I’m not totally sure how to ask this. So most people find out they’re pregnant between 6-8 weeks. And it’s relatively common knowledge that one does not get their period while pregnant. So my question is, how do people not find out they’re pregnant until around 6 weeks if the average menstrual cycle is 4 weeks? Ovulation occurs on, I believe, day 14 in the cycle, so shouldn’t more pregnancies be discovered at 2-3 weeks when the initial next period would occur?
ETA: thank you for the responses! My confusion began with the the whole “you’re 6 weeks pregnant” when it’s more than likely 3-4 weeks of legitimate gestation due to how doctors begin the “clock” at the end of the last menstrual cycle.
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-In many countries, reproductive health education is garbage, so not all women do know the signs sadly.
-Pregnancy weeks are counted starting from the first day of the woman’s last period, not from fertilization. This means the earliest possible week you could notice a period not being on time is week 5, not week 2.
-4 weeks is only an average menstrual cycle. Cycles vary from person to person, and can become irregular due to drugs and medications, general health conditions, weight gain, reproductive health conditions, stress, etc. Even typically regular women can have multiple-week-late periods once in a while without being any cause for worry. This can cause a delay in some people recognizing anything being “off” from normal, in severe cases it may take multiple months before a realization.
-Likewise, there may be a delay in recognizing a pregnancy due to various types of birth control either masking symptoms or causing pregnancy to be dismissed as impossible.
-During early pregnancy, “spotting” (light period-like bleeding) is common as the uterus starts to organize itself. Some women who don’t know about this phenomenon or are irregular may mistake it for an unusually light period and carry on.
-Pregnancy tests generally become less accurate the earlier in pregnancy. Both false negatives (if there isn’t enough hormone built up yet) and false positives (a fertilization happened to screw with your cycle but the embryo is not viable) are common early on. As well as user error. This means the early days of a suspected pregnancy are often full of uncertainty and it may take time to confirm, especially if the mother has a history of issues conceiving.
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