What is a Pregnancy Calculator?
A pregnancy calendar serves many purposes for the expecting parent. Primarily, it gives the mom and/or dad a daily reminder of what they can expect of the pregnancy, as well as useful information, advice and fun factoids. It is also a fun way to share the experience with grandparents who may live far away.
There are many sites available that can generate a personalized pregnancy calendar for free, either to print out and hang on your wall, or to receive by installment via email weekly or daily. A pregnancy calendar is personalized based on your due date, which is calculated using a combination of how long your cycle is and what the first date of your last menstrual period (LMP) was. To get your pregnancy calendar started, you’ll enter the first date of your menstrual period, the date of conception or your estimated due date. You will also need to know roughly how many days are in your menstrual cycle. If you don’t know, the average is 28 days.
Once you’ve input the information, a personalized pregnancy calendar will be either saved on the website by registering for an account, or you can generate an email that will come either daily or weekly. The pregnancy calendar will track how far along you are by weeks, and will note what trimester you’re in. Pregnancy can be an overwhelming undertaking and many women either don’t have the time or don’t care to spend a lot of time reading and researching it. A pregnancy calendar is useful for providing important information and advice in easily digestible bits and pieces.
In a pregnancy calendar, you’ll have daily access to photos of your baby’s development, information on how your body is changing, and how the baby is developing, timely tips on diet and exercise, inspirational quotes and fashion advice. It may include links to pregnancy blogs, support groups or due date groups, advice on selecting nursery and baby gear, and registering for a layette. You might find advice on what you may be experiencing emotionally, and how to cope with the ups and downs of pregnancy.
Pregnancy calendars provide parents with a daily reminder of the miracle that is going on every minute — you may receive an email that the baby’s heart may have started beating, or that he is capable of sucking his thumb. These are all special reminders that will help you have a better pregnancy and prepare for what is to come. Many sites that offer pregnancy calendars also offer calendars for the first year of life as well, providing you valuable information to cope with the next step of parenthood.