All About Due Dates

How Far Along Am I?

The most common question that pregnant women have after "When is my baby due?" is "How far along am I?"  Care providers use the term "gestation" to refer to how far along a pregnancy is. You might also see the abbreviation "EGA" which means "Estimated Gestational Age."  In an ultrasound report, you might see the term "Menstrual Age" or "MA."  Care providers calculate gestation by using a plastic or metal or device that they use to calculate a woman's due date. 

When care providers talk about gestation, they always speak in terms of how many weeks along or weeks gestation you are.  For example, your care provider might say "Today you're 23 weeks and 4 days," or "Today you're 23 and 4 sevenths weeks." You might see it written in your chart as "23.4," "23w 4d," or "23 4/7."  Since the length of a pregnancy is 280 days, the length of a pregnancy in weeks is 280 divided by 7 equals 40 weeks.  Therefore, if you are 23 weeks, 4 days, then you are more than half way through a 40 week pregnancy.  As soon as you tell a pregnant woman that she's "23 weeks and 4 days," the first thing that she'll ask is:  "But how many months am I?"   Refer to Why do you use weeks instead of months? for a more detailed explanation of the difficulties (and absurdities) of converting weeks gestation to months gestation.

If you're pregnant and want to know your estimated gestation in weeks or months, try the Gestation Calculator.