Once you have that positive pregnancy test, the next questions you probably have are: how far along am I? and when will my baby be due? Suddenly the dream becomes a reality, and there’s nothing quite like working out your due date and popping it in your calendar to start the countdown!
Counting pregnancy weeks can be a confusing game, but one that’s important to get right so you schedule scans, tests, and appointments for the right times. So let’s answer that question. How many weeks pregnant am I? Here’s how to work it out.
In this article: 📝
- How do I know how many weeks pregnant I am?
- How to calculate how far along you are
- How to know how far along you are in pregnancy
- Do you have symptoms at 4 weeks pregnant?
How do I know how many weeks pregnant I am?
So the (slightly) weird thing about how far along you are is that the 40 weeks of pregnancy start before you’re actually pregnant. How to determine how far along you are in pregnancy starts with remembering the first day of your last menstrual cycle. (By this, we mean the first day of real bleeding, not maybe the day or two prior where you might have some spotting.)
That day is day 1 of pregnancy. By counting forward from that day, you can work out how many weeks pregnant you are, and what your due date might be. Never has a calendar been more exciting!
How to calculate how far along you are
Once you have the date of the first day of your last period, you can start counting.
- Two weeks from that date is probably when ovulation and fertilization happened.
- However many weeks have passed since that date is how far along you are now. Yay!
- 40 weeks (280 days) from that date will be your estimated due date. Yikes!
How to know how far along you are in pregnancy
If you’re trying to figure out how far along am I in my pregnancy?, you can also track your pregnancy weeks using other significant dates (if you know them).
Knowing the exact date of ovulation can help, as usually ovulation and fertilization happen on the same day. If you have a very regular menstrual cycle and signs like ovulation pains, or if you’re using ovulation tests, you might know exactly when you ovulated. Generally speaking, you ovulate around 14 days before your next period, so based on a 28-day cycle, it’s likely you ovulated around day 14.
If you only had sex once since your menstrual cycle, fertilization likely occured 1-5 days after that, so remembering this date can help with accuracy, too. If you’re getting assistance to become pregnant, like an IUI (intrauterine insemination) or embryo transfers, your specialists will have all your dates tracked.
Throughout pregnancy, you will probably have at least one ultrasound scan which can also help determine the dates of your pregnancy by tracking the size of the fetus. Using ultrasound measurements, the sonographer will be able to make an accurate assessment of the gestational age of your baby. Amazing!
Do you have symptoms at 4 weeks pregnant?
4 or 5 weeks is a common time to find out you’re pregnant, since that’s the time your period would have shown up. If you’re eager to start feeling all those pregnancy feels, you might wonder if you should be having some early pregnancy symptoms, and at 4 weeks pregnant, you just might.
As soon as you are 1 to 2 weeks from fertilization (so, 3 to 4 weeks from your last period), you may feel more tired than usual, some breast tenderness, and the onset of pregnancy nausea and vomiting. First trimester symptoms can come as a bit of a shock, but you know what? You’ve got this mama. Welcome to pregnancy!