The Dating Debate

Of course, willpower failed me again. I emailed my doctor and asked if I could come in for the heartbeat check tomorrow instead of Monday and she said yes, but then we got into a debate regarding how far along my pregnancy is. I told her I will be 6W1D tomorrow based on when I had my IUI. She says I will be 5W6D. I have no clue how she is getting this date.

There are generally 2 ways to date a pregnancy -- using last menstrual period or estimated conception. Using LMP, the day AF arrives, CD1, would be viewed as day 1 of the pregnancy. For pregnancies conceived using ART, doctors will generally prefer to date based on conception because that is more accurate. One would be considered 2 weeks pregnant on the day of the last IUI (if more than one was done) or on the day of retrieval for an IVF cycle. For me, the injectable medication caused me to ovulate very early, so tomorrow I will be 6W1D using conception-based dating (I had my second IUI on 11/25) and I will be 5W5D using LMP dating (AF started on 11/15).

For those of you who are or have been pregnant before using IUI or IVF, I'd be curious what method your doctor used to date your pregnancy, so drop me a line and let me know.

I would imagine that my doctor continues to marvel at how I can remain a PIA to the very end. I ask tons of questions, I second guess everything she tells me, and I sometimes don't follow instructions. Not a formula for a patient popularity, but I'm pregnant now using a protocol that was pretty much of my design, so I feel justified in my approach. Ah well, hopefully everything will go well tomorrow and I will get to graduate from the clinic in a few weeks.