How Far Along Are You? Counting Pregnancy by Weeks, Months & Trimesters

 

It's the second question anyone asks after saying, "I'm pregnant!" Turns out, there are many ways to answer how far along you are. Let's take a look.

Measuring Your Pregnancy

How Many Weeks?

Many people first report their pregnancy progress in weeks. The date and progress of your pregnancy is measured from the start date of your last menstrual period (LMP). The week of your last period before finding out you're pregnant is technically considered the first week of pregnancy even though you aren't actually pregnant at that time. This dating method is easier to use since it's practically impossible to know the exact date of when sperm met egg. Even if you know when you ovulated or when sperm was introduced, it's impossible to know when conception occurred since sperm can live in the uterus up to five days. 

Pregnancy lasts around 40 weeks, give or take. Since the body doesn't stick to deadlines or guidelines, 40 weeks is just an estimate. Many people give birth before or after that time. First-time parents often go into labor closer to 41 weeks.

How Many Months?

The average calendar month is 4-5 weeks, but a pregnancy month is always exactly 4 weeks. If you're 32 weeks pregnant, you would say you're 8 months pregnant even if some of the calendar months were closer to 5 weeks long. 

Weeks into Months, Months into Trimesters

It wasn't enough to count a pregnancy by weeks or months -- we had to introduce trimesters! A trimester is a period of 3 months, and each pregnancy contains 3 trimesters. Each trimester marks a different developmental stage of your baby's growth in utero. Often, there are a different set of symptoms attributed to each of the trimesters, too. 

Putting It All Together

We created a handy little chart to help you identify exactly where you are in your pregnancy in weeks, months, and trimesters. 

1 week	in the 1st month	1st trimester
2 weeks	in the 1st month	1st trimester
3 weeks	in the 1st month	1st trimester
4 weeks	1 month	1st trimester
5 weeks	in the 2nd month	1st trimester
6 weeks	in the 2nd month	1st trimester
7 weeks	in the 2nd month	1st trimester
8 weeks	2 months	1st trimester
9 weeks	in the 3rd month	1st trimester
10 weeks	in the 3rd month	1st trimester
11 weeks	in the 3rd month	1st trimester
12 weeks	3 months	1st trimester
13 weeks	in the 4th month	1st trimester
14 weeks	in the 4th month	2nd trimester
15 weeks	in the 4th month	2nd trimester
16 weeks	4 months	2nd trimester
17 weeks	in the 5th month	2nd trimester
18 weeks	in the 5th month	2nd trimester
19 weeks	in the 5th month	2nd trimester
20 weeks	5 months	2nd trimester
21 weeks	in the 6th month	2nd trimester
22 weeks	in the 6th month	2nd trimester
23 weeks	in the 6th month	2nd trimester
24 weeks	6 months	2nd trimester
25 weeks	in the 7th month	2nd trimester
26 weeks	in the 7th month	2nd trimester
27 weeks	in the 7th month	2nd trimester
28 weeks	7 months	3rd trimester
29 weeks	in the 8th month	3rd trimester
30 weeks	in the 8th month	3rd trimester
31 weeks	in the 8th month	3rd trimester
32 weeks	8 months	3rd trimester
33 weeks	in the 9th month	3rd trimester
34 weeks	in the 9th month	3rd trimester
35 weeks	in the 9th month	3rd trimester
36 weeks	9 months	3rd trimester
37 weeks	in the 10th month	3rd trimester
38 weeks	in the 10th month	3rd trimester
39 weeks	in the 10th month	3rd trimester
40 weeks	10 months	3rd trimester
41 weeks	in the 11th month	3rd trimester
42 weeks	in the 11th month	3rd trimester

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Published: September 27, 2021

Tags

week by week pregnancyPregnancy BasicsDating Your PregnancyMeasuring PregnancyPregnancy by Trimester