Spread The Word!

I feel that it is my calling to spread the word (at least my calling for the day) that pregnancy does in fact last 9 months, not 10! Before getting pregnant I saw posts from women all over the internet making the claim that pregnancy is actually 10 months. At the time I didn't think much of their poor math skills and just continued on with my merry life. Now that I am pregnant and have way too much time on my hands I find this idea to be more and more irritating. So here it is. I know it's complex, but I'm sure you all can follow me.

Pregnancy = 9 months

Think of it like birthdays. When a baby is born how old is it? Is it zero or is it one? Your answer should be zero. As odd as it is to think of a newborn being "zero" that is in fact what it is. The baby has entered its first year of life. It is working on becoming "one." The baby will only be considered one year old once it has completed one full year of life. On the baby's first birthday it will officially be one year old and starting it's second year of life. Just because it has started it's second year doesn't mean you would say that baby is two years old would you? I hope not.

Pregnancy is very similar. I will use myself as an example. I found out that I was pregnant at 3 weeks 5 days. In terms of months how far along was I? Zero! I was working on (or in) my first month. I was not officially one month until the following week (some time around 4.5 weeks). At 4.5 weeks I could officially say I was 1 month along and in my second month. So how many months was I? One or two? Correct answer? One. Still with me?

Fast forward to now. I am 30 weeks 3 days. Let's figure out how many months I am shall we. Month 6 starts at 22 weeks 2 days and ends at 26 weeks 5 days. Month 7 starts at 26 weeks 6 days and ends 32 weeks 1(or 2) days. So this big question: Am I 6 or 7 months. Let's think about it for a minute....

Correct answer is....

6 Months!! If month 7 doesn't end until the the 32nd week then I have clearly not completed 7 entire months. I have completed 6 months plus a big portion of the the 7th month. Therefore, I am only working on (or in) my 7th month. At approximately 32 weeks I will officially be 7 months along and working on (or in) my 8th month. Around 36 weeks I will officially be 8 months and working on (or in) my 9th month. I will not officially be 9 months until my due date.

Just like how right now I am 28 years old and am working on (or in) my 29th year. I can't go around saying I'm 29 years old just because I'm in my 29th year can I? Well, I guess I could, no one would arrest me, but it would be really weird if I did, because I'm not 29, I'm 28. In the same way I shouldn't go around telling people I'm 7 months just because I'm in my 7th month. Make sense? If not here's a little math to help out.

Most people with the 10 month misconception are operating under some faulty logic/math. The assumption with the 10 month theorists is that there are 40 weeks in a pregnancy (Correct!). Then that there are 4 weeks in a month (Incorrect! - except for February). The math then looks like this:

40 (weeks in a pregnancy)/4 (weeks in a month) = 10 (months) Simple right?? Sure, if there were in fact only 4 weeks in every month then we would in fact pregnant for 10 months. Unfortunately the math isn't that simple. Let's break it down.

There are 365 days in a year. That comes out to 51.177 weeks in a year. To find out how many weeks are in a month we divided that number by 12 (months).

51.117/12=4.4<----- the magic number!! There are an average of 4.4 weeks in a month, not an even four weeks! If you need a brain break go ahead and take one. I hate math, but I swear this is important!

Ok, ready to keep going? Good!

With our new number let's try that equation again:

40 (weeks in a pregnancy) / 4.4 (weeks in a month) = 9 months!!

Whew!! Glad that's over! So spread the word!! Pregnancy is more or less (frequently less) 9 months, not 10! No matter how you count it!

My civic duty is done for the day!