Would you lie about your LMP in my situation?

[Anonymous]

I lied both pregnancies because I knew exactly when I’d had intercourse. My LMP was useless in determining conception and both times caused me to measure incredibly small for dates. A friend was a nurse and she suggested lying as she had seen this happen to many other women.

[Anonymous]

I lied. I knew exactly when I ovulated (basal body temperature).

Going by LMP just reinforces the fact that doctors think women know nothing about what is happening to our bodies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How close were your miscarriage and pregnancy? I also miscarried between my second and third child and never got my period before getting pregnant again. They had to go based on the scan, because my LMP was literally months prior to getting pregnant. Otherwise, pretty sure my practice is slavish to the LMP date.

OP here. I had a partial molar pregnancy, which requires waiting a few months to get pregnant. I had a few periods between my D&C and conception.

Thank you to everyone for your advice! I'm glad but also sad to see others have had to lie about their LMP. And I'm going to be pushing for a dating scan regardless (also because of my previous partial mole).

[Anonymous]

Why wouldn’t you just say “unknown”?

[Anonymous]

For my first pregnancy, I knew I ovulated late but didn’t realize that would mess up the “official” due date. I measured exactly a week behind at my first dating scan, so they had me come in like two weeks later to make sure baby was still growing. Yup - a full week behind. We adjusted dates, and I went into labor one day after the revised due date.

This second pregnancy, I went in and every time they asked for my LMP I said “it’s this but I know it’ll be a week off.” Lo and behold, dating scan said the same thing, exactly a week behind. I didn’t have to lie about it, but I did feel like I had to advocate pretty hard at first for them to listen to me and not get all freaked out that baby was measuring behind.

Good luck, OP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I lied. I knew exactly when I ovulated (basal body temperature).

Going by LMP just reinforces the fact that doctors think women know nothing about what is happening to our bodies.

Agree. I’m the IVF PP and the nurses were ignorant about IVF and were condescending to me about my LMP/“ovulation” date. So annoying.

[Anonymous]

Why can’t you just tell them you’re not going to induce, end of story? I’ve never been pressured to induce but is it really that bad?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been tracking my cycles for 6+ years and know them very well, including when I ovulate. (Never used hormonal birth control.) My cycles are easy to follow but I don't always ovulate on the same day, and definitely don't always ovulate on Day 14, the magical day the medical world considers to be the norm. My babies like to gestate longer than 40 weeks, so I'm concerned about this pregnancy. Here's the deal:

Pregnancy #1: ovulated on Day 14, baby born at 41 weeks

Pregnancy #2: ovulated on Day 22. I told my practice this but they refused to budge on my due date (which they based off of LMP). I was concerned because my first baby was overdue. When I was already a week overdue with #2 I remembered I had a very early ultrasound done in another country because I was traveling in the developing world and wanted to make sure it wasn't ectopic, and they let me use that to change the due date--after they already made me schedule an induction due to being overdue by their date. Baby #2 ended up being born 17 days after my original due date and 9 days after the adjusted (correct) due date. It was a huge hassle and I was told many times I would have to be induced by 41,5 or so, when I knew I wasn't even 41 weeks yet. Very quick labor, easy delivery.

Pregnancy #3: miscarriage

Pregnancy #4 (current, I'm about 7 weeks pregnant): ovulated on Day 18-19. I'm envisioning the same scenario as #2, where I'm pressured to be induced before I should be.

I have yet to schedule an appointment for #4 but it will be a new practice (new city, #1 and #2 were also in different cities, we move a lot). Dating scans weren't offered at either practice and I don't know if they are offered at my new practice. (I had NT scans but they never adjusted my due date.)

If you were in my shoes would you fudge your LMP by 4-5 days? Insist on a dating scan if they don't offer one? Say I don't know my LMP and need a dating scan? I hate to lie but I know my body better than the doctors/textbooks do. This may not sound like a big deal but I'm really opposed to being forced to induce and don't want the added anxiety. Otherwise I am very chill about pregnancy and birth.

I would. With my first, I ovulated on Day 26. With my second, it was day 24. With both of these pregnancies, I told the Dr. the day I ovulated. Still, my doctor does an initial blood draw and both times, my hcg was lower than expected by LMP. I wasn't worried, because I knew when I ovulated. Still, both times, they had me come in for a second blood draw, acted like I was at risk of a miscarriage, etc. Both times, I had my first scan at 8 weeks by LMP. Both times baby was healthy and measuring exactly as expected based on the day I ovulated. Since it was more than a week off from LMP, they adjusted my due date to conform to the baby's measurements (day I ovulated). Both were born a few days after my adjusted due date.

With my third, I ovulated on Day 18. It seemed like an unnecessary hassle to have to keep coming back for blood draws. Plus, since it was less than a week off from LMP, I assumed they wouldn't adjust my due date. So, I gave them a LMP date that conformed with the day I ovulated. They based my due date on that, and she was born on her due date.

I find it very annoying that some doctors seem to think women know so little about their bodies and all ovulate on day 14.

[Anonymous]

Who are all these OBs that go by LMP?! It's standard practice now to use the 6 or 8 week ultrasound for dating. It's very accurate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been tracking my cycles for 6+ years and know them very well, including when I ovulate. (Never used hormonal birth control.) My cycles are easy to follow but I don't always ovulate on the same day, and definitely don't always ovulate on Day 14, the magical day the medical world considers to be the norm. My babies like to gestate longer than 40 weeks, so I'm concerned about this pregnancy. Here's the deal:

Pregnancy #1: ovulated on Day 14, baby born at 41 weeks

Pregnancy #2: ovulated on Day 22. I told my practice this but they refused to budge on my due date (which they based off of LMP). I was concerned because my first baby was overdue. When I was already a week overdue with #2 I remembered I had a very early ultrasound done in another country because I was traveling in the developing world and wanted to make sure it wasn't ectopic, and they let me use that to change the due date--after they already made me schedule an induction due to being overdue by their date. Baby #2 ended up being born 17 days after my original due date and 9 days after the adjusted (correct) due date. It was a huge hassle and I was told many times I would have to be induced by 41,5 or so, when I knew I wasn't even 41 weeks yet. Very quick labor, easy delivery.

Pregnancy #3: miscarriage

Pregnancy #4 (current, I'm about 7 weeks pregnant): ovulated on Day 18-19. I'm envisioning the same scenario as #2, where I'm pressured to be induced before I should be.

I have yet to schedule an appointment for #4 but it will be a new practice (new city, #1 and #2 were also in different cities, we move a lot). Dating scans weren't offered at either practice and I don't know if they are offered at my new practice. (I had NT scans but they never adjusted my due date.)

If you were in my shoes would you fudge your LMP by 4-5 days? Insist on a dating scan if they don't offer one? Say I don't know my LMP and need a dating scan? I hate to lie but I know my body better than the doctors/textbooks do. This may not sound like a big deal but I'm really opposed to being forced to induce and don't want the added anxiety. Otherwise I am very chill about pregnancy and birth.

I would. With my first, I ovulated on Day 26. With my second, it was day 24. With both of these pregnancies, I told the Dr. the day I ovulated. Still, my doctor does an initial blood draw and both times, my hcg was lower than expected by LMP. I wasn't worried, because I knew when I ovulated. Still, both times, they had me come in for a second blood draw, acted like I was at risk of a miscarriage, etc. Both times, I had my first scan at 8 weeks by LMP. Both times baby was healthy and measuring exactly as expected based on the day I ovulated. Since it was more than a week off from LMP, they adjusted my due date to conform to the baby's measurements (day I ovulated). Both were born a few days after my adjusted due date.

With my third, I ovulated on Day 18. It seemed like an unnecessary hassle to have to keep coming back for blood draws. Plus, since it was less than a week off from LMP, I assumed they wouldn't adjust my due date. So, I gave them a LMP date that conformed with the day I ovulated. They based my due date on that, and she was born on her due date.

I find it very annoying that some doctors seem to think women know so little about their bodies and all ovulate on day 14.

I wouldn't find it so annoying if they didn't then scare the living crappola out of pregnant women when our HCG levels aren't where they'd expect them based on LMP or we are a week or more off during scans based on LMP and the docs start freaking out that something could be seriously wrong.

As a FTM, it was really hard to not give into the fear and keep reminding myself that everything was fine because I knew I ovulated late. They like to act like it's all just a rough estimate and NBD if the dates are off by a week but then tests are based on the due date being the gospel truth and shifting by a week is the difference between "there is something very wrong" and "your kid is fine".

[Anonymous]

I tweaked the date I gave them based on ovulation, and my adjusted date lined up perfectly with the dating scan. I would just adjust the date you tell them since it's actually just a rough way to guess what you already know - the date of ovulation!

[Anonymous]

i also knew what day i ovulated (used OPKs and was temping), which was late (around CD22), i emphasized date of ovulation but fudged LMP (i said "unknown, but most likely XXX, stating the date about two weeks before ovulation), at what i was expecting to be my 9 week scan (by ovulation) i was measuring exactly 9 weeks - so i feel confident in that choice and feel better just by-passing the extra confusion (and unnecessary stress of measuring "behind") from being a women with later ovulation, and knowing a lot of doctors stick to the tried and true "two weeks after LMP" mindset. This was a new gyno, so I am not sure if they would have let me adjust my due date - they might have - but why create extra hassle if i knew when i ovulated.

[Anonymous]

Is everyone lying to avoid induction "too early"?

I almost went the other way and lied to avoid going too late. I've heard of too many bad outcomes at 41 and 42 weeks to be comfortable with it.

In my case the context was a planned c-section, YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is everyone lying to avoid induction "too early"?

I almost went the other way and lied to avoid going too late. I've heard of too many bad outcomes at 41 and 42 weeks to be comfortable with it.

In my case the context was a planned c-section, YMMV.

I didn't care about induction date and was happy as a clam to be induced at 41 weeks based on ovulation which would have been when they would have induced me based on LMP (would have been 42 weeks). I DID care about all the tests showing stuff was "wrong" with my baby when it was just that my dating based on LMP was wrong and all the associated stress and tears over worrying about my child only to be told "LOL, j/k you're good."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t you just tell them you’re not going to induce, end of story? I’ve never been pressured to induce but is it really that bad?

I've been induced 2x. It's not my choice. But it is scary to go against medical advice. My first induction I remember sobbing the entire weekend before my induction, but I was okay with the second one where they let me go until 42 weeks. I just cook my little babies extra long I guess. Inductions aren't bad, but if you wanted to go med free, it's very, very difficult. I was induced for almost 40 hours, whereas if you go into labor naturally you can labor at home much more comfortably.