One of the most common questions for any woman who hears she is pregnant is “what is my due date?” For anyone who already has children, you know what I mean. It’s only natural, but for what should be a fairly straightforward date, in many cases can become confusing. Here are a couple of different methods used to calculate any pregnancy due date.

Regardless of your potential due date, did you know that out of every 100 pregnancies only 5 women deliver on their exact date? Keep that in mind when trying to nail down an exact date because the bottom line is that you will deliver when the moment comes no matter what any calendar may say.

One of the most common methods to determine when you will deliver is using the gestational age. Basically, this method involves using the date of your last period and adding 40 weeks to it. Let’s use an example of July 15 being the date of your last menstrual cycle. Now add 280 days to it, or 40 weeks, and you would have a due date of around April 21.

Another simple method you can use is to take 9 months and 7 days and add it to the last day of your menstrual cycle.

Knowing your pregnancy due date is important for your doctor on several accounts. They need to know the approximate date in order to do prenatal tests and monitor the growth of the fetus to know if things are coming along normally so that you will be delivering a happy and health new baby.