Conception is the moment that marks the beginning of pregnancy and happens when the sperm fertilizes the egg. Since it is a very difficult time to calculate, usually the result of the conception date is given in an interval of 10 days, instead of a specific day, since it is in this period that the fertilization of the egg must have occurred.
There are two main ways to calculate the conception period:
1. Calculate through your last period
Conception can usually happen about 11 to 21 days after the first day of menstruation. Thus, knowing what was the first day of the last menstruation, the woman is able to estimate a period of 10 days, in which conception may have happened. To do this, just add 11 and 21 days to the first day of your last period.
For example, if the last menstrual period appeared on the 5th of March, it means that the conception must have happened between the 16th to the 26th of March.
2. Calculate using the estimated date of delivery
This technique is similar to the calculation using the date of the last menstruation and is used, especially, by women who do not remember when the first day of their last menstruation was. Thus, through the date estimated by the doctor for delivery, it is possible to find out when it may have been the first day of the last menstruation and then calculate the time interval for conception.
Generally, the doctor estimates the delivery for 40 weeks after the first day of the last menstruation, so if you take those 40 weeks off at the likely date of delivery, you get the date of the first day of the last period before of pregnancy. With this information, it is then possible to calculate the period of 10 days for conception, adding 11 to 21 days to that date.
Thus, in the case of a woman with a scheduled delivery date of 10 November, for example, 40 weeks should be taken to discover the possible first day of her last menstrual period, which in this case will be the 3 of February. To that day, we must now add the 11 and 21 days to discover the 10-day interval for conception, which should then have been between the 14th and 24th of February.
