctor too- use Naegeles method (anno 1838) to calculate your due date:
   Add 280 days to the start of the last menstrual cycle, or 266 days to the ovulation.
   
   
3. Your due date is an estimate, it is an average. In the chart below you can see the reality.
   In week 38, 2 weeks before the due date, 2 out of 10 women will give birth.
   In week 39, 1 week before the due date, 2 out of 10 women will give birth.
   In week 40, the due date, 3 out of 10 women will give birth.
   In week 41, 1 week after the due date, 2 out of 10 women will give birth.
   It is very unlikely that your baby will gestate for longer than 42 weeks. In such cases, estimated due dates may have been incorrectly calculated.
   
   
4. A more accurate method to determine the due date is the Mittendorf-Williams Rule This method can also predict the likelihood of preterm delivery, which affects 400,000 births annually in the United States. You may try this method yourself using the form above

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