3 Useful Gestational Age Calculator

Gestational Age from Estimation Date of Delivery

http://reference.medscape.com/calculator/gestational-age-est-delivery-date

You have to follow a few specific steps to use this calculator properly:

• Start by clicking the link above.

• Put in your estimated date of delivery while making sure you have selected "the Current Date" correctly.

• Proceed to see the results of Current Gestational Age by EDD.

Pregnancy Due Date Calculator

http://www.perinatology.com/calculators/Due-Date.htm

You can use this calculator to find the pregnancy due date. You will have to use the following steps:

• Start by clicking the link.

• You need to enter your conception date, due date by sonogram, date of 3-day embryo transfer, or first day of your last menstrual period. Enter the date you remember in the message box and proceed.

• Click the button "Calculate" to find your Gestational Age, Estimated Due Date, First Fetal Heart Tones by Doppler, Date of Conception, and End First Trimester, etc.

Medi-Mouse Gestational Calculator

http://www.medi-mouse.com/gest.php

It is yet another highly accurate gestation calculator that works in the following way:

• Start by clicking the link.

• Enter the date of your last menstrual period or use the date of your ultrasound report. Select the date and enter it in the message box.

• Click the "Calculate" button to know your Estimated Date of Confinement and Estimated Gestational Age.

Clinical Examination

You may provide your doctor with your past menstrual records in the first trimester who will consider those records in conjunction with a pelvic exam to date your pregnancy.

Doppler Ultrasonography

Your doctor may tell your gestational age by hearing the fetal heart using Doppler ultrasound by 12 weeks. Your gestational age will be about 10-12 weeks if your doctor can hear fetal heart tone.

Human Chorionic Gonadotropin Pregnancy Test

An HCG pregnancy test will help confirm the gestation age. The test involves looking for human chorionic Gonadotropin in your blood and urine from 6-14 days after fertilization. If the test finds HCG in your blood, your gestational age is at least 3-4 weeks.

General Information

There are a number of uses of gestational age. It can be used to classify births into different categories. Using the LMP method, it is safe to conclude that a full-term human pregnancy will last until 40 weeks, but it may sometimes be between 38 and 42 weeks. A baby born prior to the 37^th week is considered premature and may face increased risk of mortality. The information about gestational age will help take appropriate steps to tackle the situation. Similarly, the events of prenatal development usually occur at a particular age and the gestational timing of an infection or toxin exposure will help to identify the potential risks to the fetus.

Infant Deaths Classifications

The use of a gestational age calculator will help find your correct gestation age, which in turn will help classify infant deaths and stillbirths. In the past, those babies were considered "live fetuses", who were weighed less than 1000g at the time of birth or were less than 28 weeks of gestational age. They were classified as live births only if they could survive seven days or up to 168 hours after birth. They were classified as stillbirths if they died within seven days and classified as infant deaths if they died within the first year of their lives. The threshold for "fetal death" has changed today and depends more on gestational age as well as weight. The gestational age for fetal viability is 20 weeks in the US, 16 weeks in Norway, 24 weeks in the UK, and 26 weeks in Spain and Italy.

Postnatal Use

Your gestational age also helps to estimate several risk factors, including intraventricular hemorrhage in premature babies, which in most cases is treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.