2006-09-28 10:27:03 · 15 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Pregnancy
The 40 weeks is calculated from your last menstrual period. The first 2 weeks of a pregnancy you are not really pregnant. That leaves 38 weeks that you actually are "with child". There are actually 38 weeks in 9 months, 4.2 weeks a month, so that's where the 9 months comes from.
2006-09-28 10:29:18 · answer #1 · answered by Melissa 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
RE: 40 weeks = 10 months, 36 weeks = 9 months? Why is it that they say that being pregnant is 9 months or 40 weeks. yet 40 weeks = 10 months. 9 months = 36 weeks. So if you're 2 weeks late does that recommend you've been pregnant for 10 months and 2 weeks? I truly have continually wondered this yet not in any respect requested why? WHy don't they say being pregnant is 10 months...
2016-12-06 08:15:12 · answer #2 · answered by valaria 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The history of it is that women used to carry kids about 9 actual months (36 weeks) but people were going longer than that and they were thinking babies were "over due" when they werent over due, they were actually not ready yet, so medically they changed the rule of thumb as 40 weeks, but any baby born aftr 36 weeks is still considered full term-- but going 40 weeks is still not over due-- so we never got rid of the "9 months" theory cause for some women it's still technically true and we use to 40 week theory becuase more babies are born closer to 40 weeks than 36 weeks.
2006-09-28 10:47:12 · answer #3 · answered by worldof_roses 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A full term baby is born at 40 weeks or 10 lunar months. My doctor was telling me the other day that way back before they had ultra sound and stuff the doctor decided when you were due, usually nine months after you came to see them. What the medical community noticed was that they were getting a lot of pre-mature babies. So after ultra sound was invented and perfected full term was changed to 40 weeks instead of 9 nine months. The nine months thing must of just kind of stuck.
2006-09-28 10:36:29 · answer #4 · answered by yzerswoman 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Gestation is 40 weeks which roughly translates into 9 calender months because some months have four weeks some five and a bit.
We didn't design the program, we just follow along. Just be glad humans don't have the gestation period of an elephant. The Asian elephant has a gestation period of 18 - 22 months. We also only have one at a time in general. could you imagine birthing a litter?
Overall, I think we got it pretty easy.
2006-09-28 10:34:02 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
A month is not four weeks long. If that were true there would be forty eight weeks in the year, or thirteen months. In any event, a pregnancy takes 40 weeks on average... that is the more accurate number.
2006-09-28 10:34:59 · answer #6 · answered by metatron 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No confusion necessary. It actually does take more than 9 months for gestation. Look at it this way. Some months have more and less weeks than others so its better to go by weeks rather than months.
2006-09-28 10:38:38 · answer #7 · answered by r_k_winters 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is actually 10 month 40 weeks, in old times they went by the moon, one moon cycle is 4 weeks or 28 days. Nowadays we have a different calendar so we say nine months. But it is still 10 moon-cycles.
2006-09-28 10:36:17 · answer #8 · answered by maice06 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's a full 9 months, counting till the end of the 9th month.
2006-09-28 10:30:16 · answer #9 · answered by danyel911 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Are you forgetting about the months with 5 weeks in them?
2006-09-28 10:34:30 · answer #10 · answered by j H 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The nine months are not calendar months but lunar months which consist of 28 bdays.
2006-09-28 10:35:13 · answer #11 · answered by CiCI 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋