EDD - by LMP or by Ovulation?

[Anonymous]

obviously havent been to my OB yet...I ovulate late - usually around day 19/20/21. Is my EDD the date from the first day of my last menstural cycle or the day that I ovulated?

[Anonymous]

I'd call your OB and tell them your cycle is irregular and that will usually prompt them to do an early dating sonogram if they don't already do one as a matter of course. My original due date (based on LMP) was moved back by 11 days once I had my dating sonogram which was right on target with when I thought I ovulated.

[Anonymous]

Most doctors' offices will go by LMP, even if you've been charting and think you know when you ovulated. The exception would be when there is only one possible conception date, such as IVF or only having sex once in the month you conceived.

This is rather frustrating to me, as I also ovulate late, so what my doctor lists as my EDD is, I believe, early by several days. This could become an issue if I go late and they want to induce, when I might not actually be late.

However, if you can show your charts to your doc you might be able to talk them into changing it (this did not work for me). Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Arlington Women's Center will go by your date of ovulation if you have been charting or if you have charted enough to know that it is always in a certain range.

It matters most, of course, if you go late and start talking induction dates. But I would press for using your ovulation date even before then because you want to get tested for things like GD in the right week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Arlington Women's Center will go by your date of ovulation if you have been charting or if you have charted enough to know that it is always in a certain range.

It matters most, of course, if you go late and start talking induction dates. But I would press for using your ovulation date even before then because you want to get tested for things like GD in the right week.

Also, if you want an NT, the dates are very specific! I second the PP who suggested trying to get a sonogram to date the pregnancy (though my practice does this as a matter of course, I believe).

[Anonymous]

I ovulate late, usually around 17d-19d. I charted and basically knew when I conceived. Using LMP in my case would have been almost a week off. Fortunately, my OB did not insist on using LMP, and anyway when he did the 8w sonogram the measurements were more consistent using the ovulation date.
If you know when you ovulated, I would take that and add 14 days to figure out what "week" you are. (You get 2 free weeks to add on to the start of your pregnancy!).

[Anonymous]

A good OB would go by your ovulation date, if you're fairly certain about it.

I can't believe there are still doctors out there that simply assume every woman has a 28-day cycle and ovulates on CD14.

[Anonymous]

If you chart / know when you ovulate, than ovulation is a much better point to use than the LMP, however many practitioners still use the LMP and assume a day 14 ovulation. Knowing that my practice would do that for this current pregnancy, I just lied and gave a LMP that corresponded to 14 days before ovulation. Of course, the fact that I felt the need to lie about something like this is a big part of why I switched practices!

[Anonymous]

I had irregular periods, so when I told them I was pregnant, they did a sonogram to date it. I would have been off by more than 2 weeks if I had gone by my LMP.

[Anonymous]

I ovulated around a week late and let the ob know when I went to see them for my first appt. I was only 6 weeks by LMP, but only 5 weeks by ovulation date. It was too early to do an ultrasound, but she did one anyway and saw an empty gestational sac. Stated she thought I was having a miscarriage evem though I had told her I ovulated late and was only 5 weeks. This was the day before Christmas! Needless to say, I left that office and am happy with another office and now 12 1/2 weeks along.

When you do go to the ob, make sure to tell them you ovulated a week late and do not schedule an ultrasound until you are at least 6-8 weeks by your ovulation date. Otherwise, it just causes a lot of unnecessary worry. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

PP and forgot to mention that they will probably give you an EDD from your LMP but will update it with an early ultrasound. That's what they did with me.

[Anonymous]

I ovulate early, confirmed by months of charting and by my chart the cycle I got pregnant, and told my old OB that at the first appointment. She still insisted on setting my due date by LMP. She said that people who usually ovulate early often do not in the cycle where they get pregnant. Not true in my case, and annoying. Anyway, it was only a difference of a few days and actually works sort of to my advantage as far as avoiding an early induction, so I didn't make too much of a fuss about it. But if I ovulated late I would have as that really does put you at risk of a unnecessarily early induction.

[Anonymous]

With my first, I was charting and told my Kaiser OB when I ovulated (not til DC 23!). She insisted on going by my LMP and ordered a sonogram, and was surprised when I was only measuring 7w3d instead of 9w...I literally said, "yeah, that's what I told you!" I promptly switched to the midwives at Birthcare, who looked at my chart and said, "Oh, OK, so we'll gauge your EDD from your ovulation date." No questions asked. Same thing with my second pregnancy. I ended up going a week early w/ my son, but was a week late w/ my daughter, so an OB going by my LMP would have assumed I was 3 wks late and pushed for an induction. In my experience, you need to advocate for yourself and it's a really good thing to know your body!

[Anonymous]

I totally lied when I was in this exact situation. Why do you owe it to them to allow them to screw it up?! Take your O date, and count back 14 days and tell them that's your LMP. Problem totally solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I totally lied when I was in this exact situation. Why do you owe it to them to allow them to screw it up?! Take your O date, and count back 14 days and tell them that's your LMP. Problem totally solved.

I might lie if I had to but I would rather find an OB that was willing to believe me and go with my information. It's a bad vibe that the person won't even take account of when you personally ovulated; it reeks of them making all the decisions and you being a total bystander.