What to do if the due date is one week past due

There is no clear regulation on the due date for childbirth. It just provides us with a reference. However, some people's due date may exceed the due date by a week. Some expectant mothers are worried about whether their children are developing abnormally? This has led to this situation. Let’s find out what to do if the due date is one week later than expected?

Studies have shown that approximately 70% of pregnancies only appear to have exceeded their due dates, and the pregnancies do not actually exceed their due dates. They think they are late because of a miscalculation of the timing of pregnancy, usually due to irregular ovulation or the pregnant woman's inability to determine the exact time of her last menstrual period. In fact, the rate of diagnosing pregnancies beyond the due date has remained around 10% in the early days of calculating due dates using ultrasounds, but has now plummeted to around 2%.

When a woman passes her due date (which is 42 weeks or more, although some doctors object to this term), the birthing counselor considers two main factors depending on the specific situation: First, is the due date accurate? If the estimate of the due date is consistently correlated with many baseline conditions over the course of the pregnancy, its reliability can be determined. These benchmarks include the size of the uterus, the depth of the uterine fundus (top of the uterus), when the mother first feels fetal movement, and when the instructor first detects the fetal heartbeat. Early pregnancy ultrasound and blood tests for hCG levels can also be used to determine the timing of pregnancy.

A second factor that is often considered is whether the fetus is still growing. Many babies continue to grow well into the tenth month (this growth would become a problem if the baby were too large to pass easily through the mother's pelvis at this point). Sometimes, however, when a baby is born late, the ideal environment in the womb deteriorates. An aging placenta cannot provide adequate nutrients and oxygen, and reduced amniotic fluid production can also reduce the fluid in the uterus to dangerous levels. Under these conditions, it is difficult for the fetus to continue to grow well. Many doctors do not approve of this practice because it may cause uterine tearing or infection, so it is not recommended. But recent studies show that if the cervix is ​​already dilated, using hormones including prostaglandins to speed up labor is safe and effective. During this process, it is also common for the uterus to have contraction spots.

When a baby is born later in an environment that is not suitable for survival, it is called a delayed birth. They are generally small, with cracked, flaky, loose, and wrinkled skin, and lack the protective fetal cortex that is common in normal newborns. These babies appear "older" than other newborns, have longer nails and more hair, and often appear frightened when they open their eyes. Babies who have been in the womb for a long time and have deteriorated may have green spots on the skin around their umbilical cord for a short period of time because they have their first bowel movements (meconium) in the womb. Babies who have been in the womb longer may have yellow stains.

Generally, babies who are more than 40 weeks pregnant have a broad head because they may have experienced lack of oxygen, malnutrition, or may have inhaled meconium. Therefore, overdue babies are at greater risk of dystocia and are more likely to require a caesarean section. After birth, these babies need to receive special care for a short period of time in the neonatal intensive care unit. Moreover, most babies born in week 42 have a lower risk of developing chronic symptoms than those born in week 40.

The above is the solution to the problem one week after the due date. Exceeding the due date is not particularly good for your baby’s development, and may even cause the baby to lack oxygen and be malnourished. So you must remember your due date, but some children develop later! We don’t need to worry, but if the due date is exceeded for a long time, we must go to the hospital for examination.