Rewild your due date

Due date: the first intervention

When are you due?

The two dates almost universally known by the majority of pregnant people are: their first date of the last menstrual period and their due date. Why is this? The calculation of the due date, or estimated date of birth, is made based off of the last menstrual period (LMP) date. Naegle’s Rule purports that subtracting 3 months from the LMP, then adding 7 days, will provide a reliable date to anticipate normal human birth. Is this really true?

• Around 5% of babies are born on their due date. It is more common to view 37/38 to 42 weeks as the normal range for birth. Hence the idea of a birth month instead of a birth date.

• First trimester dating ultrasound does not predict a due date with any improvement in accuracy when compared to a known LMP.

• Even when the date of ovulation is known, there is a 37 day range for normal spontaneous birth.

• Genetics have their say with maternal and paternal factors weighing in to further personalize precisely when a new one should come earthside.

Why does any of this even matter?

Would you believe that precisely everything is riding on this due date?

An induction is typically recommended by the due date, or at least by 41 weeks, by most OB practices nationwide. The 2013 Listening to Mothers III survey reported that 62% of labors had been induced because the due date was met or believed to have passed. Even though federal vital statistics reported 27% induction rate for pregnancies in 2013, it is believed to be grossly underreported.

Take a moment to digest that. Have 27-62% of the population really lost the ability to labor spontaneously— on their body’s and baby’s time?

Birth is an intricate process, not an assembly line to produce goods.

Hormones, cell markers, placenta, muscles, bones, and more still to be explored are involved in the journey of birth. Birth is not, at its core, a medical event. It is a normal life event. Yet, it is the only time we walk into the hospital, intended for tertiary care, to become a patient when we’re not sick. Inductions, in the absence of true medical indication, overrule the intricate and highly-evolved process of human birth. What will future generations look like when we’ve removed the ability to birth according to human physiology?

•Baby by the moon•

I suggest that focus on the due date is the beginning of the “cascade of intervention”. Instead of a due date, begin to think of a due month— as in a span of 4 weeks within which a baby is likely to birth. This allows a shift in mindset of focus on a date, lateness, and need to hurry normal processes.

Pregnancy has been known by all the ancient cultures to travel the journey of ten moons, or ten lunar months, from the date of the LMP. There is a need to reconnect with our body, nature, and the natural flow of life. Aligning our mindset with the natural and normal helps us to listen to our body and our baby.

Rewild your due date by placing it in the proper perspective. It is information which can be useful and is best taken in context of the full picture of your and baby’s needs.